Articles by Direchicken

Barnevelders Most lines of Barnevelder seem to produce male and female chicks that are difficult or impossible to reliably distinguish from one another at hatching. However, BYC member TLS_ranch has a line of Barnevelders that can be sexed reliably on down plumage, as illustrated below. Note...

Arizona Desert Chicks member since 2008 Glendale, Arizona, USA about 1 week old: 7 weeks old 14 weeks old: 19 weeks old: Sugar and Spice at 22 weeks - Such social butterflys, it's hard to get them alone. They are now laying light brown eggs. Spice started laying at 21 weeks of age...

Orpington Takes its name from the village where it originated in the south-east of Greater London. A heavy, gentle breed with profuse, soft feathering. Commonest colours are buff, black and lavender. 4 weeks male 7 weeks female 14 weeks male 19 weeks female 4 weeks posted by...

Ancona A handsome black and white Mediterranean breed of chicken, that can be sexed according size of head gear by 10 weeks or even earlier. Female comb and wattles eventually grow very large (relative to those of other breeds) but grow more slowly than in males, with the result that comb...

Silkies A notoriously hard breed to sex. I think the first really useful character to emerge is typically the walnut comb, which starts to become noticeably more bulged and bubbly in males around 10 weeks. But at least in some lines, sexes may be separable on the basis of head feathering, which...

Light Sussex This is a heavy breed of chicken, which displays no great differences in plumage between males and females. As far as I'm aware, one therefore has to rely on relative differences in size, shape of hackles and head gear to get an idea of gender. There are theories that one can get an...

Introduction The intended purpose of this collection of photos is to help people trying to determine the sex of their chicks. One of the best sources of information I've found is photos of chicks of the same breed at a similar age to those I've been trying to sex, and (obviously) of known...

Easter Egger True-breeding Easter Eggers are only widely available in the USA, though so hugely popular there that maybe they will spread to other parts of the world soon! However, technically any blue- or green- laying hen that isn't recognised as a standard of another breed like an Araucana or...