A new chick sexing tool? Another observation

[gritsar]

I have observed something interesting with my flocks of all ages and I wonder if it would be a reliable indicator of chick gender.

As most of you have probably already noticed, when you pick up an adult hen and hold her for a bit then put her back down, she'll shake herself off; same as she'll do after being mated by the roo. Awhile back I learned that the hen does this as a mechanism by which she moves the rooster's sperm up into her sperm "depository".

My adult hens do this and my pullets start doing this once they are mature enough to lay. Now I have three chicks, nearly 5 weeks old. Two are confirmed roos, one is still in question. I've noticed that when I pick up the baby roos and put them back down they simply go about their business. However, when I pick the questionable chick up and put her back down, she shakes herself off.

I wonder....

Just an observation (and yes, I have way too much time on my hands).

 

[bluere11e]

You know. It's people like you that hve too much time on their hands that discover little things that those of us are too busy to notice.. Sounds to me you're on to something. I have a clutch going in next weekend. I'll try that with the chicks when their a few weeks and see if it holds true..
If anyone else out there has a few youngsters, give it a try. This would be a great poll to ask people.. hey. How do you get the moderators to do a poll like this/ for this??

 

[Momagain1]

Quote:

and oh crap..mine are all roos then...none shake that i've seen YET after I held them lol..
now i gotta go clean the brooder ...

 

[FireTigeris]

I have an immature cockerel and an adult roo- and 20 pullets/hens.

The results were not conclusive to gender, sorry.

(about half the females didn't react, two of them are too young still but the rest are broody or laying)

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Interesting. When I still didn't know the gender of my two silkies I tried this with them. One did shake off, so I assumed girl. The other didn't. I assumed roo. Then the second one not only started shaking off but squatting every time I came near her, she was just late to mature. Two girls.