Determining Gender

[Gracie_Chickie]

How do you sex a chicken? We ordered 8 girls but have 5 chicks unsexed. I think 2 or 3 are roosters but I am not sure. How can I find out?

P.S. Are roosters agressive towards other roosters?

 

[Nugget]

I'm pretty new at this, but I'll give a try at an answer for you

Professionals sex chicks by looking at their vents for subtle differences between boys and girls. Some breeds have differences in feather shape bred into them so you can tell them apart. For the rest, you have to wait until about 2 months of age when they start getting the secondary sexual characteristics (redder and bigger comb, and the beginnings of a cock-a-doodle-doo).

Depending on breed, size of coop and run, and number of chickens, you might have some roosters (raised together) that can get along, but then again, they could be terribly aggressive to each other. Also, they get each other going with the crowing.

 

[Gundyegg74]

when the chicks are a few days old, you can take ahold of the wing and examine it's feathers. If all the feathers are the same length, it is a rooster. When some are shorter than the others, it is a pullet. It is 90% accurate.

 

[hinkjc]

Not true Gundy. Wing sexing, also known as feather sexing, only works if they are bred to be sexed that way...and this must be done within the first few days.


Jody

 

[silkiechicken]

To the untrained eye... you're gong to have to wait, as hinkjc said, you have to breed them especially for feather sexing. Rooster's will start comb devlopment at about 4-6 weeks old and have thicker legs than the girls. If you have a mix of birds though this can be trickier. As adults they will be much more obvious as roosters will have sickle feathers and hackle feathers to help adorn their big red combs.

Yes roosters will fight and if they don't, more than one roo per 8-10 hens will cause them to have alot of feather wear and you might end up with bald backed hens.