how to sex 1 week old chicks??????????????????

[Erebus]

I'm getting the impression that because I have a very mixed breed flock anything other than vent sexing is going to be particularly hit and miss.

So long as I can tell more or less by 8 weeks I should be okay though because the hens are going to friends who want their own chickens and the roosters are for the pot (unless they look really impressive or different in which case I'll keep em to breed).

I've been told to "wait till they crow" but I also heard that if the younguns can see the alpha rooster they won't try crowing until they are big enough to stand up to him in a fight, by which time I'd assume the meat would be pretty toothsome

If anyone can find me some good vent sexing video footage I'd appreciate it.

 

[mrsfarmchick1]

I didn't know if someone replied about telling you at one week old if a chick is male or female.... My relatives that have raised chickens for a while told me that by one week the females get longer/horizonal tail feathers and sure enough, a couple of months ago when I hatched some chicks I realized that it was spot on - all 4 had longer tail feathers at that age and they were all pullets. 10 days ago, another broody hen hatched out a single chick and it has distinctively shorter tail feathers that are at a 45 degree angle and so I'll wait to see if it is a cockerel....

 

[Erebus]

Let us know how you go with that

I'm not sure it's going to help me much because my chicks have such mixed stock (RI, BR, banty, shaver, possibly LH and maybe australorp) so they are all different sizes and characteristics when they hatch. I could see feather length being useful if the chicks are all the same breed, but as these are free-range birds and sometimes sitting on eggs OUT of the nest boxes it's sometimes difficult to even tell who the biological mothers are.

I think this season coming up (it's winter here in the sth-hemisphere) I will be making an enclosed run so I can control which hens are being seen by which roos etc.

 

[mandelyn]

I've had pretty good success with checking out their comb. When I first started with chicken when I was a teenager, I kept more than I sold and often bought more where I had to do my best to tell gender myself (so that the seller doesn't get stuck with all boys by selecting out only girls for buyers) I was wrong twice in buying.

Now it seems easy to me when they hatch. The boys of single comb varieties will have a very bright yellow or even pink comb from the start, as small as it is at that time. The girls, depending on breed, will have dark, drab, black spots, ect on their pathetic little combs. I like to see pathetic girl type combs! The more perky or bright worry me, almost always boys.

Rose comb types I think are easier than single comb. The boys appear to have a wider base for the comb to grow in, while the fuzz on the girls is closer and seems to look like there isn't a lot of room for a big red rose comb to grow. When I selected my hamburg chicks, I looked for the ones that didn't any pink at all in the comb, as well as having a small comb base, and it still being flat instead of rising higher in preparation for a rooster style growth spurt.

My last hatch of Marans and Golden Lakenvelders... transferring them from the hatcher to the brooder... Girl, Girl, Girl, Boy, Girl. 10 weeks later, I was right.

I can't do it with Silkies or breeds with a weird comb I'm not familiar with. I stick with either single or rose comb types until I learn vent sexing. I need to learn the vent sexing for ducks... they don't have combs.

After 4 weeks I start throwing around a lot of "maybes" and second guessing myself. Some just grow different than others and leave you guessing. So I go for fresh out of the egg or closer to 8-10 weeks and avoid that middle area of awkward looking chicks. Could be a slow growing rooster or a fast growing hen. Right from the egg is best... a smashed up folded over comb is usually a boy, wait a day while he dries out and that comb shoots upward... mini rooster from the start! I had one Cochin roo and a Black Bantam come out with pink combs from the start. Their girlfriends had black little drab combs, that hatch was too easy to sex.

Anything having to do with legs dangling just so, necks just this way.... anything that doesn't deal in actual physical attributes of the chicks are bogus wives tales.

You have a 50/50 shot at being right anyways no matter what method you choose, but try to stick with ones dealing with color coding, vent sexing, comb evaluations, I haven't ever tried feather growth comparison, I'll try that with the babies hatching now since I can tell who is who without the feather testing.

The more you hatch and try and stay within certain breeds, the easier it gets as you develop an eye for it. Took me A LOT of hatches and growing them out to get onto something that actually worked. The first hatch or batch of chicks, I was just as confused as everyone else. Look for those subtle little details.

It helps when you're learning to have two brooders and sort them based on who you think is a boy or girl. Then you sit back and watch the growth.

I'm lost on ducks until their voice changes. Until I learn to vent sex, I have to wait it out until 5/6 weeks.

Edited to add this photo, I labeled the obvious girl and boy. The other two were girls too but you can't really see as well. These are Black Cochin Bantams... note the yellow slightly taller comb on the boy, and the black drabby small one on the girl...

 

[afj6710]

Quote:
I've always heard that 4-5 months was the ideal time for "harvesting" the birds - enough meat and not too tough.

By then, you should have a pretty good idea which one are Roos.

 

[creekrats]

Quote:
I don't think that's always the case. I have two adult roos and a whole bunch of chicks. My 3 months old cockerals are crowing now. And they're in sight of the bigger roos. In fact, I've let them mingle with the grown chickens.

Each morning and night we'll hear our two adult roos crow and immediately after each crow, we'll hear these pitiful little attempts at crowing. It's actually quite funny to listen to them.

 

[Erebus]

Thanks heaps for the input

My PBR boys are just coming on 21 weeks now (planning on eating one today) and looking quite flouncy in the tail department, but not a crow to be heard.
They squawk a bit if the cat upsets them but no actual crowing. When they were younger we had two mighty RIR(ish hybrid) roos and currently we have just the one.

 

[tiny529]

Quote:
Wow... I hope this isn't true for all Doms because if it is, I've got a male when I ordered a female! My Dom is my favorite...

 

[speckledhen]

That sexing rule is accurate about 90% of the time so on some, the traits will be confusing. Some girls look lighter than normal or will have larger head spots than normal for pullets.

 

[tiny529]

I sure hope so...

Here's my Dominque...

That's a big head spot and awfully light legs...

*edited* Wait... Her toes are light but her legs are dark... Woohoo!