Dogs and chicks-More of a fun thought, but I wonder...

[FloorCandy]

Can dogs tell the difference in chick gender, and if so can you teach your dog to sort chicks before they can be sexed by human methods and abilities? I have 2 normal level intelligence dogs and one dog genius. She has opened the gate, and turned and around and closed it so I won’t know she went thru. So I’m wondering, can I teach her to indicate chick gender? Now that I will be making sexlinks again in a few months, perhaps I can show her how I sort them by gender, and she can maybe pick it up over time. She already runs ahead of me on an established routine, like getting the kids up or taking a shower and getting ready. She always knows the next stop on the tour so to speak, so perhaps I can get her to “anticipate my moves” when sorting chicks, and she might look at the expected receiving container. What do you guys think? Has anyone tried anything like this? I assume dogs can smell the difference. I had a parrot that could tell the difference in humans, even babies, and many dogs have human gender preference, I feel like it isn’t totally impossible.

 

[sourland]

She might learn to tell the gender in sex links by sight, but I doubt that there is a difference in gender odor for chicks.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Please experiment and report

 

[FloorCandy]

Please experiment and report

I’m going to try, it’ll be a long term project haha.

 

[Quaicken108]

I’m going to try, it’ll be a long term project haha.

Keep us posted on your way to changing the chicken industry!

 

[MDBird]

It will be interesting to see how it works out. I know I would have difficulty from the beginning trying to teach my dog the chicks weren't treats lol

 

[Captain Quark]

I own a scent detection dog and you most certainly could train the dog to sex the birds by scent. The issue would be finding out at what point in the quails development the pheromones are distinct from each other. I'm going to assume it is right away and "puberty" is not required. The issue would be obtaining a scent from a young bird that you can't yet sex. My guess is to start you would need to pick a baby bird, train the dog to that scent, allow it to grow until you can sex it. Dogs don't generalize well so someone more skilled with scent training planning than me could guide you in how to get the scents and start the marker behaviours. In North America there are many scent detection groups for the casual participant (like me) who are generally welcoming and would enjoy the challenge of helping you find a way to start up the training.

You would be amazed at what dogs can be trained to alert to for scent and many of the scents are obtained in unusual ways in order to teach them.

 

[FloorCandy]

I own a scent detection dog and you most certainly could train the dog to sex the birds by scent. The issue would be finding out at what point in the quails development the pheromones are distinct from each other. I'm going to assume it is right away and "puberty" is not required. The issue would be obtaining a scent from a young bird that you can't yet sex. My guess is to start you would need to pick a baby bird, train the dog to that scent, allow it to grow until you can sex it. Dogs don't generalize well so someone more skilled with scent training planning than me could guide you in how to get the scents and start the marker behaviours. In North America there are many scent detection groups for the casual participant (like me) who are generally welcoming and would enjoy the challenge of helping you find a way to start up the training.

You would be amazed at what dogs can be trained to alert to for scent and many of the scents are obtained in unusual ways in order to teach them.

Thank you for the reply. I plan to start hatching sex link’s that I can tell gender from birth. My husband suggested we put one female in a group of males, show her each one by one and reward her when we show her the female. And just repeat until she starts trying to nudge the female for the treat. I’m sure as we try I will adjust the method to what seems to get the best response.

 

[HappyDuckie]

This sounds like a really cool project! What breed of dog is it?

 

[FloorCandy]

This sounds like a really cool project! What breed of dog is it?

French bulldog