FrknFaerie
In the Brooder
I recently purchased 5 2 week old IG chicks. I’m having a hard time finding very good information on sexing. At what age will I be able to determine sex? Are you able to sex them by wing feathers?
Indio Gigante Chick Sexing
- Thread starter FrknFaerie
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Pictures?
Some colors are Sexually Dimorphic, others Sex-Linked.
I am able to sex chicks by wing feathers, but at the oldest age of 1 week, so your's will be too old for that.
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- #3
FrknFaerie
In the Brooder
Wing feather sexing only works when the mother has the dominant slow-feathering gene and the father has only the recessive fast feathering gene. That is the scientific basis for wing feather sexing. Unless you know how the parents are set up genetically for that gene pair there is no scientific basis for wing feather sexing. If you believe in science, no, you cannot sex them by wing feathers without knowing how the parents are set up. I guess it is possible if you believe in magic.
It varies by chick. There are certain traits that males tend to have, certain traits females tend to have. Males tend to develop combs and wattles younger than females. Not always but sometimes. Combs and wattles also tend to be darker red on males than females. That's one of the problems for all these signs. Just because they "tend" to does not mean they always do. You can get some surprises. IG's supposedly have pea combs. Those can be harder than single combed chicks.
Males tend to have heavier, thicker legs than females. That's often a good giveaway. Males tend to have a more upright posture than females. But IG's have long legs and an upright posture anyway, that might make legs and posture less sure. I suspect once you gain experience with them you can get some help with that. This kind of stuff usually gets easier with experience.
Males often have a bold and curious personality. They will come out and greet you while the females stay in the background.
After their first juvenile molt after they feather out the saddle and hackle feathers on males will come in as sharp-pointed while the females have round feathers but that is about two months away for you.
At any stage it is usually easier to say that I have boy than that a specific one is a girl. Some boys can be pretty slow to develop.
You ask what age? On extremely rare occasions, less than 1 in 100, I can tell shortly after hatch that I have a male by posture and attitude. Usually around 5 weeks of age I can do pretty well at sexing them. Mainly by combs and wattles size and color, legs, and posture. But I remember one that I thought was a female until it was about 15 weeks old but I was wrong. It had a pea comb and was really slow to develop.
Good luck! Those are a very interesting bird, should be fun.
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- #6
FrknFaerie
In the Brooder
Can I ask what the deciding factor was for the cockerels? Based on another reply I got on being bold and quick to approach, I would say so too. I am very new to chickens so any and all advice/education is appreciated!
Comb size/color at the early age is usually a good indicator of sex.
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- #8
FrknFaerie
In the Brooder
Another thought, how many square feet per adult should I have for their coop? Recommended nesting box size?
For Large Chickens it's 4-5 Square Feet per Chicken.
Nesting boxes 14 X 13, or larger.
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- #10
FrknFaerie
In the Brooder
Thank you!!
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