Question/Idea

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The items on the checklist would probably have to be a bit more objective than "I got a feeling", but like I said, I'm not even sure how viable the idea is. Maybe after data is collected, items with weak correlations could be removed.

Even the best of us had been fooled by a forward dominant female. The real answer comes with that comb development and wattles for most breeds at 4-6 weeks.

I would certainly follow such an experiment.

 

[CarpCharacin]

I'm still not totally sure how I'd approach this, like with either probabilities after a certain number of items checked, or mean of scaled scores for pullets and cockerels.

 

[casportpony]

Even the best of us had been fooled by a forward dominant female. The real answer comes with that comb development and wattles for most breeds at 4-6 weeks.

I would certainly follow such an experiment.

X2

 

[CarpCharacin]

I'll admit, I don't really know what I'm doing, LOL. But I think it's an idea that may be worth exploring further.

 

[casportpony]

Didn't you just hatch some? If so, do you think you could start doing weekly weight ins?

 

[CarpCharacin]

Didn't you just hatch some? If so, do you think you could start doing weekly weight ins?

I hatched some about two weeks ago. I think the first two hatched 15 days ago, and the last two hatched 14 days ago. I could weight them, but I feel like that may be variable depending on the breed. I'm interested in the behavioral characteristics.

 

[azygous]

This could include the myths passed down over years on how to tell male from female chicks.

• The shape of the egg that houses a developing chick, pullets eggs being round, and males being in elongated eggs. Not!
  
• Holding a weight on a string over the developing egg and watching it swing in a circle (female) or back and forth (male) Not!
  
• Candle an egg and determine if the embryo is male or female. Not!
• And last but not least, hold (please don't) a chick by the head and if it struggles vigorously, it's a male, passive, it's a female. Not!

 

[CarpCharacin]

This could include the myths passed down over years on how to tell male from female chicks.

• The shape of the egg that houses a developing chick, pullets eggs being round, and males being in elongated eggs. Not!
  
• Holding a weight on a string over the developing egg and watching it swing in a circle (female) or back and forth (male) Not!
  
• Candle an egg and determine if the embryo is male or female. Not!
• And last but not least, hold (please don't) a chick by the head and if it struggles vigorously, it's a male, passive, it's a female. Not!

That's why the items on the checklist would need to be vetted, and any items with insignificant correlations would need to be removed.

 

[R2elk]

I have an idea, but first I have a question. Would you say that there are behaviors visible in chickens from an early age that are indicatory whether they are a pullet or cockerel? What are they?

@red horse ranch noticed that pullets at an early age will scratch at the feeder with their feet while cockerels will just go up to the feeder and eat. I checked on this behavior and found the distinction to be accurate. It was easy to verify when observing my auto sexing legbars since I already knew which were which.

 

[casportpony]

I'm interested in the behavioral characteristics.

I understand. With ducks and peafowl, for me, I found the weight chart to be a good guide. if gaining a normal amount of weight, those at the top end were always male, those at the bottom always female.