Baby chicks

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I'm new at this... So someone correct me if I'm wrong...

Hatcheries employ professional chick sexers. They check the vent to see if there is a (more) pronounced protrusion and these are male. These professionally-sexed chicks have about a 90% accuracy rate. I am pretty sure it's quite a specialized skill, thus the higher cost when buying sexed chicks.

The guy at TSC laid ours on their backs and the ones who went limp=females. The ones who fought=males.

I have also heard as they get older, you can put them in your kitchen floor and drop a hat... The ones who cower are females and the ones who perk up, in order to protect the ladies, are male.

I think some also look at the wing feathers: even length feathers are male. Staggered length feathers are female.

As far as the accuracy of these, I have no idea! I am sure someone who has more experience will give you better info than this... I just saw that your thread had no responses and I thought I would let you know what I have heard. Good luck!
 
Also, I should say that when the guy at TSC put ours on their backs, they were laying in his hand with their little heads resting between his fingers.
 
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Welcome to BYC!

Most these techniques to sex chicks are old wives tales, although there may be a bit of truth to some of it. The best sexing is either vent, feather or color sexing. As for your two week olds, give them a bit more time to grow and you can then post their pics in our What Gender section here on BYC for some sexing help....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/15/what-breed-or-gender-is-this

Good luck with your new chicks and welcome to our flock!
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! X2, if you don't have sex links and can't vent sex them, you will wind up waiting until they are older. About the only other thing you could have done is have them DNA tested, there are labs that can do that, but it takes a week or two to get results and costs about $20.
 

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