BLRW Help with sexing 6 week olds.

[cook_kaka_ook]

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I agree

 

[OurLittleChickenFarm]

Thank you all so much for your opinions. I'm hoping for 3 hens and will only keep one of the roos.

 

[lovinlife]

We really need some way to keep track of our record for identifying the sex of birds. I mean, how often is a certain person correct in identifying pullet or cockerel? Who should we trust with their prediction?

I had an overwhelming determination that a chick of mine was a pullet. He grew up to be a gorgeous splash Ameraucana roo.
Had a self-proclaimed expert tell me my red sexlink pullet was a roo, he was positive. He felt the pelvic bones and said no doubt it was a roo. She lays beautiful eggs now.
I was sure, positive, no doubt that a bantam I have was a pullet. I was in the coop when he crowed right in front of me. He's a roo, no doubt. Boy, was I wrong.

My point is: don't get rid of a chicken yet until they crow or lay eggs. Then, you'll know for sure what you have.

 

[speckledhen]

Had a self-proclaimed expert tell me my red sexlink pullet was a roo, he was positive. He felt the pelvic bones and said no doubt it was a roo. She lays beautiful eggs now.

Well, a sexlink is called that because the males are very white and the females are reddish, completely identifiable at hatch. That's the point of a sexlink. How on earth does feeling pelvic bones ID the sex? All that does is tell you if a pullet has been laying eggs, not the sex of the bird.


Sexing, other than the sexlinks, of course, is an art, not an exact science, an educated guess, even when they are usually easily sexable by color differences as in the barred varieties. Even the experts may be fooled by some birds with confusing traits. The "wait and see" method is definitely the most reliable, LOL.

Who should we trust with their prediction?

The person who has raised that particular breed for awhile usually has a real sense of which sex a chick is just from raising them from hatch over and over, not the folks who just guess and have no experience with the breed.​

 

[Chicken0Boy]

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I was thinking the same thing! But you might have a early bloomer!?

 

[lovinlife]

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Well, a sexlink is called that because the males are very white and the females are reddish, completely identifiable at hatch. That's the point of a sexlink. How on earth does feeling pelvic bones ID the sex? All that does is tell you if a pullet has been laying eggs, not the sex of the bird.


Sexing, other than the sexlinks, of course, is an art, not an exact science, an educated guess, even when they are usually easily sexable by color differences as in the barred varieties. Even the experts may be fooled by some birds with confusing traits. The "wait and see" method is definitely the most reliable, LOL.

Who should we trust with their prediction?

The person who has raised that particular breed for awhile usually has a real sense of which sex a chick is just from raising them from hatch over and over, not the folks who just guess and have no experience with the breed.​

The guy didn't know she was a sex-link. He said he could feel the pelvic bones of a young chicken and the pullets had wider-set bones.

As you can guess, he was no "expert" in my eyes. I kept telling him it was a pullet and he laughed at me. He was a jerk.
I'm just sayin' that some people claim to know the sex of a chicken by one factor or another and especially when there are conflicting opinons about the sex of a bird, it's nice to know who to trust.
Having been here for a bit, I've learned that some people are better with certain breeds.

I'm a firm believer in the wait and see method.

 

[Alaska animal lover]

Wyandottes have pea combs, which can be deceptive,
I was positive my Light Brahma was a roo, they also have pea combs, but it turns out she's just bad hatchery quality.
Will post a pic in a minute.

Or not, can't get it to work right now. It had a big comb is what I was getting at.

 

[jjrabbit2]

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I thought they had Rose combs?