Easter Egger Sexing "tips and tricks" *Pictures Included*

[califarmgirl]

Meredithfair he is so pretty!

 

[meredithfair]

Walking on sunshine, Debid - thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[GhostRider65]

My 5.5 week old EE. I think she is a he, but someone suggested that I ask you all as you seem to be the EE experts. This pic is about a week old, so I can get some more recent ones if needed. Thanks!

Cute babies........ wondering where ya got the outside octagon cage?

 

[heby]

Where did you get them?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/292218/feather-sexing-young-chicks

You can't feather sex EEs.

Feather Sexing Chicks

Color sexing chicks can be a difficult task and is dependent upon the phenotype of the chick. If a chick does not have the correct down color, then you can not color sex the chick. There is a way of using another sex-linked trait to sex chicks based upon the size of the primary and secondary feathers on the wing of a newly hatched chick.

Feather sexing chicks can be accomplished by crossing males that are homozygous for rapid feather growth or carry two rapid feather growth alleles ( k+/k+) with females that are hemizygous or carry only one slow feather growth allele ( K/_W).

The female parent contributes a dominant gene for slow feather growth (K) to all the male offspring while the female offspring will inherit only one rapid feather growth allele ( k+) from the father. This cross produces males that have slow feather growth (K/k+) and females that have rapid feather growth (k+/_W).


The following site provides an excellent example of how to tell the difference between a rapid feathering female (pullet) chick and a slow feathering male (cockerel) chick. You have to examine the feathers on the wings of the newly hatched chick. Wait until the down dries and examine the wing feathers.

http://animalsciences.missouri.edu/reprod/ReproTech/Feathersex/sld006.htm


The table below contains some of the birds that can be crossed to produce chicks that can be feather sexed.

Any of the males in the table, can be crossed with any of the females in the table to produce offspring that can be feather sexed. If you purchased your birds from a hatchery, check with the hatchery to see if the hatchery feather sexed the birds you purchased. If your stock was feather sexed, then the chickens can not be used for feather sexing crosses.

I got them from a local breeder that bred them.

 

[my sunwolf]

Thank you HeartMoss Farm. I think I'm starting to understand how to tell the difference. I'm so thankful for this thread!

Oh, I misread your post, you did think she was a pullet! In that case, I think you're right

 

[debid]

I got them from a local breeder that bred them.

Oh. You bought straight run, then. There are lots of folks who misunderstand how wing sexing works and think it works on any chick or any chick of certain breeds, etc. I've seen it on BYC a number of times with people insisting that it works for them or that they've never been wrong or whatever. I call hogwash on that.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Quick question for everyone--I'm getting pretty good at sexing EEs, but I have some babies that have no Ameraucana blood in them (lemon blue cuckoo Marans over RSL) and I got to wondering--can you sex other kinds of birds by the color method if they have red patches on their shoulders, or just EEs?

 

[aoxa]

Oh. You bought straight run, then. There are lots of folks who misunderstand how wing sexing works and think it works on any chick or any chick of certain breeds, etc. I've seen it on BYC a number of times with people insisting that it works for them or that they've never been wrong or whatever. I call hogwash on that.

Quick question for everyone--I'm getting pretty good at sexing EEs, but I have some babies that have no Ameraucana blood in them (lemon blue cuckoo Marans over RSL) and I got to wondering--can you sex other kinds of birds by the color method if they have red patches on their shoulders, or just EEs?

Yes you can. The deep mahogany blotches on wings are only seem in males.


Here is a NN male I'll use as an example..







Two other examples...

I have a full sister of Phoenix. She has the exact same parents and note how faint her colouring is. Not showy at all like her brother:




Isn't Phoenix something else?!

Oh and it also works that way in partridge colouring.


Here's another one!

 

[lualshannon]

Yes you can. The deep mahogany blotches on wings are only seem in males.


Here is a NN male I'll use as an example..







Two other examples...

I have a full sister of Phoenix. She has the exact same parents and note how faint her colouring is. Not showy at all like her brother:




Isn't Phoenix something else?!

Oh, my! your birds are simply gorgeous!! The last one is breathtaking!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Yes you can. The deep mahogany blotches on wings are only seem in males.


Here is a NN male I'll use as an example..







Two other examples...

I have a full sister of Phoenix. She has the exact same parents and note how faint her colouring is. Not showy at all like her brother:




Isn't Phoenix something else?!

Oh and it also works that way in partridge colouring.


Here's another one!

Thanks, aoxa! You're the best! And those Phoenix are absolutely amazing birds.

(this does, unfortunately, mean I have another cockerel to rehome or cull...)