Chick sexing project

[The Happster]

Had the 10 week old pullets out with the silkie Roo this afternoon. The Ameracauna/Araucana or EE on on their third color phase. Not sure how they will end up but they sure are prettier then they started out. Pic heavy.View attachment 2389732View attachment 2389733View attachment 2389734View attachment 2389735View attachment 2389737View attachment 2389738View attachment 2389739View attachment 2389740View attachment 2389741View attachment 2389742View attachment 2389745View attachment 2389747View attachment 2389748View attachment 2389749View attachment 2389750View attachment 2389751View attachment 2389752View attachment 2389753View attachment 2389732View attachment 2389733View attachment 2389734View attachment 2389735View attachment 2389737View attachment 2389738View attachment 2389739View attachment 2389740View attachment 2389741View attachment 2389742View attachment 2389745View attachment 2389747View attachment 2389748View attachment 2389749View attachment 2389750View attachment 2389751View attachment 2389752View attachment 2389753N

So many pretty birds! Your Silkie cockerel is adorable.

 

[Checota]

(7

So many pretty birds! Your Silkie cockerel is adorable.

they are my pet chickens. First for me as a farm girl to have pet chickens but there are some of them.

 

[Checota]

Still feel there is a cockerel amongst us BA Pullets. Plucked a feather and it sure looks pointed to me. Combs just beginning to pop will update in a week.

 

[The Happster]

Beautiful
Still girls haha.
How old are they now? They grow so fast!

 

[Checota]

Were bought as 4 week old BA from Murray McMurray received mid Sept so should be 11 to 12 weeks old. Have to say they looked pretty small for month old chicks.
They are pretty good size now so I would say they look like 10 to 12 weeks old.
They are with a silkie Rooster, from day one, the one BA pullet looked like a cockerel to me, as it matures I still see it. I don’t go by comb as much as some as I see when young cockerels mature with a rooster in close confines, puberty can be stalled a bit. I look more for stature, leg length and thickness, behavior some submissive cockerels can fool you ha going back and not as social....these tend to be less aggressive adult roosters. At least in my experience from the past.
But there are always those who surprise the heck out of you.
So here are the BA pullets or are they all pullets? You decide, so far from all responses the consensus is all are pullets! Let’s hope it stays that way.

 

[PDXJULES]

Still look like Pullets to me. What color are their Feet bottoms? If yellow they are Jersey Giants. By BA do you mean Black Astralorp? That's what I thot mine were too. Love em. Sweet Breed, not noisy layer or Drama Queens. I'd be happy with either.

 

[Checota]

No doubt they are Black Australorps. White bottom feet.

 

[The Happster]

They're girls.

Very pretty.

 

[NoBidnessButBussyAtiT]

Hi All,

We have started a project to assemble collections of photos to help people trying to sex their chicks. What we are aiming for, for each breed included in this project, is a collection of photos showing chicks of both genders at as wide a variety of ages as possible, up to an age where differences between male and female are obvious. Such a resource will allow people to see at a glance how old their chicks should be before they have a go at discriminating males from females. For most breeds, it should be possible to use such a collection of photos to either confirm or dismiss previously suggested diagnostic features, and it may even be possible to identify new features to help pick out birds of one gender or the other.

The most valuable photos will be those that show the same chicks at a variety of different ages, ranging from before to after their gender is apparent from the photos. Moreover, these photos should clearly show those features that are most useful for discriminating the gender of the relevant breed. Such series of photos are not nearly as easy to find on the internet as one might think! If you already have such a series of photos that you'd be willing to share, that's great. If you don't, but are currently (or shortly to be) raising chicks, please consider taking regular photos of them as they grow older, until they are old enough that their gender is clear. If you have a run of more than one chick of a particular breed, such a series of photos could be particularly useful, but of course you should make sure that the identity of individual chicks can be tracked through the series. In many cases this will be possible due to individual markings of the chicks, but if the chicks are sufficiently similar it may be useful to mark them yourself in some way (e.g. by loosely tying coloured ribbon or thread around their legs), or by putting a spot of waterproof marker pen on their beak.

Anyone interested in contributing to this project should get in touch with me. Together with Rob (aka Nifty-Chicken) I have set up a very rudimentary prototype showing roughly what form the resource could take (for just a couple of breeds) here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=102688-sexing-different-breeds

I'm tinkering away with this, but Rob and I are hoping that soon this project will get to a point where it will be possible for contributors to add photos themselves. However, we're not quite there yet, and until then, it would be really helpful if you could make yourselves (and the breeds you are interested in) known to us (so we can contact you when the resource is ready) and start assembling series of photos of chicks of known age and (initially) unknown genders. Also, spread the word the more people contribute to this resource the more helpful it will be. The breeds that we cover will be determined by the breeds that people show an interest in, but basically any breed that can't be sexed straight after hatching would be suitable for inclusion.

Thanks in advance for your interest!

Mark

Hi!, I really like this idea! I have searched and searched for this particular idea, for my own benefit, but haven’t managed to stumble on anything quite like you’ve described. I recently hatched 3 chicks, and have taken photos , specific for trying to Determine the sex so that I can use in the future. Identify the parents will get difficult if I continue to hatch, but at this time it was very easy to determine. I didn’t pose my chicks, nor was I mindful of backgrounds and such, since it was intend for my benefit, but I’m happy to share them with you, if you’d like. They are 4 week old Bantams.

 

[BuckeyeFoodie]

I'm late to this party, but I have a batch of Silkies hatching right now, and would be more than happy to do weekly photos as they grow. I'm even a photographer, so I could get real fancy and use my "big" camera for extra-high-definition images, lol!