Can you teach me how to sex my backyard chickens?

[pomwalla]

Hello everybody, I'm new to the forum so please excuse me if this post isn't meant to be here. My partner and I are new to chickens and we recently bred our chickens to get some cross-breeds for laying. We bred a gold laced red wyandotte roo with our black australorp, an ISA brown, a white leghorn, and a light sussex hens. What has resulted is a whole bunch of really colourful looking chicks but I'm wondering how to sex them. Can anyone give me any hinters? This is what they look like below:

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Aren't Leghorn dominant white? If so the white bird in back came from her. The Light Sussex is columbian pattern so likely the black pattern white laced birds with colubian necks are from Sussex (see two in photo, one is up front). The red with some black lacing are likely from the ISA, even the red shouldered white birds though they may be Leghorn.

ISA is such a trade secret hybrid but even assuming it's a RIR/RIW cross you get over a dozen resulting color combinations when crossed to Gold Laced Wyandotte.

The Autralorp should give black birds with gold leakage, again so could the ISA. It's really not exacting with the birds you have. And as half of them are single comb your Wyandotte carries a single comb gene.

Oh, and those two white with red shoulders stand out as male to me, could be a sex linked trait or could be from Leghorn and sporting big combs.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hello everybody, I'm new to the forum so please excuse me if this post isn't meant to be here. My partner and I are new to chickens and we recently bred our chickens to get some cross-breeds for laying. We bred a gold laced red wyandotte roo with our black australorp, an ISA brown, a white leghorn, and a light sussex hens. What has resulted is a whole bunch of really colourful looking chicks but I'm wondering how to sex them. Can anyone give me any hinters? This is what they look like below:

Many thanks in advance!

Hi, the main features at this age include the size and colour of comb and wattle, whether the hackle (neck) feathers have pointed or rounded ends, the beginnings of saddle feathers (towards the back on either side of the tail feathers).

You could try and get individual photos of each bird and post them - peeps will then be able to assist you. Its a little difficult to try and communicate which bird one is referring to when they are included in one photo. I'd say that the white / brown ones are boys and two others (at least).

CT

 

[donrae]

With your rooster being red/gold based, he can't have a silver based daughter. The white from the Leghorn can wreck some havoc with that, cause it's a whole nother gene set, but basically all your white/silver birds are going to be male. I think that bears out in the picture. I see 7 cockerels. some may be too young to sex and you'll have to post pics later. the little red bird in front may also be a cockerel, depending on age.

 

[Michael OShay]

With your rooster being red/gold based, he can't have a silver based daughter. The white from the Leghorn can wreck some havoc with that, cause it's a whole nother gene set, but basically all your white/silver birds are going to be male. I think that bears out in the picture. I see 7 cockerels. some may be too young to sex and you'll have to post pics later. the little red bird in front may also be a cockerel, depending on age.

X2 on donrae's post.

 

[pomwalla]

Thanks everybody! Yes the chicks are about 2-3 weeks apart as they come from three clutches that have hatched. 10 of them are gone and the people that took them thought they took females so I'm not surprised that the majority left are cockerels. I never knew that you could sex them on colour (that is what some people here have been doing right?). I may post a few photos of individual birds later on to get you guys to help me sex them more precisely. But thank you very much for now .

 

[drumstick diva]

x 3 on Donrae's post

 

[Michael OShay]

Thanks everybody! Yes the chicks are about 2-3 weeks apart as they come from three clutches that have hatched. 10 of them are gone and the people that took them thought they took females so I'm not surprised that the majority left are cockerels. I never knew that you could sex them on colour (that is what some people here have been doing right?). I may post a few photos of individual birds later on to get you guys to help me sex them more precisely. But thank you very much for now .

You're welcome.

 

[BantamLover21]

I see 6-7 cockerels.

 

[Laraite]

Hi all. I bought 6 of these chickens off Pomwalla on 4 Nov

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I think I have 2 cockerels b/w and white one. The others seem to be pullets. B/w is hassling my older chook already . She has walloped him a few times

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Can someone confirm I have cockerels please. Tx