Determining Breeds/Sex of 3 Week Old Chicks

[Dairyguy100]

I Have in my group:
Australorps
Barred Rocks
Black Sex Link
Red Sex Link
Calico Princess
Amberlink
California White
Easter Egger
Cornish Rock
White Silkie Bantam
New Hampshire Red
Silver Spangled Hamburg
Asian Black


My biggest issue at the moment is I am having problems determining what is an Asian Black and what is BSL pullet, what is a barred rock and what is a BSL cockerel, and my Amberlink pullets from all the males of the other sex linked cockerels. Or will I just have to wait it out. I have noticed certain birds are growing much faster than others. Certain barred and certain white chicks are much larger than my known pullets.

 

[Gray Farms]

3 weeks is much to young to determine sex. If you post pic some of the breeds could be determined. Easter Eggers, Silkies, and the Hamburgs could be determined, but not likely the rest as of now.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I assume these are all chicks you got from a hatchery? I assume you got them straight run, even the sex links? How do you know you have "known" pullets?

Saying some are sex links or EE's confuses it even more. The EE's have no standards so could have any traits. You can make sex links many different ways. You might be able to go to the hatchery website and get some info on them that might help, but I would not count on it.

The Cornish Rock will soon show themselves by size. They will grow so much faster than all the rest they will be easy, even the females. Looking at your list I'd suspect all the larger white ones are the CX. I don't know which ones your larger barred ones are.

I'm not familiar with all those chicks and what they look like as chicks. The type of clues I'd look for to determine breed would be comb types and skin or leg colors. But again your sex links or EE's could mess that up, you just don't know what they have.

As far as sex goes, you may be able to tell the sex of certain ones by appearance by 3 weeks but usually not. Usually it is easier to say this is a boy that it is to say with certainty this is a girl. For the most part you are probably going to have to wait on both sex and breed for the majority of them.

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

Posting pics of them at 6 weeks will help a lot. We will be able to tell the gender, and they will be almost fully feathered out at that age, which will help in telling the breeds apart.

 

[Dairyguy100]

Okay thanks. So everything came from two different hatcheries. Some I know came sexed already. So I know certain varieties I only have pullets in. But the varieties I got in straight run are what’s giving me difficulty. I think I will wait it out a few more weeks before I do anything more.

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Okay thanks. So everything came from two different hatcheries. Some I know came sexed already. So I know certain varieties I only have pullets in. But the varieties I got in straight run are what’s giving me difficulty. I think I will wait it out a few more weeks before I do anything more.

Enjoy them while they're young; they grow crazy fast!

And yes, please update us with pics around 6 or 8 weeks.