Gender with head spot

[CayuseRanch]

So I am trying to sex my chicks with all the various techniques and see which is most accurate. The head spots all look the same to me so I thought I would let you guys weigh in. Also does any one know on feather sexin is it same length boy or girl.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not familiar enough with Cuckoo Marans specifically or barred chicks in general to be able to help you. The head spot on the girls should be smaller and sharper than on the boys. That's about all I know about them. Sorry!

 

[ChickenAddict92]

First of all, what breed are the chicks and how old are they?

I don't know if this'll help but all 3 of my Dominique chicks were girls and they had that white head-spot as chicks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What breed was the father? What breed was the mother? Was the father pure for fast or normal feathering and the mother for slow feathering? Was the mother barred and the father not barred?

 

[CayuseRanch]

Mom and dad are both cuckoo maran. I have some chicks that have the uneven feathers and some that do not. Now, let me just say that I am a believer that you don't know until it crows or lays an egg, but I am just tracking it for fun. For example...the one on the left...even feathering which I think means girl...Hung upside down by legs and it fought to get up, which means boy, hang by head and kicked like crazy which is supposed to mean Girl...but it also has the largest spot on head so that could mean boy lol. But just can't make a decision on all their head spots...they are mostly the same size so thought I would ask for opinions here.

 

[Lothiriel]

Check out this page on sexing Dominiques. It has been used successfully on Barred Rocks and Cuckoo Marans as well. http://www.dominiquechicken.com/Sexing_Dominique_chicks.html

I can't really answer your question on feather sexing -- I have no experience with it.

 

[stephanie1992]

My two black ones are Cuckoo Marans/ameracana x SLW. I wish i could tell gender by the spots on there heads. idk how to do that eaither tho.

 

[Flowerbh]

Google "sexing chickens". There are some great u-tube videos about sexing chickens. The primary wing feathers on a female have two lengths. The males have only one length. This must be done by the first 3 days of life. After that, you either have to wait and see, or learn to do the vent thing and I understand that is even hard for the experts.

 

[FarmGirl01]

I used that link for my Marans. It was spot on with all the chicks, except one.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

Google "sexing chickens". There are some great u-tube videos about sexing chickens. The primary wing feathers on a female have two lengths. The males have only one length. This must be done by the first 3 days of life. After that, you either have to wait and see, or learn to do the vent thing and I understand that is even hard for the experts.

For the feather sexing you need to specifically breed for it. So unless the OP bred those chicks to be feather sexable(fast feather gene carrying father to slow feather gene carrying mother i believe) it wont work.