Feather sexing day olds?

[Bettacreek]

On the "how it's made", they show them sexing chicks by the wing feathers. Is this only effective with certain breeds, or does it work for all? Does it work on silkies and cochins? The silkie chick I have would be female if this is true for silkies, and cochin's wing feathers are already too developed to tell.

 

[Harley's girl]

I seen that one too. I am not sure on the breed that is. The chicks were yellow. So they would have to be a white chicken, maybe leghorns or broilers. Those chickens are mass produced.

 

[Old Rando]

For feather sexing to work the males need to have the slow feathering gene and females are genetically fast feathering. Only a few breeds or lines have been bred this way.

 

[Wynette]

Feather sexing only works on American breeds.

 

[deerman]

Rock X Cornish cross

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Leghorns are Mediterranean class. Leghorns and Broiler Breeders are sexed using the feather-sexing method.

It just depends on the lines of the birds you have purchased from. If that line used a slow feathering male over a fast feathering female, then the chicks should be able to be feather-sexed.

 

[Bettacreek]

So, in other words, with my pure silkie and cochin chicks, I'm SOL? Lol. Shame too. How long does it take until you can figure out genders on these birds? These two are supposed to be pets, but I cannot have roosters, so I want to know just how attached we're going to be to these guys before finding out genders and possibly having to rehome one or both.

 

[Smartie_Pants]

Quote:
Silkies are one of the hardest breeds to sex, so you'll have to wait until the males combs and wattles begin to redden up, streamers come in, or the crowing starts.

I don't know much about cochins, I got my first last saturday and they are only a week old. I think though that you can tell around the same time as most other breeds.