Do pullet chicks grow faster?

[LaurenRitz]

I am finding a great deal of contradictory information.

There seems to be a consensus that boys grow faster as teenagers. That one I get. But who grows faster in the first few weeks? Is it breed specific? Some sites say absolutely boys grow faster, others absolutely that girls grow faster.

I have a group of 7 JG x RIR crossed back to the RIR. Of the 7, three are black and the smallest of the group. We'll leave them out for the moment.

Of the remaining four, the largest (assumed pullet because of the very distinct chipmunk stripe, also the most timid, first to hide, first to run) weighs in at just a hair over 1/3 lb. The smallest (assumed cockerel because it was the lightest of the group, the most bold and assertive, the one that climbs into my hand) is a bit under 1/4 lb.

Does anyone have actual information on whether one or the other grows faster in the first few weeks? Or is it just luck of the draw?

 

[azygous]

You and others may be confusing feather growth with general growth of baby chicks. It is true that in a number of breeds, pullets feather out much more quickly during the period immediately following hatch. But general growth, I believe, is pretty much the same rate, doubling size each week, for both sexes. There are, of course, individual anomalies where there can be subtle size difference among a brood which has more to do with general health than sex.

 

[LaurenRitz]

The smaller four (the three blacks and the one paler chick) are right on schedule for their expected weight at 2 weeks for a layer breed. That would be 115 grams, or 1/4 pound.

The remaining three are developing more like a meat breed. At 170+ g their weight comes in between the layer weight (115 g) and the broiler weight (360 g) for week 2.
Since I am developing a dual purpose breed, the higher weight was more expected.

If there is a gender attribute I need to know it for future clutches.

 

[NatJ]

There seems to be a consensus that boys grow faster as teenagers. That one I get. But who grows faster in the first few weeks? Is it breed specific? Some sites say absolutely boys grow faster, others absolutely that girls grow faster.

In general, the males will be noticeably heavier by age 8 weeks (assuming they are all the same breed.)

I have not paid attention to chicks in the first few weeks, to know if they grow differently right away.

If you are working with small numbers of mixed-breed chicks, you will just have to see what happens with each individual chick. It is possible to have a pullet that got more of the grow-fast genes and a runt cockerel that got more of the grow-slow genes or that just had a hard start in life. The more chicks you hatch, the more you will be able to see the overall patterns. Since you are currently looking at just 4 chicks, it will be hard to tell which things are related to their gender and which are just features of one particular chick.

If there is a gender attribute I need to know it for future clutches.

Within a few more weeks, you should be able to tell which ones were males vs. females, and that will give you a start on knowing how chicks develop in your specific line of chickens.

 

[skeeeter]

f1 hybrids tend to grow faster than either of the parent breeds. Now you are on f2, but with a backcross.. so anything could happen.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I was surprised that the black chicks are smaller, but their grandfather was a JG and very slow growing. I thought something was wrong with him for a while. They are right on track for a layer breed, though.

I can't compare with the f1, since all of them were the same cross. The segregation of traits is completely expected, and part of what makes landracing so interesting.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I was tracking a number of aspects with this group. Wing feathering, tail growth, wing growth, weight. The information I was finally able to find indicates that chick weight starts to segregate by gender at about week 5. I was relatively accurate taking these things as a group. I was wrong on 2 out of 7 from my 1 week guess.

The one thing that was correct was that the lightest chick at hatch was a cockerel and the darkest chipmunk stripe was a pullet. I was thinking I had a three way segregation, so I thought the lighter of the two with black head spots was a male. Nope. So both of the chicks with a distinct chipmunk stripe were pullets.

The other I was wrong on was one of the blacks. Wings stood out early and the tail came in full and distinct at 1 week. In all the other males the tail was scraggly and patchy, visibly downy, so on that basis I assumed female.

Based on my notes his tail came in a day or two ahead of everyone else, so that one may have been just timing.

On to the next test!

 

[NatJ]

I was tracking a number of aspects with this group. Wing feathering, tail growth, wing growth, weight. The information I was finally able to find indicates that chick weight starts to segregate by gender at about week 5. I was relatively accurate taking these things as a group. I was wrong on 2 out of 7 from my 1 week guess.

The one thing that was correct was that the lightest chick at hatch was a cockerel and the darkest chipmunk stripe was a pullet. I was thinking I had a three way segregation, so I thought the lighter of the two with black head spots was a male. Nope. So both of the chicks with a distinct chipmunk stripe were pullets.

The other I was wrong on was one of the blacks. Wings stood out early and the tail came in full and distinct at 1 week. In all the other males the tail was scraggly and patchy, visibly downy, so on that basis I assumed female.

Based on my notes his tail came in a day or two ahead of everyone else, so that one may have been just timing.

On to the next test!

That is all very interesting. Thank you for sharing your observations!