Sexing baby chickens??

[mumoffive_au]

What is the easiest way to tell the difference between rooster chicks and hen chicks?? Need to seperate them.

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

There are many ways to tell them apart If they are sexlinks you can tell by color. I would suggest using the search feature on the forums to find more information on the other ways.

 

[hinkjc]

Chicks can be vent sexed, wing sexed or sexlinked. Each of which not many average folks can do with success.

Vent sexing is just what hatcheries do..typically by highly trained people who know what to look for. Inexperienced hands can cause damage to the chick and are usually inaccurate in their guesses of what they see upon examination.

Wing sexing must be bred for. Breed a fast feathering roo to slow feathering hens and the resulting offspring are the opposite. The problem with this is most folks don't know if their birds are fast or slow feathering and then to match them up for wing sexing is not always possible.

Sexlinking works for various crossings to produce differing colors. The most common are barred rock, red sexlink and black sexlink. Unless you're breeding the right birds for sex linking, you will not succeed with this method either.

Sex linking is probably the easiest to attempt of the three. Most backyard chicken people just wait the 5-6 weeks to identify the gender of their chicks. Sex characteristics become more evident at that time.

Jody

 

[animal nut]

Alright... I have 16 Golden Comets pullets that I ordered.(one is extra) They are now 5 weeks old. What am I looking for when I am trying to determine the males? They are light colored and rust colored. Some are more rust than others, but most have alot of both colors.

 

[juliechick]

If you ordered pullets, they should be all female. With Golden Comets, the hens would be red with white feathers on their behinds. The roosters are mostly white, just some red on their wings. Could you post a picture?

 

[hinkjc]

Yup, golden comets are sexlinked from the hatchery and should be easily identifiable like Juliechick said. If you post pics, we could say for sure.

Jody

 

[animal nut]

Thanks, we have been trying to find out if we had a roo. I do not know how to post a picture. But what you are saying makes since. So, you don't think the extra is a roo? I kind of hope not. Sexlinks are hybrids correct? So what is crossed to get the Comet?

 

[hinkjc]

Here is some more info on sex links and the Golden Comet. http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sex-links/BRKSexLink.html

Jody

 

[mumoffive_au]

Thanks all. I still don't no what sexlink is though? I can't get pictures at the minute. But the chickens are pure bred New Hampshire. I just want to reduce my numbers in roosters at the minute, need to no how. The roosters seem to have a bigger brighter comb then the hens. Chicks are 5-6 weeks.



[a giggle is so contagious, give me that pox...]

 

[dastardlydeed]

i ordered a few straight run ameracaunas. i got twelve. i will take pics in the morning. HELP!