How to sex barred rock chicks?

[Chickenaddict]

Is there any way to tell the sex on 3 day old barred rock chicks? I thought i read somehwere on here that you could tell by the size of the white spot on their heads? I got 9 of these lil spitfires as packing peanuts in my order from ideal, My hubby is really digging them and wants to keep any possible hens. Not all look the same, some have bigger white spots on their heads and some have more white chests.

 

[ibpboo]

Its extremely hard to sex chicks. Another tale of how to do it, is to look at the wing feathers that are just coming in. Two lengths are girls, and all same length are boys. Not sure if it is true with all breeds, but it was true for my RIR's.
I think some hatcheries breed for this.

 

[KellyHM]

The feather sexing only works if the trait is bred for specifically. Supposedly the boys have a larger white spot and are lighter in color, but w/ individual variation it's really hard to tell.

 

[Lunachick]

Ask Speckledhen, I believe she's particularly good at it, she'd be able to give you some pointers.

 

[Guitartists]

http://www.dominiquechicken.com/Sexing_Dominique_chicks.html

Some of this applies to BR also. I find it was useful for explaining the head spot part

 

[Chickenaddict]

Quote:
Thanks so much for that link, it was very helpful. I also googled how to sex them and came up with alot of posts from BYC members. These lil buggers are chalked full of energy and are already bullying the banties. I may be rehoming them sooner than expected.