sex of chick

[wvgal61]

Any tips on tell the sex of any of these chicks?
Rhode Island Red, Buff Orphington, Americana, Black Giant Columbian Rock, Barred Rock, Brown Leghorn, Light Brahma, Gold Laced Wyandotte, Silver Laced Wyandotte, Gold Comet, Speckled Sussex, Partridge Rock, and Black Australorp

 

[hinkjc]

Wait 5-6 weeks and post pics in "what breed or gender is this" section.

You can usually tell by then on most breeds either through comb size/redness or color patterns. Sometimes stance will tell you sooner and hackles of roosters come in later.

 

[ary09]

How old are the chicks? If they are a day or two old, you can take their wings and spread them and you will see separated and still closed in feathers, I guess you could call it. If all of the feathers are an even length then it is a male and if they are two different lengths (one will be shorter that the other), it is female. After they are older than a day or two and the feathers begin to open out then it is hard to tell the length. Sorry for the bad word choice, I'm not sure what to call the still closed in feathers. I hope that info can help you.

 

[speckledhen]

Barred Rocks are fairly easy at hatch:

Males large, irregular, splotchy head spot with a band of "frosting" across the back of the head, plus silvery/grayish down rather than stark black, little or no black on the leg fronts.


Females small and/or defined head spot, very black down, dark wash of color down the leg fronts


All three traits must be taken together, not just one, to determine sex of a BR chick. It's about 90% reliable. Wing sexing is only possible for those breeds that have been bred for it.

 

[hinkjc]

Wing feather sexing only works if the birds are bred for it. It is not instant and reliable on all breeds.

Speckledhen offers good advice on the barred rocks. Sorry, I forgot to mention those are sexable as day old chicks due to sex link traits.