*Is this true, or false?? Please help!*

for some breeds yes and others no. i dont know if it works on silkies but so far on my d'uccles its worked

 

Well, usually girls feather in faster I think. I may be mixing it up. Maybe it's boys who feather in faster? But this is just sometimes- and it's probably not true for silkies. No sweat.

 

with the feathering in fast gene its usally the girls that feather the fastest and again its not true for every breed. silkies are one of the hardest breeds to sex.

 

False! You can't trust rate of feather growth to determine gender. Just like an old wive's tale, it's accurate approximately 50%.

 

the chicks have to have it breed into them for them to have the gene which from what i have read usally is from a crossing. three of my chicks are part dominquis and part bcm and the pullets have been feathering in faster than the one cockerel

 

Slow feathering can be the result of a sex linked gene. Feathering rate can be helpful to some extent in predicting who will turn out to be hens or roosters in some birds under the right circumstances. If you are examining the right breed, of the right color, at the right age, where the genetics are known and you know what you're doing, it is a legitimate method. Check out this link for an example of sex-linked feathering rate used for sexing at the two to three day old mark:

http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/sex_linked_crosses.html

So technically, it is not a myth. However, feathering rate is not a very reliable sexing method in general, as genes act differently in different combinations (a phenomenon known as epistasis). Black Austrolorps, for example, are known to be slower feathering in general. Some colors of feathers also seem to be linked with slow feather growth, such as the chocolate gene.

 

Chickens have to be bred in order to feather sex them,


Feather Sexing Chicks

Color sexing chicks can be a difficult task and is dependent upon the phenotype of the chick. If a chick does not have the correct down color, then you can not color sex the chick. There is a way of using another sex-linked trait to sex chicks based upon the size of the primary and secondary feathers on the wing of a newly hatched chick.

Feather sexing chicks can be accomplished by crossing males that are homozygous for rapid feather growth or carry two rapid feather growth alleles ( k+/k+) with females that are hemizygous or carry only one slow feather growth allele ( K/_W).

The female parent contributes a dominant gene for slow feather growth (K) to all the male offspring while the female offspring will inherit only one rapid feather growth allele ( k+) from the father. This cross produces males that have slow feather growth (K/k+) and females that have rapid feather growth (k+/_W).


The following site provides an excellent example of how to tell the difference between a rapid feathering female (pullet) chick and a slow feathering male (cockerel) chick. You have to examine the feathers on the wings of the newly hatched chick. Wait until the down dries and examine the wing feathers.

http://animalsciences.missouri.edu/reprod/ReproTech/Feathersex/sld006.htm


The table below contains some of the birds that can be crossed to produce chicks that can be feather sexed.

Any of the males in the table, can be crossed with any of the females in the table to produce offspring that can be feather sexed. If you purchased your birds from a hatchery, check with the hatchery to see if the hatchery feather sexed the birds you purchased. If your stock was feather sexed, then the chickens can not be used for feather sexing crosses.



Information above from a post that tadkerson did on sex-linked chickens
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=261208


Chris

 

Absolutely False!!!!

 

again it all depends on the breed and the gentics on rather or not it will work its worked for me on my d'uccles and on my dom x bcm mixes