Sexing Chicks

[TheGoldMAN]

As you know there are many methods for distinguishing baby chicks sex.
One of them is the length of the wings, and one there is the speed of growth, and so on.
I want to know your methods.

 

[Fluffy Lambs]

It depends with each breed. As for my method, with any age, if you pinch the skin right in between their wings and lift them up, SUPPOSEDLY their legs will hang down if they are female because their pelvis is wider for laying, and if male legs will be up. In my experience with this method it works IF you hold them in the exact right spot. Although I don't know about my polish that I think is pullet being a cockerel

 

[TheGoldMAN]

It depends with each breed. As for my method, with any age, if you pinch the skin right in between their wings and lift them up, SUPPOSEDLY their legs will hang down if they are female because their pelvis is wider for laying, and if male legs will be up. In my experience with this method it works IF you hold them in the exact right spot. Although I don't know about my polish that I think is pullet being a cockerel

Thank you, I will try your way.
But How should I hold the chick and pinch its chest?

 

[Fluffy Lambs]

Well that way works sometimes. I just learned my white chicken is a rooster and it holds it legs down, and my polish is definitely a pullet and holds its legs up. But you have to pinch the skin right in beetween
their wings and lift them up.

 

[TheGoldMAN]

Well that way works sometimes. I just learned my white chicken is a rooster and it holds it legs down, and my polish is definitely a pullet and holds its legs up. But you have to pinch the skin right in beetween
their wings and lift them up.

It is opposite of what you said in the last post.
Legs up male?
Legs down female?

 

[TheGoldMAN]

Hey guys, Is the wing sexing true when the feathers are short and long in the same bird?
I mean how does it look like when wing sexing is not working in some breeds?
And does it mean that it's working if you see the short and long feathers?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Feather sexing only works on certain breeds and up to a certain age - you don't mention age or breeds of the birds you're sexing.

I would not recommend trying any old wives tales style "sexing" - at best, it's nothing more than a coin flip, at worse, chicks can be injured or killed. Someone last year, I think, killed a chick trying to sex it by dangling it and broke its neck.

 

[TheGoldMAN]

Feather sexing only works on certain breeds and up to a certain age - you don't mention age or breeds of the birds you're sexing.

I would not recommend trying any old wives tales style "sexing" - at best, it's nothing more than a coin flip, at worse, chicks can be injured or killed. Someone last year, I think, killed a chick trying to sex it by dangling it and broke its neck.

Yeah I know that it works for some breeds. But Is this mean that other breeds which we can't use the wing method for them to know their gender, have the same feathers in wings of males and females? Or the wing feathers are in "short and long" form but this doesn't determines the gender, for example a male one can has 2 rows of long and short fethers, or females just have the long feathers in their wings. Or males can have both 2 rows and 1 row, and females too.

Hoof.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yeah I know that it works for some breeds. But Is this mean that other breeds which we can't use the wing method for them to know their gender, have the same feathers in wings of males and females? Or the wing feathers are in "short and long" form but this doesn't determines the gender, for example a male one can has 2 rows of long and short fethers, or females just have the long feathers in their wings. Or males can have both 2 rows and 1 row, and females too.

Hoof.

Not sure what the "default" feather development is for breeds that aren't bred to be wing feather sexed, or if it can go either way.

My unreliable sexing method for bins of chicks is to look at their behavior (I use this in pullet bins, so I think of it as extra insurance as some 10% of birds in a sexed bin will be incorrectly sexed). I don't take chicks that seem friendlier/more interested in human hands, or that stand more upright when the store employee goes to grab them.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I just wait for the wattles to show up by 8 weeks. If they dont, the second test is a crow or an egg. Got a polish from early April I'm still waiting to crow or lay since they don't have wattles (thanks a lot, beard gene). Was sexed as female, but that crest is not the same crest shape as their female they had pictured.

My method isn't so much as sexing as just eliminating males as I find then from the questionable pool