revisiting feather sexing

[sewingca]

So, okay, of four eggs placed under my sweet broody, banty Shimmer, only one hatched. She seems to have given up on the other three - and perhaps I should also! I checked this kid's feathers the first day, Tuesday afternoon (only fluffy down), and then again on Wednesday. Of what I could see then, all the feathers were even. This indicates roo and tells me not to give my heart away. This morning, three days after his/her arrival, I can see an odd configuration. Am I wishful thinking or is this more accurate? Said chick is a mutt. Dad is either EE or Cochin. Mom is a mutt EE.

Caroline

 

[Ridgerunner]

You are talking about some feather sexing method I've never heard of. The only feathersexing I am aware of requires the rooster to be pure for fast feathering and the hen to be slow feathering. Since slow feathering is dominant and the hen only gives that to her sons, the freshly hatched males are slow feathering. The females only get a gene from their father with none from their mother so they are fast feathering. You can tell the difference by looking at the wings right after hatch.

Unless the parents meet the requirements of father fast and mother slow, you cannot feather sex chicks. Mutts are not usually known to be pure for this gene.

You can read better details about it near the bottom of Tadkerson's first post in this thread.

Tadkerson’s Sex Link Thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=261208

 

[sewingca]

Thanks for the reply, Ridgerunner. I looked again at the postings regarding the "long and short" of wing feathers. Apparently, the hatcheries breed for this specific trait so that the employees can easily sort through the chicks and send them to the food chain or the egg laying chain gang! I'm hoping I have a sweet girl, but now time will tell.

Caroline

 

[kerrysmommy]

i have tried this and my data i collected ended up wrong...at least me and my mom think.........i thinbk my 4mo old silkie is a rooster she thinks its a hen......

 

[al6517]

Feather sexing can only be done accurately when the birds are pure bred............. hatcheries don't and can't breed for this triat as all of their stock is very mixed and can and will include several other breeds to accomadate the increased egg laying in their birds. The hatcheries exclusively use vent sexing professionals or trained summer vacation High school kids in the case of Murray Mcmurray.
When inspecting a wing feather you really just look for that one small wisp of a long hair that alternates odd/even on the very tip, the feathers need to be well spread ot and seperated in order to see it well.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Feather sexing is different for different breeds and doesn't work at all for some breeds.

All bets are off for mutts.

 

[al6517]

Quote:
Bingo............... I tried it on my Cornish as that's all I raise and kept good records, I am at about 90% right now so it works on LF pure SQ cornish, better on the whites than colors. And yes Blue all bets are off on feather sexing hatchery and mutt's, well they are the same thing anyway that's why they vent sex. I can vent sex ok. clear the vent and all that but my vision ain't what it used to be so I need to get a better and bigger magnifying glass and a better light.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
You might want to watch the start of this video. You might learn something about Murray McMurray Hatchery. Like they do feather sex in a hatchery. And those doing the sexing do not look like high school kids.

It is not really whether the parents are pure breeds. It is whether or not the parents are pure for that specific trait.

 

[kerrysmommy]

Quote:
You might want to watch the start of this video. You might learn something about Murray McMurray Hatchery. Like they do feather sex in a hatchery. And those doing the sexing do not look like high school kids.

It is not really whether the parents are pure breeds. It is whether or not the parents are pure for that specific trait.

they just threw the chicks thats not right!!!!!!!!!

 

[al6517]

when you have 40 zillion chicks having to be handled every day, what do you expect. They can't handle the chicks with TLC and smootch to them and talk sweetly to them, otherwise the hatchery customers will get maybe 10% of their orders filled. I don't see a problem there day olds are very resiliant and it doesn't hurt them at all.