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I have only the black and blue copper marans. I prefer the black copper. So, I was trying to hatch a heavy concentration of her eggs.
So far the only accurate way I have of sexing mine is waiting until they are 2 - 4 weeks old and watch for the pink combs and wattles.
The feather sexing worked for the person that I got my hens from as week old chicks. . . . FROM ALL THESE ROOS that I am hatching - - - I will be selecting a slow feathering roo and seeing in six months if I can produce some feather sexed chicks.
Let's see 6 months from now . . . one hatch per month . . . 7 - 10 roos per hatch Ummmm
That will be 35 - 60 roos! Each roo has to be fed for 2 to 4 weeks before being identified.
WOW - - - sure wish I could feather sex these babies!
Yes, this is the decision that I have made today!
There are others out there - - - Pink with the Davis line and Geebs ( I forgot which line she has - - but it is not Davis) - - - who can feather sex their babies with pretty good accuracy.
You might have seen my posts on sexing chicks by their noise...it takes just a few times to get the noise down that the cockerels make, but I have really good luck with it. I pick up each chick individually and listen for the tradmark trilling noise the cockerels make. The ones that don't make that noise are pullets. I will band mine accordingly and watch to see if I was right or not. everyonce and a while I'll get one wrong, but most of the time it works well.
I start doing this around a week or so old...so it does save alot of feed. When I've given people chicks as straightruns this is how I figured out how to balance things so they don't get all cockerels and have had really good feed back that there was a pretty even mix.
