A couple of easy questions about sexing chicks.

[NixNoodleNumbat]

I noticed different things about too-young-to-sex chicks. First of all, some chicks have neat tail feathers, others stick out, even though they're the same breed, is this a way to tell between boy and girls? What are hackle and saddle feathers? This should be easy to answer.

Thanks!

 

[ranchhand]

Some experts can sex chicks very early. Almost 19 years and I still wait for an egg or a crow, lol. I have read that cockerals are slower to feather out, but that's never worked for me very well.

Hackles grow around the neck, in a cockeral they are pointed, rounded in pullets. Same thing with saddle feathers, but the usually show up where the tail meets the body, only in cockerals. The bad news is that hackle and saddle feathers don't ordinarily show up until 5-8 months.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Honestly, it depends on the breed. Some breeds can be fairly accurately sexed at hatch like barred rocks and welsummers. Others like Orps take a bit longer, but I can usually sex most of those by 4 weeks old. Silver penciled rocks and dark brahmas can be sexed by the feather coloring as males feather out differently than females. The tricky ones are EE's, Ameraucana's and I find any white bird tricky to sex.

 

[smoothmule]

What about standard Cochins? I bought some hatching eggs online and hatched one from a dozen eggs. They can get shook up pretty bad and only 3 were viable by the time they got to me. I found by tracking them online that they were hung up in KC for a few days before finally shipped on to me so even one hatching is fine since I was only wanting one anyway.....hoping it's a rooster. This is a pet for my husband who wants just a single, big, colorful rooster to free range in the yard. This chick is a Golden Laced Cochin. Is there anyway I can tell early whether it's a cockerel or pullet from the feathering? It won't really matter, if it's a pullet I'll be thrilled too. She would get to live with my Marans and especially nice if she likes to set eggs for me. It's more a matter of wanting to know for fun. Just hatched last night.