Sexing baby chicks

[Pipsqueek]

Hi everyone,

Since our chicks hatched on Sunday, all we can do besides play, marvel, and clean is ask, do we have any hens??

So yesterday I began to notice a difference in tail feathers. Is that a sign? Three have "blocky" type feathers and two have 'sparse' type feathers.


I will attach pics. I hope you can see what I am seeing. My camera doesn't do well in indoor light.

These 3 have blocky type tail feathers:


Here's one w/"blocky" and one with "sparse"


Here's the sparse closeup:


Thank you in advance for any info

 

[Bridebeliever]

Cute little black poofballs! What are they? Some say you can tell by wing feathers in the first week. I don't know though. I think I looked on YouTube under sexing baby chicks wings. It may just be a tall tale!

 

[Michael OShay]

Wing sexing is not a reliable way to sex chicks unless they are specifically bred for sexual feather dimorphism. In this case, these chicks are all way to young to sex. I would suggest re-posting their pics in about 6-7 weeks. By then there gender should be much more obvious. )

 

[drumstick diva]

agree with Michael

 

[Pipsqueek]

LOL, Darn

Well, I just thought it was interesting to see the difference here. Their tail feathers are clearly developing differently.

The rooster of these 5 chicks is a Black Copper Murans. Four eggs were from an Ameraucana, and one egg was from a RIR.
The RIR was the last to hatch, and we thought it would come out brown, but nope, all black like the rest. Funny, they all look like our Australorps when they were chicks, all black w/creme spots. I know the BCM hen is all dark like Australorps, so maybe the cockerel is the dominant gene here.

This is our first time hatching chicks and we were surprised when they all came out black w/creme colored spots, on chest, eyes and wing-tips. Thought they'd look more like the hen. Oh well, we are not disappointed by any means, we just want to know the sex. I guess this is part of the game.

Thank you all!!

 

[Pipsqueek]

I just updated my avatar and it shows our first flock.

The Ameraucana closest to the Roo is the hen from 4 eggs, and we have no idea which RIR is the hen of the one egg. Wish I had added one more RIR egg to the batch. They lay very well and regular. Seem to be very hardy.

 

[dheltzel]

Chick down color is a pretty well understood gene. I am not at all surprised that all the chicks were black, if the BCM is pure, then he is homozygous for extended black chick down and that is dominant over all other variations except dominant white (like a white leghorn).

The down is not a very good indicator of the color of the adults, you can get a lot of colors showing up as the chicks grow. That adds to the fun when crossing breeds.

 

[Free Feather]

Black Australorps are slower feathering in my experience, so boys and girls are harder to tell apart for a longer time.

 

[Michael OShay]

LOL, Darn

Well, I just thought it was interesting to see the difference here. Their tail feathers are clearly developing differently.

The rooster of these 5 chicks is a Black Copper Murans. Four eggs were from an Ameraucana, and one egg was from a RIR.
The RIR was the last to hatch, and we thought it would come out brown, but nope, all black like the rest. Funny, they all look like our Australorps when they were chicks, all black w/creme spots. I know the BCM hen is all dark like Australorps, so maybe the cockerel is the dominant gene here.

This is our first time hatching chicks and we were surprised when they all came out black w/creme colored spots, on chest, eyes and wing-tips. Thought they'd look more like the hen. Oh well, we are not disappointed by any means, we just want to know the sex. I guess this is part of the game.

Thank you all!!

You're welcome.

 

[Pipsqueek]

Chick down color is a pretty well understood gene. I am not at all surprised that all the chicks were black, if the BCM is pure, then he is homozygous for extended black chick down and that is dominant over all other variations except dominant white (like a white leghorn).

The down is not a very good indicator of the color of the adults, you can get a lot of colors showing up as the chicks grow. That adds to the fun when crossing breeds.

Ah, thank you. That's good info.

Yes, we're so excited to see them evolve into their feathers. It'll be interesting. I'll let you all know if the tail feather thing did by golly distinguish the sex. Those two sparse tailed ones, they kinda act like little Roos, too! (blah!)

We chose only rounded eggs to see if that old wives tale worked..... LOL, I don't think so!