Hi Everyone! Just wondering if anybody could give me some tips on finding out the sex of young chickens? Thanks
It depends on how young. From about two weeks, you can start suspecting which are roos by the speed in which their combs are growing in. Roos' combs will get bigger and pinker long before pullets' combs. Beware some breeds, such as leghorns, where the females' combs grow large too. The next giveaway is crowing. Most will start between 4-10 weeks. Beware the crowing pullets if there is no roo around. Finally I think from 10 weeks onwards, roos get their roo feathers: shiney pointy saddle feathers are a dead giveaway and will be like a neon light on any roo who thought he could get away with not crowing and hiding his comb. A lot of people look at leg thickness. I can't really count on that as I've had roos whose legs looked no larger than their sisters' counterparts. Above is the best way to sex in my opinion. If you were wanting to sex younger, you could YouTube vent sexing, which is both messy and difficult.
