Does feather sexing actually work?

[peafowl_Lover]

Hi, I heard feather sexing works but I'm not sure, my week old chick, Sesame has a lot of wing feathers and a few small tail feathers. Apparently this means she's a pullet? I'm not so sure. What do yall think? But anyway this is Sesame.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Pullets may feather in faster than cockerels so in conjunction with other indicators it could help tilt a guess in favor of boy or girl, but by itself it's not an accurate sexing method.

 

[Altairsky]

It's genetic. Some breeds/crosses can be feather sexed, others can't.
I just made a orpington x CL crossing that has a dramatic feathering difference between males and females. They're growing combs now so it's confirmed.
Female and male in the pic, notice the tail feathers.

 

[Tennessee Great Granny]

It's genetic. Some breeds/crosses can be feather sexed, others can't.
I just made a orpington x CL crossing that has a dramatic feathering difference between males and females. They're growing combs now so it's confirmed.
Female and male in the pic, notice the tail feathers.

I'm glad you posted the pic. I just got 6 blue Jersey Giants who for the time being are keeping my two baby buff Orpington chicks company. They'll need each others body heat to stay warm and alive once they go outside to the nursery. I was told I had six females by wings stretched out and looking at feather development- but the way he wing sexed was not like I saw wing sexing done on you tube. Its whether the stretched out wing feathers are in a straight line or overlapping and varying lengths. He also said tail feathers are a give away too, but he did not considered that when pronouncing they were all females. I have one that the feathers were not in a straight line and it has nothing of the tail feathers the others do so I am hoping for a male. Your picture really helped me see the tail feathers can be different- and yours have revealed their genders over time. I need the hope because I'll have to hunt for a rooster in the spring if I don't get a cockerel out of this batch of babies. Well who knows- I could have all males from the get go...

 

[Ridgerunner]

The first post in this thread explains how sex linking works and it gives details on how red sex links, black sex links, and feather sexing work.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sex-linked-information.261208/

For feather sexing to work both genes at that gene pair have to be the recessive fast feathering gene for the father while the mother has to have the dominant slow feathering gene. The father gives both male and female offspring his fast feathering gene while the mothers give their daughters nothing but give the boys the dominant slow feathering gene. So the girls feather out fast since all they have is their father's contribution but the boys feather out slowly as they get Mom's dominant slow feathering gene.

For this to work you have to know how the parents are set up genetically. If you don't know that you cannot count on the results.

Hi, I heard feather sexing works but I'm not sure, my week old chick, Sesame has a lot of wing feathers and a few small tail feathers. Apparently this means she's a pullet? I'm not so sure. What do yall think? But anyway this is Sesame.

Feather sexing does work if it is set up correctly. Since you apparently do not know how the parents were set up with the fast and slow feathering genetics you cannot tell that chick's sex by that method.

 

[Altairsky]

Its whether the stretched out wing feathers are in a straight line or overlapping

If a chick can be feather sexed, you need no stretching of anything. It's just blatantly in your face.
In my BOXCL crossing, males grows no wings for 2 weeks, and by 4 weeks they still have no tail, while females already have tail and wings by day 5.
If you need to look for a sex difference by stretching wings and checking them with a microscope, it means they can't be feather sexed. True feather sexable crossings are really obvious looking and fool proof.

Feather sexing can only be performed on chicks resulting from the mating of fast normal-feathering males with slow-delayed-feathering females.

I can't find a comprehensive list, but here is what I can compile from either experience, given information or very educated guesses based on other characteristics typically associated with one or the other:

Slow feathering:
Plymouth Rock
Brahma
Cornish
Cochin
Rhode Island Red
Wyandotte
Orpington
Jersey Giant
Sussex
Silkie
Delaware
Malay
Bielefelder
Shamo
Aseel/Asil
Java
Buckeye
Chantecler
Holland
Lamona
New Hampshire
Rhode Island White
Langshan
Crevecoeur
Dorking
Cubalaya
Turken

Fast Feathering:
Leghorn
Minorca
Ancona
Campine
Pretty much all high production egg-laying type breeds
Sebright
d'Uccle
Andalusian
Maran
Ameraucana (purebreds)
Serama
Japanese Bantam
Egyptian Fayoumi
Spitzhauben
Polish
Barnevelder
Faverolle
Houdan
Hamburg
Australorp
Catalana
Sicilian Buttercup
White Faced Black Spanish
Modern Game
Phoenix
Sumatra
Yokohama
Sultan
D'Anver
Nankin
Rosecomb bantam

And for an update on the chicks, all boys were boys and all girls were girls. 1000% reliability on feather sexing EE born from a male cream legbar and a female buff orpington.

 

[Tennessee Great Granny]

well, rather than get into a long drawn out genetic discourse on feather growth or whether it is appropriate or inappropriate to gently stretch out a wing to check certain areas of the lower wing feather alignment (not a big deal at all to a week old baby chick) and it's easier than vent sexing. I'm not paying for genetic testing on my chicks at all. This is for a family fun hobby not to prove we're bigger better smarter or more right than anyone else. I won't be using a microscope which I am not investing in- because there is zero need for one- I'm always going with my gold standard and waiting until they are about 4 to 6 weeks old and examining the combs. I don't mind trying the wing exam to see if it has any sort of accuracy to it. The idea is to enjoy our birds and their babies. Males have slightly bigger combs, and they are just starting to color. The females usually start getting color to their smaller combs about a week before laying. Besides my son is getting to where he can spot a male by their behavior early on and so far he's been right 100% of the time. We've raise thousands of baby chicks as a batch per month and handle them all because we often sell to first time chicken owners and to kids with 4 H projects. We want them docile and used to people. Sooner or later their gender becomes apparent regardless of how folks think they are sexing them. If someone wants to jump the gun and money is no object let them pay for genetic testing. If they want to wing it go for it, if they want to try to figure out vent sexing which is the earliest and closest to accurate I've seen thus far once they know how... so be it. Just know vent sexing is all according to the skills of the person performing the inspection. I knew a farmer who asked and paid for all pullets and got 12 cockerels, vent sexing failed him. I will say one thing about the leg dangling of turkey poults is ridiculous and extremely inaccurate. I think someone got lucky one time in their dangles and decided it was an accurate way to check. Everyone tried with Snowball my baby turkey. He was declared a girl from the get go but lately has grown a chest beard. The gobbles win. It takes us six months or more to sex a turkey accurately, ask me if I care- Snowball doesn't even need a name change. He's a beloved pet just as he is with his funny spunky personality. We sell the babies as unsexed poults or as mature adults after their genders reveal themselves. It's a win-win situation for us. We enjoy our bird babies, even when they are old- our breeding birds will always have a home with us even when they are done raising babies. They can die of old age.