Novice question - how/when to sex chicks???

[reedyfork]

We just picked up a few day-old chicks yesterday to start our backyard, pet/hobby flock. We now have five little chicks, and the breeder claims they are RIR x Red Comet (?) cross.

Because we live in the city, we are limited to eventually three chickens and NO roosters.

At what point do I (the absolute novice) start to try and figure out what sex they are? And how exactly would I go about this? I assume this topic is covered in great detail "somewhere", but I just can't find it...

Thanks!

Ron

 

[satay]

As a genereal rule about 5 weeks of age of so you will notice if you have males that they are getting slighly larger than the girls and will have a darker red comb on their heads.
That or you will know for sure later on when one starts crowing.

 

[RAREROO]

Yep, about 5 wks you should start to see a difference, or keep posting pics on here and let us tell you.

BTW, With that cross you should get some (both sexes) that look light red with black tails (like Production Reds) and some that are light red with white tails (like Golden Comet hens),

 

[pedro24]

satay i agree around 5 weeks

 

[reedyfork]

Thanks for the input everyone. It definitely does seem like the most popular thing to do is for me to post a bunch of photos and let all the experts tell me what they are Probably a lot more accurate than me trying to figure it out...

I'll make a note to check at 5 wks. and go from there.

Thanks again.

Ron

 

[fiberart57]

What I found with my eleven chicks was that the legs of the male birds were thicker, or more masculine, than the pullets. We ended up with two roosters and both had big, thick legs before tail feathers or crowing.

Mary