How do you sex a chicken?

[Sisters Farms]

can someone explain to me in detail how to sext chickens? I want to learn how to tell if my babies are roo's or hens

 

[Michael OShay]

What kind of chicks do you have, and how old are they? If they are very young, they can only be sexed by vent sexing (unless they are an auto-sexing type which can be sexed by color from hatching).

 

[Sisters Farms]

They're chocolate Orpingtons almost 4 weeks old

 

[shmccarthy]

They're too old to vent sex and you should really Only vent sex if you're professionally trained to do so, you can easily injure or kill the chick if you don't know what youre doing. That being said, the breed you have, you have cannot be definitely sexed at this moment. You can wait a few weeks until they are fully feathered and go by the development of the comb and wattles, and later at about 12-14 weeks, the development of saddle and hackle feathers.

 

[Michael OShay]

X2 on shmccarthy. Orpintons can be difficult to sex until they get older, but as they get older you will likely begin to notice a particularly masculine or feminine appearance in the individual birds, with the pullets smaller than the cockerels. The cockerel's wattles and combs soon become larger and redder than those of the pullets. Later on, they males will begin developing longer, pointed saddle and hackle feathers and at some point will start trying to crow. Important note: If a young chicken is crowing, it's a cockerel and not a pullet. While it is true that hens sometimes crow, it is rare and typically only happens with a hen that is several years old and has take over the role of the rooster in a roosterless flock.

 

[saltandpepper2]

Really can't tell too well at this age unless you're used to raising the breed. (like me

). what I usually look for is comb size, temperament, and feather development. Pullet's combs should still be extremely pale, and small. A future rooster's comb will be a tad more pink and starting to get larger. Roosters of this breed always seem to act very confident from an early stage, but that could just be me. I've also noticed from my broods, that the roosters feather out just a tad behind the pullets, and tend to be a little more awkward looking. I'll see if i can find pics of past broods to show you. If you post some pics, I'd be glad to take a guess at the genders for you

 

[Wyandottes7]

By 6-8 weeks, males will usually begin developing larger, redder combs and wattles. Around 16 weeks old, roosters should be growing in pointy saddle feathers. Until them, if they aren't a sex-linked breed and they weren't vent sexed, you really can't tell their gender for sure. Also, if a young bird crows, it is almost 100% a rooster.

 

[Sisters Farms]

Really can't tell too well at this age unless you're used to raising the breed. (like me ). what I usually look for is comb size, temperament, and feather development. Pullet's combs should still be extremely pale, and small. A future rooster's comb will be a tad more pink and starting to get larger. Roosters of this breed always seem to act very confident from an early stage, but that could just be me. I've also noticed from my broods, that the roosters feather out just a tad behind the pullets, and tend to be a little more awkward looking. I'll see if i can find pics of past broods to show you. If you post some pics, I'd be glad to  take a guess at the genders for you  

 

[HighStreetCoop]

I noticed the tail development on my Orps was a pretty good indicator of which were which. Those with stubby, square tails all turned out to be cockerels. Those with pointed, fluffy tails ended up being pullets. Tail structure was easy to note by 4 weeks, but it took until around 8-10 weeks for me to be sure the pattern meant something. By 10 weeks, wattle development was REALLY clear.

 

[BantamLover21]

By 6-8 weeks, males will usually begin developing larger, redder combs and wattles. Around 16 weeks old, roosters should be growing in pointy saddle feathers. Until them, if they aren't a sex-linked breed and they weren't vent sexed, you really can't tell their gender for sure. Also, if a young bird crows, it is almost 100% a rooster.

x2