How to tell the sex at day 1

[ezicash]

I bought 4 Rhode island Reds at a livestock supply company that were all pullets. After 3 months I discovered one of my pullets was a Rooster. yesterday I just got done giving my beautiful RIR rooster to a farmer who had 24 chicks just for his pleasure (smile) it was a sad day for me because I got attached.

So this does not happen to anyone else here is a site to tell the difference at day 1 http://animalsciences.missouri.edu/reprod/ReproTech/Feathersex/sld006.htm

how to feather sex baby chicks.

 

[littlepaw57]

Yes I have the same dilemma ezcash. I got mine TSC. They were in boxes marked sexed pullets. Now I have 2 Roos to find a home for. And I too am attached to Eddie and Rudy. Not sure what to do about finding a home for them. Any suggestions?

 

[dheltzel]

That only works on specialized hybrids, definitely not on purebreds like your RIRs. The "vent sexing" that professionals do at the hatchery is about 90% accurate, so occasionally you will get a male or 2. The only sure fire way to sex at hatch is to use a sex linked trait to hybridize, like the slow/fast wing feathering on the site you found, or color differences (red and black "sex links"). Or, you could get an "autosexing" breed like a Rhodebar. Rhodebars were derived from Rhode Island Reds and share a lot of their traits regarding laying, size, etc, but the chicks look completely different than a RIR chick, and the 2 sexes look very different also.

There are also some borderline auto-sexing breeds like Welsummers, that are pretty accurate, but the differences between the sexes is not as extreme and so it's possible to get it wrong.

 

[ezicash]

Check out your farmers in your location, that is what I did and was very fortunate to find a farmer that had many many female hens looking for a great looking stud (smile)

 

[ezicash]

Thanks. being a first time chicken grandma I am new to all this scientific stuff. I am happy I found a good home for my rooster, but my chicks are acting very funny today, almost like they miss the rooster, is that possible?

 

[Den in Penn]

Yes they can miss a flock mate when that individual disappears. Even if they weren't best buddies the loss will leave a hole in the pecking order that everyone notices. They will soon reform the order and things should be back to normal. At the junvinile age they haven't really had a special place for the cockerel yet, like they would have for a full grown rooster.

 

[ezicash]

Thanks

 

[aart]

The pecking order will now have to be reestablished, one of the hens will assume the leader role...there may be some fighting/pecking.

 

[ezicash]

Yes, my lady is now the one in charge (smile) did not take long to re-establish who is in charge (smile)