Just a bit of a rant about buying sexed Chicks!

[RM44]

I'm sorry you're having such bad luck with the sexing. If you've got the space and time, I think you're getting some great advice for hatching your own from these BYCers. If you don't have the space and/or time, I would find a more reliable source for getting them in the future. I ordered 25 pullets (4 different kinds) from Welp last Dec., and 24 of 25 were girls. I got one boy, and something was wrong with him so he had to be put down at 8 weeks. All the others turned out to be pullets. A good hatchery has a pretty decent rate of sexing. Also, if you buy from TSC or other store, consider that the customers can often screw up your ability to get pullets when they pick up a chicke out of the "straight run" bin, and then put it down in the "pullet" pen when they want to look at a different one. Many of the folks I saw at TSC were letting their kids pick up chicks while they shopped, and the kids where just randomly putting them back in wrong places.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
Yeah I just noticed that the OP said RIR and BR in their siggy line

 

[Chickenfur]

the best thing you can do to get all hens is to get BRs or BSLs, in my opinion they are the easiest to tell apart. all that you have to do, is check your feed store when they get shipments, or (if your feed store lets you) request a certain breed, and then look at them all, and to make sure you don't get any boys, get only the ones without a single speck of white on their heads.

 

[speckledhen]

to make sure you don't get any boys, get only the ones without a single speck of white on their heads.

That's for Sexlinks only. BR pullets do have head spots. Just wanted to clear that up.​