Sexing eggs!

[gimmie birdies]

well no but I do not have so many I don't know who is who.

 

[lazy gardener]

I mean when they hatch. So that you'll know which ones SHOULD be male, and which ones SHOULD be female, based on egg shape. You could perhaps so something else to indicate where they hung out in the eggs prior to hatch.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have a book record.

 

[lindalouly]

That is a great idea gimmie...

Lazy Gardener... glad to see you back on and I hope your hubby is feeling better and you are enjoying your work... I have a question concerning my chicks.. at what age should I be able to tell what they are??? They are backyard mutts... The dad is a Delaware and I think the ones I hatched over them are from Austroplorps and White Giants jerseys but I am not 100 percent yet if a New Hampshire or Pure delaware got in there.

 

[lazy gardener]

All I can say, is that you will be able to tell when the cockrels start getting bigger and redder combs and wattles. Of course crowing or eggs is also a good indicator.

 

[lindalouly]

Awwwwww man, guess that means I have to wait till they are about 8 weeks old??? if I am remembering right... that is when my delaware roo became obvious

 

[lazy gardener]

 

[gimmie birdies]

I pulled all my clears day 7, and I have just 6 eggs now. (the blue one was a pull and I have a tan egg in it's place, not shown.) I am mad at my blue egg because it was the hardest one to see inside. Today I could not see inside, but could tell it was not so dark. I gave it to my cat.

 

[Drewnkat]

It all depends on the chicken and how well you know the breed you are working with. Some of the heritage birds are not sexable until they are 5 months old! While, leghorns and some other breeds can be sexed as early as 3 weeks old, going by subtle differences in comb and wattle growth. Some breeds are auto sexing. Most of the barred and cuckoo patterned birds can be sexed at hatch, if you know what you are looking for. Barn yard mixes are more variable, IMO b/c they have a nice varied gene pool. Often, EE chicks that start sprouting red feathers on the shoulders and breast will be roos. My suggestion would be to go to the threads dealing with the breeds that you have, and start doing some research. Lots of fun reading, if nothing else!

Of course, if your EE hens were bred to a Rhode Island RED rooster, almost all the chicks with grow red feathers.

The good thing about EEs is the girls tend to have hardly any comb, so if the bird has a comb of any sort by 6 weeks, it's 90% likely to be a roo. Even now as they're starting to lay the EE/RIR cross girls have tiny almost flat combs.

I am interested in this, as my first hatch resulted in 11 roos only 2 hens. The roos are delicious, and the hens are laying gorgeous green eggs for my friend. I didn't select for pointy or round eggs, just tossed some in the incubator to see if it worked. I sold a bunch of the next batch of chicks as straight-run so i have no idea what percentage I would have ended up with. I am willing to give the shape-selection experiment a try next spring though. Can't hurt anything to try!

 

[junebuggena]

Of course, if your EE hens were bred to a Rhode Island RED rooster, almost all the chicks with grow red feathers.

While this is true, males get a darker shade of red on the shoulders.
For example, this my Easter Egger cockerel at 6 weeks.

At 8 weeks, he was a light red, with just a touch of darker red on the shoulders/wings.

By 12 weeks, the dark red color had spread to the chest.

By 16 weeks, he was a solid, deep red.