"Sexing" Chicks (INCLUDING Silkies!!!)

[Queengoddess]

So, I've always been told that it is extremely difficult if not impossible to sex Silkie chicks. In fact, when I first got my Silkies, I was told there was no way to know what the sexes were until they started crowing or laying eggs.

HOWEVER, today I met a lady who claims to have a tried-and-true method of sexing all chicks, including Silkies. Here's the method:

You hold the chick up by the fatty part at the back of the neck (just like you would a kitten).....if the chick draws its legs up to its chest, it is a rooster. If the chick's legs stay down in a dangling position, you have a hen. This lady has checked this method on her entire flock of well over 150 birds and says it is 100% accurate.

Anyone else heard of this way of "sexing" chicks? Any doubters? If yes, why?

 

[AnimalLover99]

ive heard of it, i tried that and ended up with a rooster when none of them pulled there legs up. its an old wives tale that sometimes works sorry

 

[Queengoddess]

Interesting. You sure you did it correctly? If the bird flails and kicks, you're doing it wrong. When done correctly, the bird hangs there paralyzed, This lady checked all of her flock (close to 200 birds) againstthe method, and it was correct in every instance. I'd say that's better odds than an old wives' tale....but time will tell if my own are all hens as we anticipate.

 

[canesisters]

I was at a swap a couple of weeks ago and was told that if you lay a chick on it's back in your hand, and it just lays there it's a boy, if it flops around and flips right back over it's a girl. We went chick-tipping all over the swap. I guess we'll see if all the floppers that I got turn out to be hens.

Maybe I should try scruffing them when I get home?

 

[aoxa]

Maybe she was pulling your leg

 

[mother o' chicks72]

I was at a swap a couple of weeks ago and was told that if you lay a chick on it's back in your hand, and it just lays there it's a boy, if it flops around and flips right back over it's a girl. We went chick-tipping all over the swap. I guess we'll see if all the floppers that I got turn out to be hens.

Maybe I should try scruffing them when I get home?

that method doesn't work,

sorry. i had a rooster that let me hold him on his back, but i also have several hens that let me do that. Just another old wives tale.