This is just for fun, for anybody who would be excited by being able to see the difference in sex between younger chicks. This is my first time ordering chicks, and I specifically ordered two male RIR and some female RIR, in my batch of 15, from McMurray. Even at about 3 weeks, I was starting to see a difference is the prominence of the comb. Now at 5 weeks, I can even see the start of the wattles on the cockerel. It's silly, but I am really thrilled to be able to tell the difference myself - it's kind of a milestone for me, being pretty inexperienced with raising little ones. This is the first time I've had a known mix of male and female of the same breed, so it's been really educational.
That's a really nice picture showing the difference, the boy sure looks like a boy. It is amazing how early you can tell the difference sometimes when you have them there and interact with them every day.
It's great to be able to see the differences, but if I didn't know I had some of each sex, I don't know if I'd be able to guess what they were. They seem to be coming along nicely; I've been very happy with the whole experience of ordering from McMurray and I would definitely order from there again! I ordered on a Friday and they were here on the following Monday, firs thing in the a.m., all healthy and peeping away. Now, if I could only tell whether the mystery chick is a boy or a girl...