Is it possible to tell sexes on 2 week old BO chicks?

[redfeather]

Like, with secondary sex-characteristics?

For instance, I noticed that four of my nine chicks have bushy little tails and lots of feathers, the other four have less feathers, sparse tails and combs that appear slightly larger than the "tailed" birds, also maybe thicker legs. So I am thinking (and actually quite convincing myself) that the more-feathery birds are females, and the less feathery more comby ones are males. I still can't tell with the runty one though, it barely has wing feathers, much less tail feathers.

Here's a picture of one that I think is a 'roo purely on the fact that it is not as feathered up.

Here's the runty "who-knows" one standing in front of the above chick.

 

[chicken wild]

:cdlooks like a roo to me.

 

[JulieNKC]

That's how my BO roo looked at that age. No tail, not as feathered out as the girls.

 

[redfeather]

this is so interesting... I am wondering if this is a trait common in all/most/many breeds? To me it is counter intuitive to think that the males would be developing their feathering slower than the females, as they're the ones with the fancy feathers later in life.

Oh, and also very cool- I posted an add for the little boys on Kijiji (ebay classifieds) and I already have one reply! If they want them though, they're going to be driving for an hour or more to get them!

 

[JulieNKC]

In this pic I think my chicks are around 3 weeks. My roo is on the right. Yhe girls had long tails, he had nothing. His wings and back weren't anywhere near as feathered out as the girls. And on his shoulders he had darker shinier gold feathers. Didn't know for sure til about 5 weeks, when his comb turned pink and he got a couple curly tail feathers.

 

[cochicks]

I've got two week old Buff chicks too. Only two, and they were sexed. Here's a picture!

http://ourbackyardhens.blogspot.com/

 

[redfeather]

Yep-- looking at my birds I am really positive about their sexes (except for the weird dwarfy one).

The males (less feathery ones) have slightly higher combs, and chunky legs and bodies.

 

[Stefrobrts]

I've probably raised ten batches of BOs in the last three years and every single time I was able to sex them pretty young just by looking at the combs - my boys always seem to have more pronounced combs. By three weeks I know for sure. I've never noticed differences in the tail feathering though. This year I'll watch for that!

 

[hinkjc]

If you got them from a hatchery, the odds are good that they were bred for feather sexing capabilities. Meaning, a fast feathering roo to a slow feathering hen will produce slow feathering roos and fast feathering hens. If you got them from a breeder, they don't typically breed this way and chicks are not able to be sexed by feathers (unless it's coincidence that the right breeder pair matched up to produce the results). Not all breeds are able to be sexed this way, as many from hatcheries are vent sexed.

 

[Dbl T in CO]

I have 5 Black Copper French Maran chicks that are 2 weeks old. I have 2 chicks that the tail feathers haven’t come in yet. Based on their behavior, I have thought they were roos. The other chicks have tail feathers and all seem to be hens. This was only an observation and then I read this topic and feel pretty confident now that I have 3 hens and 2 roos.