3 new chicks, 0 clue what gender

[Minnesota Mae]

Hi! I hatched chicks in my classroom and picked these breeds because they are supposed to be easy to sex the first week. I am new at this and have no clue. I have 1 of each Buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red, and Barred Plymouth Rock. The BO is 3 days old, the others are 2 days old. Any experts out there?

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC! Can you upload the individual pictures? It's hard to see them in the screenshot.

 

[nuthatched]

Too early to say. None of those , apart from the barred rock, (if the genetics are right) are down/wing sexable

 

[Minnesota Mae]

Here are the individual pics

 

[debid]

The "barred Rock" looks like it doesn't have a single comb. A better photo from straight on would help determine what it has and give a clue about whether it's a Dominique or a mix. If it's mixed as I suspect, barring is no longer a reliable tell and you are waiting on combs and male feathers for all.

 

[Minnesota Mae]

The "barred Rock" looks like it doesn't have a single comb. A better photo from straight on would help determine what it has and give a clue about whether it's a Dominique or a mix. If it's mixed as I suspect, barring is no longer a reliable tell and you are waiting on combs and male feathers for all.

Is this better? And thank you

 

[debid]

Is this better? And thank you

Still pretty blurry and heavily shadowed. It just looks a bit odd to me.

 

[JedJackson]

I don't know who told you these breeds were easy to sex the first week, but they are not. Sometimes barred rocks can be sexed by the quality of their head spots, but this must be specifically bred for, and it usually isn't.

Hatcheries vent sex newborn chicks to tell gender of their chicks with something like 90% accuracy, but this needs to be done by professionals to avoid harming the chicks. It's not practical for home raisers and I believe accuracy deteriorates after that first day of life.

You can start guessing on gender at about 4 weeks, maybe. Things should be pretty clear by 6 to 8 weeks.

The main thing to judge by at all of these stages is the comb. Size and color. Bigger, redder combs will usually be males. Smaller, paler combs will usually be females. Wattle growth is another good thing to judge by. Females usually won't have wattle growth or color before 12 weeks or so. Males usually will.

Post updates if you want help going forward and good luck!

 

[Minnesota Mae]

I don't know who told you these breeds were easy to sex the first week, but they are not. Sometimes barred rocks can be sexed by the quality of their head spots, but this must be specifically bred for, and it usually isn't.

Hatcheries vent sex newborn chicks to tell gender of their chicks with something like 90% accuracy, but this needs to be done by professionals to avoid harming the chicks. It's not practical for home raisers and I believe accuracy deteriorates after that first day of life.

You can start guessing on gender at about 4 weeks, maybe. Things should be pretty clear by 6 to 8 weeks.

The main thing to judge by at all of these stages is the comb. Size and color. Bigger, redder combs will usually be males. Smaller, paler combs will usually be females. Wattle growth is another good thing to judge by. Females usually won't have wattle growth or color before 12 weeks or so. Males usually will.

Post updates if you want help going forward and good luck!

Thank you. There is a lot out on the internet that isn't accurate, even by hatcheries.