Silver Laced Wyandotte sexing

[magsrags]

I have 3 adorable 2 week old SLW that my silkie was kind enough to hatch out for me. My very first and it has bee wonderful watching her raise them in my yard.

Does anyone have any tips on early sexing of this bread? They are new to me.
TIA

 

[Clucksworth]

I breed Silver laced Wyandottes (L/F), I have noticed that the chicks we hatch are slightly sex linked from day 1.
The Male chicks have alot more white on their chests and have very white shoulders on their wings, whereas the pullets were more mottled and didn't have as much white on their bellies, heads or shoulders.

I've tested this theory over the last 3 years and bought in hatching eggs from all over the UK ( to make sure that my stock weren't impure, and were the same as everyone elses). Overall I have tested eggs from over 12 breeders in the UK and hatched around 230 to test the theory. All the chicks I hatched from these hatching eggs were also sex linked.

I separate the 'sex linked' males and females. The suspected males all grew up to be cockerels and the suspected females all grew up to be hens

 

[CelticMoon1]

In my experience males have a bit thicker legs, more bumpy combs (I've only ever had rosecombed SLWs but I presume the single combs will be larger in the males as well) with more reddening than the the females, and also more prominent wattles. They should be easily sexable at 6 weeks.

In addition the males' tails seem to be slower to feather in, which means the larger the tail the more likely it's a female. This is easiest to tell at 1-2 weeks.

 

[CelticMoon1]

Here's a pic of mine, both SLWs and Whites at 6-7 weeks for comparison. Blue=male, red=female:

 

[KDH]

Quote:
It does

You should be able to tell by 1-2 week old judging by the poorer tail/wing feather development (and you can see some tendencies in comb/wattles and legs too, just not as obvious to the untrained eye). For anyone interested I have a list of traits in 4-6 week olds too

OK, here's an "experiment" - I took these pix last night - when the chickies would be five days old. Maybe too soon to tell, but it DOES seem that some very definitely have more wing feathers than others. If this is so, and the wing-feather-enthusiasts are hens, then here's how it should shake out:

Girl on right, boy on left...


Girl on left, boy on right...


Any thoughts or opinions? If this seems accurate, I gotta figure out a way to mark them so I can tell them apart and ascertain as they grow up if the wing-feather-observation is proving accurate for me...

 

[drumstick diva]

never a good reason to keep a bad roo. I've heard the meaner the bird, the sweeter the stew/

 

[magsrags]

Quote:
thanks for taking the time to write.:<)

 

[Julie_A]

Any tips for sexing 6 week olds? I have some with single combs and some with rose combs.

 

[Robin'sBrood]

Quote:
My SLW roo had a lot more white, especially in his wing feathers, than my hen did when they were chicks. Look in the pic above, see the pullet on the bottom right and how much darker her coloring is than the SLW cockerel's? Look for large patches of white on the wings for the boys. Hope that helps!

 

[CelticMoon1]

Quote:
4-6 weeks

Male:
Sturdy legs
Medium sized pinkish comb
Wattles starting to hang down in a curve
Stumpy, curved tail
Downy back with a thin line of stub feathers down the centre
Poor feathering on side of neck, crop and flanks
Bare wing bows, showing wing covert quills

Female:
Fine legs
Small yellow comb
Wattles practically non-existant
Long pointy tail
More advanced feathering along centre of back
Well advanced feathering on side of neck, crop and flanks
Wing bows covered with small feathers