sexing baby chicks

[sudolph]

How hard is it, really, and is it possible to learn without going to a class or something?

Sudolph

 

[bigzio]

sudolph, I simply wait till they feather out enough to identify. When it comes to sexing day old chicks, ( squeezing to identify by the poo ) I'll leave that to the hatcheries.

bigzio

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Quote:
Vent sexing involves literally squeezing the feces out of the chick, which opens up the rectum slightly, allowing the chicken sexer to see if the chick has a small "bump", which would indicate that the chick is a male. Some females have very small bumps, but rarely do they have the large bumps male chicks possess.

 

[jesse_marcos]

is there any picture showing the "bump" of a female chick or male chick??? I really like to know whats the difference between the two.

 

[jimnjay]

There are photos somewhere on the net. I remember seeing a website some time ago but I don't really remember where. Try to Google Vent Sexing of Chcikens. I did not copy the link because I am like the others. I don't really want to squeez poor little chick butts. If you buy them from a feedstore or hatchery they are not longer day olds and it may not work anyway. Part of the fun for me is trying to guess anyway. Observation helps and you learn to see characteristics of males pretty early on.

 

[Davaroo]

Like Jaynie says, it isnt real dainty nor tidy, to evacuate the bowels of a chick. Ive done it and all I can say is "uuuugh!" It makes for an interesting exercise and it beats TV on some levels, but it's about what you might expect.

All this talk of bumps is lost on me, too, as there really isnt much to see. I suppose if you did it alot, you would get good at it - but it takes awhile to see the results if you get it wrong!

Why would you care, though? Oh, I suppose if you were feeding large numbers of birds that you didnt intend to keep based on their sex, then you might want to know. But, personally, I wouldn't bother otherwise. You'll know soon enough what sex your birds are and you can react accordingly.