Day old exchequer leghorns

[laurarose]

I know I'm being impatient but I've had 4 exchequers hatch this morning and I've noticed that one chick has a large head spot and the others have small dots instead.

Is that an indication of their sex?

 

[Rhodebar Lover]

I not aware that you can find out the gender when they are only a day old, but once they become 4-5 weeks old you should be able to sex them fairly quickly because the males combs redden up quickly, while the females combs will stay yellow-ish. Happy hatching

 

[Spangled]

I know I'm being impatient but I've had 4 exchequers hatch this morning and I've noticed that one chick has a large head spot and the others have small dots instead.

Is that an indication of their sex?

Wow. I didn't notice that on my Exchequers! But then I had US Exchequers and you've got the real, country-of-origin-style Exchequers! That's exciting. (Different strains can have different features.)

I was thinking that maybe the Leghorn experts over on the Leghorn thread might be able to give you an educated answer.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/258532/post-pics-of-your-leghorns

I'm not aware of any head spotting that will help us sex mottled (mo/mo) day old chicks, but then the type of mottling (mo/mo) that Exchequers have seems to have some sort of genetic enhancer or modifier working with it.

If you want to follow your head-spotted chick as he/she grows to see if the large spot does indicate sex, you may have to band it since many chicks' new feathers are totally different from their down. (but you probably know that)

 

[BantamLover21]

I don't think Exchequer Leghorns are sex-linked. You should have a better idea of gender with your chicks when they're 6-8 weeks old.

 

[Wyandottes7]

I don't think Exchequer Leghorns are sex-linked. You should have a better idea of gender with your chicks when they're 6-8 weeks old.

x2

 

[laurarose]

Thanks everyone, I've read a couple articles that agree with you guys and some that say small head dots mean girls and a bigger patch on the head means a boy. But I'll take what you guys say on board and just have my fingers crossed that I only have 1 boy out of 6 according to the head dots.

Thanks again, much appreciated!