How and when can i tell the gender of our chicks

bradandcas

In the Brooder
10 Years
Apr 26, 2009
60
0
39
Mandurah Western Australia
Hi All,
Cas and i went to a breeder today and picked up 3 x chicks, A - New Hampshire, Rhode Island Red and a Australop.

Got them settled in a decent size packing box which i taped up and cut a large hole in the side of it, lined it with some thick plastic and shreded news paper, some shifted soil and light amount of green grass.

My question is peeps

1. When will i be able to see if my birds are male of female

and

How the heck do i do as i would have a clue!
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You can usually start to tell around 4 to 6 wks. The cockerels combs will grow larger and turn pink/orange. They will also start to grow little pink/orange wattles. Your pullets combs will stay short and won't have any color to them.
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If that is cut grass its probably not a good idea. They can swallow it whole and wad up in their crop. and they would need grit to process it. did the soil have any sand or small pebbles in it? Sorry, do I sound paranoid?
 
yes i just ripped the grass with my hands not out of the lawn mover of anything.. There is sand and mainly black soil with no rocks that i know of.. ?? Do you think i should remove the sand/soil and grass? If so what should i use as a base?
 
Holden our 10 yr old pedigree staffi will be the next challenge as he has had a previious encounter with the neighbours chicken that flew over the fence a number of years ago...
The chicken wasnt so lucky and all holden's christmas came at once .... We want to avoid thius happening to our chickens so it will be interesting to see if you can actually teach a old dog new tricks so to speak


Holden - the chicken eater and general bird hater ( i thinks it because the crows and magpies steal his bones from the yard)

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Quote:
I totally agree.

I have a lab/mix that is the biggest chicken catching, feather pulling dog I've ever seen. She's caught 5 chickens and pulled their feathers out. The consequences for her were never good, but she still has never learned, so when the chickens are out, she stays up. That's the only fool proof, or dog proof, way of keeping the chickens safe.
 
Well looks like Holden gets to come inside when the chickens are out then... He has always hated birds and i didnt think he would be able to control his temper or stomach...

I will ask Cas to get the grass out now as i am at work. Thanks for all your help and advice guys its much appreciated..


The chicks survived their first night, It was quite cold this morning here 8 degress (C) and chicks were more than happy under the 100w globe which was reassuring to know. I got up like 3 times to check on them last night just encase something happened - paying for it now
 

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