Day Old Chicks

[Dinos_rock]

Is there a way to tell a male chick from a female chick when they are only a day old?

 

[arlee453]

Depends on the breed.

Some breeds are sex-links - meaning that you can tell males from females from the color of the chicks, or from the wing feathers and/or how fast the chicks feather out.

Other breeds have to be 'vent-sexed' where a specially trained worker peeks inside the vent to see if the chick has boy parts or girl parts. Vent-sexing is only about 90% accurate, and most hatcheries only guarantee 90%.

Hope this helps.

 

[Dinos_rock]

Thanks. Is there anything I can do to tell if it is a hen or roo? (I am getting my chicks from a feed store and I don't know if I can trust the employees...

 

[Matt Berry]

The ones at the feed stores usually are bought from larger hatcheries that have already sexed them. The feed store employees don't have anything to do with the sexing of the chicks, so it isn't usually a problem.

With that being said, there still can be roos in with the pullets due to sexing errors at the hatchery, usually by 7 - 13 weeks old you will know what you have, and most feed stores will take back an unexpected roo.

 

[AtRendeAcres]

Day old Chicks are usually a few days old!

I get most of my chicks from Ideal so by the time I get them teir 2 days.

 

[Dinos_rock]

Thanks!