chick size and sex correlation?

amcstay

Songster
11 Years
Sep 20, 2008
132
1
119
Austin, Texas
Hi All,

We got a batch of Amerucanas from McMurray last week and from day 1 we have had a chick that is HUGE in comparison to the others. We wanted only females and I know it's not perfect science but if she is substantially bigger than her sisters is she a she? Does size mean anything or will she just be a big girl?

Thanks!
 
You'll just have to let them grow up. The larger chick may have hatched from a larger egg, or it's heritage may contain a larger breed. Hatchery produced "Ameraucanas" are generally Easter Eggers, crossbred chickens that carry the blue egg gene to some degree or other.
 
Thanks for the reply - I figured it might be genetics, but since I've never delt with male chicks I also wondered if the male of the species was larger at birth......
 
I haven't raised that many batches, but of the four that I have raised, the accidental roosters all were larger than their brooder mates.

Most notable, however, are the legs, feet, and behavior. The legs are longer and thicker, and feet conspicuously larger. The boys are usually more aggressive. In my third batch, after exchanging just such a chick for what I was assured was a pullet, upon being placed in the brooder, "she" immediately ran around and gave a light peck on the head of every other chick. I named "her" Penny" since "she" was the color of a new penny.

Penny, a Buff Brahma, was a replacement for an Ameraucana chick that, when compared to the others, had thicker legs and much larger feet, everything else pretty much the same. Who knows? I may have had a pullet and stupidly traded it for a cockerel.

Six weeks later, I had to rename Penny Penrod. The legs and feet suddenly became too huge and the feathering too vivid to deny.

It's a paranoid experience, getting a batch of chicks and dreading the day you discover you don't have as many future layers as you had hoped.
 
out of my 3 i go 1 boy they were supposed to be girls he had thicker legs bigger feed my frendly, more edvencheruse, would go before the girls and the girls never leave each others side, he is bigger at only 4 weeks hes now 6 weeks has currly tail feathers, saddle feathers, brighter plumege, diffrent feathers for his top hat (hes polish) so sounds sadly like your have a boy but dont give up hope
 
I concur with what others have said. I don't have much experience, but in the batch of "girls" I got from MPC this Spring, the SS grew faster and had the thick, long legs and his tail feathers came in much slower. He also wasn't as friendly - right out of the box, he immediately grabbed the toes of his brooder mates and tried to drag them around. Guess he was just hungry because that behavior stopped after food was offered. But Easter Eggers can be very different. We got 2 girls in our first batch and one was and still is bigger than her "sister". Hope yours are all girls.
wink.png
 
I guess we will have to wait and see! "Her" legs and feet seem no bigger than the others, but she is just a big chick. Hopefully she stays a she since we can't have roos, but if not... we'll rehome her to a good person and go visit!
Thanks again!
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom