Multiple years cross and sexing chicks?

[HoundsNTrout]

Hi guys and gals. New here. I've raised a few breeds and hatched with pretty good success and I now have 16 young chicks which are out of a rooster with multiple years crosses already in him and the hens are RI Reds, White Leghorns and siblings of the rooster. Yup. lol I have bred and raised for simple reason a lot of eggs. I feed Pasteurized eggs in my dogs diet. I have large kennel of dogs and use a half/half raw/other in thier diet.
So, with all this feather sexing I read about and is not super accurate. What I DO see in my 1 week old chicks is the tail feathers are long on most chicks and maybe 6 have only fuzz no feathers. Being that these chicks are from different hens, all mixed up in other words, would sexing by the length of tail feathers be useless ? If not, would it work in chicks from same hen? Even though they are all still hybrid crosses.
Or just wait longer and maybe combs? How accurate is that? I don't want a lot of roosters around here. Thanks

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Hi guys and gals. New here. I've raised a few breeds and hatched with pretty good success and I now have 16 young chicks which are out of a rooster with multiple years crosses already in him and the hens are RI Reds, White Leghorns and siblings of the rooster. Yup. lol I have bred and raised for simple reason a lot of eggs. I feed Pasteurized eggs in my dogs diet. I have large kennel of dogs and use a half/half raw/other in thier diet.
So, with all this feather sexing I read about and is not super accurate. What I DO see in my 1 week old chicks is the tail feathers are long on most chicks and maybe 6 have only fuzz no feathers. Being that these chicks are from different hens, all mixed up in other words, would sexing by the length of tail feathers be useless ? If not, would it work in chicks from same hen? Even though they are all still hybrid crosses.
Or just wait longer and maybe combs? How accurate is that? I don't want a lot of roosters around here. Thanks

Just wait for the combs and wattles. They should start giving themselves away at 4-6 weeks. Some take longer, but a good amount can be found by that age

 

[HoundsNTrout]

Just wait for the combs and wattles. They should start giving themselves away at 4-6 weeks. Some take longer, but a good amount can be found by that age

Does the color of the waddles and combs mean anything at a week old ? .most are yellow orangeish. A few are pink or red.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Does the color of the waddles and combs mean anything at a week old ? .most are yellow orangeish. A few are pink or red.

No

 

[HoundsNTrout]

No

Okie dokie. Thanks for your input.

 

[HoundsNTrout]

So is it possible to sex these chicks via combs at 17 days old? It sure looks to ME like one can tell? Any ideas? These are all same age and same rooster, different eggs. Thanks. I see some are remarkably bigger than others but do I NEED to wait another week?

 

[I Like Turkeys]

So is it possible to sex these chicks via combs at 17 days old?

I've had chicks start getting combs that early, but not all males get combs that quick. Still a little too early to reliably sex all of them, so yes you do need to keep waiting. C5 may be a male and C6 is more than likely one. Still, wait until it's more clear.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

You could weed out males starting now if you're willing to risk fast developing females being lost too. But not all males will be obvious yet

 

[3KillerBs]

Comparing combs at young ages is most reliable if you not only have all the same breed, but a uniform and consistent line of that breed. With crossbreeds you have no idea what sort of genetics they have and thus no baseline for "normal" to compare their comb development to.

Some, however, definitely show themselves quickly. I had an Australorp x California White male from my easter hatch who showed himself unmistakably at a mere 2 weeks.

 

[HoundsNTrout]

Thanks folks. Will the wattles show up on the males first vs the combs? And in response to one of the comments how would I know if its an early maturing large female ? I wont? is that it? LOL Just wait til I see if it crows at 4 months old? Or maybe would that chick not have wattles til a bit later vs any males? Just trying to weed these out sooner than later since I am in need of the space maybe in another week at which point they will be 4 weeks of age.