Feather sexing??

[TinyChickenLady]

I'm still new to sexing chickens and I have about 5 mystery breeds. I've seccussfully (with help from BYC folks) sexed 2 of them. Now on to the tough part (I don't have pics yet). I have 3 new babies. 2 of them started developing feathers a few days before baby #3 did. They were all hatched on the same day. The 3rd one has very stubby feathers and only one row from what I can tell whereas the other 2 seem to have 2 or 3 rows and their almost 3x longer than baby 3. Can I say that 1 and 2 are girls and 3 is a boy?

 

[HEChicken]

Quote:
No. Although feathering can be a way to determine gender, it is not perfect. I have a BCM decided was a boy at 2 weeks because the chick hadn't yet developed tail feathers and compared to the rest of the chicks the same age, had very little feathering. That chick surprised me and grew up to be a girl. There are a number of factors that need to be taken together to get an early idea and even then I don't say definitively they are one or the other until they are a little older. You can take into account feathering, legs (dainty little legs or thick legs with large feet) and combs and when you look at all of those factors together you can get a better idea. However I had a GLW pullet with enormous legs, and the BCM mentioned above who feathered out like a boy so if you only look at one thing or the other, they can still catch you off guard.

 

[TinyChickenLady]

Oh thank you!! I'm still learning and wasn't sure. I'd rather they all be girls because I already have one boy out of 5 so maybe I'm wrong and they're all girls. Thanks so much for your help! I'll post pics when they're older