First time Chick raiser, Hatch day! Advice on sexing chick (photos)

[Ambera]

Hi,

I'm very excited, it's my first time raising chicks! Our friend gave us 6 eggs, 1 has just hatched at around 2 hours ago, and I'm still hopeful for a second hatching today/tomorrow. Our broody hen is only sat on 2 eggs now, 1 looked hopeful when I last candled them a week ago, the other I expect stopped developing.

Anyway, here is our little chick! I'm wondering if anyone can give any advice on sexing them? I'm a tad worried that since they have a larger comb and are black that they may be a cockerel?

I know you can use the wing feathers to sex them at one day old, so I plan to pick them up and get better photos tommorow when I move the chick (hopefully 2 chicks by then!) and hen to their new pen. Will post them then.

Also, here is a photo of the parents. The mother will be a red Lohmann hen (ex-battery), whilst the cockeral is a bantam. I'm not sure on his breed if anyone has any ideas?

 

[JedJackson]

Feather sexing only works for a few breeds and hybrids specifically bred for it to work. It won't work with random crosses. Nor will color of the chick be a factor. You will most likely have to wait until 6 weeks or so, and go by comb size and color then.

The father of the chicks looks to be a Cochin bantam. I'm really surprised with those parents that you would get a black chick, but genetics can do strange things sometimes.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

First of the chick is adorable!
With that comb that young id watch the chick very closely. Its a little to young to say for sure if its a cockerel or pullet. Ive never wing sexed before so hopefully others have input for that.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Feather sexing only works for a few breeds and hybrids specifically bred for it to work. It won't work with random crosses. Nor will color of the chick be a factor. You will most likely have to wait until 6 weeks or so, and go by comb size and color then.

The father of the chicks looks to be a Cochin bantam. I'm really surprised with those parents that you would get a black chick, but genetics can do strange things sometimes.

Im suprised its black colored to.
And I agree about the breed of the father.

 

[Fluffy_Moth_With_Silkies]

View attachment 3639431

This is a beautiful chick! I would just wait a few weeks until you can see a plain difference.

 

[NatJ]

I know you can use the wing feathers to sex them at one day old

You must have found some of those inaccurate sources that are all over the internet. Wing feathers can only be used for sexing if the parents have specific genes for how fast their feathers grow. For most chicks, it does not work.

Also, here is a photo of the parents. The mother will be a red Lohmann hen (ex-battery), whilst the cockeral is a bantam.

No, those are not the parents. A black chick will not come from those parents.

Is that the only possible rooster? If so, look for a mother that does not have a bunch of red/gold color. She might be black, or blue, or chocolate, or lavender, or white, or one of those colors with white barring or with white mottling. (That works out to: genes for an all-black chicken, possibly with some other genes that change the shade of the black to something lighter or put white bars or dots on it.)

If you have other roosters, the black color could come from the father or the mother, so look for at least one possible parent that is one of the colors I listed above.

 

[Ambera]

You must have found some of those inaccurate sources that are all over the internet. Wing feathers can only be used for sexing if the parents have specific genes for how fast their feathers grow. For most chicks, it does not work.


No, those are not the parents. A black chick will not come from those parents.

Is that the only possible rooster? If so, look for a mother that does not have a bunch of red/gold color. She might be black, or blue, or chocolate, or lavender, or white, or one of those colors with white barring or with white mottling. (That works out to: genes for an all-black chicken, possibly with some other genes that change the shade of the black to something lighter or put white bars or dots on it.)

If you have other roosters, the black color could come from the father or the mother, so look for at least one possible parent that is one of the colors I listed above.

Thanks for all the replies. Good to know that wing sexing won't work for whatever this crossbreed may be! I guess it will be a waiting game. Excited to see if another chick hatches, they could be a completly different colour then!

That's the only possible rooster, she has 5 hens and 1 rooster, all red Lohmanns- they all look like the 2 in the photo! Maybe he's a black rooster with just a lot of red feathering? I'm no DNA expert!

Just need to work out how/if I need to get the chick to drink now in the first 24 hours. The weather looks bad tomorrow, so I'm planning on just leaving them in the nest box until tomorrow evening when I can transfer them to the pen I've set up.... Since the chick is in a nest box, there's no real place to put water - nor are they leaving the warmth of mother! Maybe the chick will be okay until the broody decides to leave the nest/give up on the other eggs?

 

[NatJ]

Just need to work out how/if I need to get the chick to drink now in the first 24 hours. The weather looks bad tomorrow, so I'm planning on just leaving them in the nest box until tomorrow evening when I can transfer them to the pen I've set up.... Since the chick is in a nest box, there's no real place to put water - nor are they leaving the warmth of mother! Maybe the chick will be okay until the broody decides to leave the nest/give up on the other eggs?

The chick should be fine for 24 hours.

A chick absorbs the yolk just before it hatches. That means it can go 2-3 days without eating and drinking (like when chicks are mailed through the post office.)

Eating and drinking sooner will not hurt a chick, but waiting 24 hours will not hurt it either.

That's the only possible rooster, she has 5 hens and 1 rooster, all red Lohmanns- they all look like the 2 in the photo! Maybe he's a black rooster with just a lot of red feathering? I'm no DNA expert!

That is really weird.

No other rooster within the past 2 months or so? No rooster next door that could come visiting?

You don't have a rooster of your own, and your own hens haven't been with a rooster? (Because if one of your hens added an egg to the nest, we would be looking at an entirely different set of possible parents.)

If none of those is the case, I suppose the rooster being "black" with large amounts of red leakage is the only possible explanation. I certainly would not have expected THAT much red in such a case, but I suppose it could be possible

Just need to work out how/if I need to get the chick to drink now in the first 24 hours. The weather looks bad tomorrow, so I'm planning on just leaving them in the nest box until tomorrow evening when I can transfer them to the pen I've set up.... Since the chick is in a nest box, there's no real place to put water - nor are they leaving the warmth of mother! Maybe the chick will be okay until the broody decides to leave the nest/give up on the other eggs?

 

[Ambera]

Update: No more chicks

It's around 23 hours since the black one hatched, and nothing... I only think I have one viable egg (she is sitting on 2, one looked underdeveloped when I last candled it). However they're both quite small eggs... I just looked and there isn't even any pipping or holes in the shell so I don't think we will get any more chicks.

Sadly looks like this one will be a loner, I don't think there's anything I can do?

 

[NatJ]

Sadly looks like this one will be a loner, I don't think there's anything I can do?

You could try to buy some chicks to keep it company, but otherwise I agree that it will be growing up as a singleton.

A single chick raised in a brooder has problems, because it doesn't learn how to interact with other chickens. A single chick raised by a hen is mostly fine, because it learns from the mother. When the mother decides she is done raising the chick, it might be quite lonely for a while (too young to be buddies with anyone else in the flock), but at least it has the right social skills to fit in again when it finishes growing up.