Sexing Barred chicks
So I had some difficulty sexing my newly hatched Dominque chicks. But after using about 4 of the methods several of you had recommend, I was able to get it done. This morning they are a week old. I went through them all again. I had initially figured I had 6 roosters and 8 hens. But I was still questioning my accuracy. However I found something that the one's I previously felt most confident about being roosters, had in common. Where their three toes join, just above the webbing, from there down, their middle toe was solid yellow. There was not a hint of gray. Just solid yellow. And to support this when I had initially sexed them, I had marked 5 of the roosters with green bands, but one I was not real certain about, I had marked with a yellow band. The one marked with yellow did not match this toe criteria. However two of the one I had deemed as hens did. So I remarked all that met the toe criteria with green bands. I also rechecked using some of the previous methods I had used to confirm that these two new addition to the rooster count were justified, and it all seems to fit. I will know in a few months if I'm on to something, or I have just gone chicken crazy.
So I had some difficulty sexing my newly hatched Dominque chicks. But after using about 4 of the methods several of you had recommend, I was able to get it done. This morning they are a week old. I went through them all again. I had initially figured I had 6 roosters and 8 hens. But I was still questioning my accuracy. However I found something that the one's I previously felt most confident about being roosters, had in common. Where their three toes join, just above the webbing, from there down, their middle toe was solid yellow. There was not a hint of gray. Just solid yellow. And to support this when I had initially sexed them, I had marked 5 of the roosters with green bands, but one I was not real certain about, I had marked with a yellow band. The one marked with yellow did not match this toe criteria. However two of the one I had deemed as hens did. So I remarked all that met the toe criteria with green bands. I also rechecked using some of the previous methods I had used to confirm that these two new addition to the rooster count were justified, and it all seems to fit. I will know in a few months if I'm on to something, or I have just gone chicken crazy.
