ABSOULTE GUARANTEE sexing tricks?

[Quailberries]

I’ve been seeing a whole bunch of contradictory stuff out there about there being ways to autosex younger chicks by wattle/comb development and reddening, leg thickness, aggressiveness, all that jazz. Is any of this really true? From what it sounds like, Saddle feathers seem to be the earliest guarantee on all breeds...

I guess I just don’t want to stress about it whether my pullets are pullets until I can be absolutely sure, I’m someone who overthinks really easily and I can’t help but freak out seeing the slightest red pigment on my Australorp’s wattles...

Thanks!

 

[chrissynemetz]

Well, even vent sexing is only 90% accurate. But when you add in all the other little things, like comb size and color, you can pretty much figure out what you have. Not until they're around six or so weeks old though. Or you can get sex links, they're hybrids that can be sexed by color at hatch

 

[rosemarythyme]

Only absolute guarantee would be a DNA test.

 

[YardMoa]

I can relate! Wing feathers, comb, wattles, leg thickness are all relative to the breed. Sapphire Gem pullets for example sport large, red combs earlier than a lot of other varieties and breeds.

There can be behavioural signs before the saddle feathers come in. The two cockerel we've raised both exhibited male behavior before secondary sex characteristics were apparent. Neither was a particularly aggressive bird but both tried herding the same age pullets and liked to hang out on the highest vantage point in the yard to watch the other chickens.

I would say don't sweat it, as hard as the waiting is, just wait.

You can always post pics of your birds here. Some of the more experienced chicken people can give a more educated answer.

 

[debid]

There are gender-specific plumage patterns, too.

It's a practice and experience thing to see the soft signs and put them together and we all get it wrong sometimes. I try to specify whether it's a coin flip, I'm educated guessing, reasonably sure, or 99.9% sure but not everyone does that so it can seem like people have more insight than they do.

 

[cstephens1987]

It heavily depends on the breed, but yeah nothing is really guaranteed unless they lay an egg. Sometimes it's a lot more obvious than others though. Agree with @debid

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I know of one trick to sex them, but it’s only 99.99% ... nothing is ever a guaranteed sure thing....

... so here’s the trick: as soon as it hatches and dries off, or as soon as you aquire it from the hatchery, feed store or baby chick vending machine, pick up the chick and pet it softly on the top of its head ... right on the spot where it would go bald in the back if it were a middle aged man.... next wait about 16 weeks ... if it crows it’s a rooster... if it doesn’t, wait about 8 more weeks to see if it lays eggs... ....the exact number of weeks might vary based on breed and if you petted it in the right spot...

This will work most of the time, but occasionally a hen will crow... or the chick will turn out to be a duck... as mentioned nothing is ever a sure thing.

 

[Fairview01]

The ones that lay eggs are guaranteed to be hens.

 

[danceswithronin]

If you want to know genders for certain, best thing to do is still to autosexing breeds, there are dozens of them.

 

[Redhead Rae]

Even sex links aren't 100% I had one home hatched black sex link that I thought was a pullet until I saw barring in the wing feathers at 10 days.