Sexing myth or truth??

[sambam22]

So I hear a lot of people say that chicks that get their tail feathers first are hens and chicks that feather later are roosters but from what I’m seeing all of my chicks that are feathering first look to be roosters well most at least and the ones with not much tail feathers seem to be hens. You can see in the second picture the one with it ahead up definitely looks like a roo to me. I’ll get more updated pictures in a bit.

 

[Ittybittyschmidtie]

I could be totally totally wrong here but in the second picture the brown one with the comb and wattle already looks rooster? I have no idea first time owner here lol

 

[The Moonshiner]

It's a myth.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It's a myth for the most part. Specific crosses can be used to sex with wing feathers, but any cross not specifically bred for that will be a 50-50 shot of guessing it right may as well flip a coin to tell you the sex

 

[Finnie]

I would say it’s a little bit of both. Yes, there is a slow feathering gene that some breeds have that can be used for sexing just those breeds. And that doesn’t work unless the correct genes are at play.

But I have found with my many backyard mix chicks, that most of the time, cockerels grow their feathers in a certain way and pullets in a different way. Occasionally I have one that feathers out in the opposite category than what it is. So it is no hard and fast rule.

As you have seen, because you have that black cockerel that is feathering in like a pullet, but has the big pink comb and wattles of a male. As far as your chicks that have no tails yet and huge bald shoulder patches, that is classic cockerel feathering. Even though they have no pink combs and wattles yet, watch those ones, because they are most likely (but not 100% necessarily) boys.

Sexing chicks is kind of an art, and even those of us with lots of experience at it occasionally get it wrong. You will know for sure when it either crows or lays an egg. But honestly, you will probably know long before that.

 

[Saveria]

You can tell the sex sometimes as early as 4 weeks, but usually by 6 weeks. Depends on the breed and individual chicken.

There are auto-sexing varieties, like sex links, if you want to know right away. Barred rocks can be pretty reliably sexed when they are chicks, and I heard that purebred Bielefelders are auto-sexing as well.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

You can tell the sex sometimes as early as 4 weeks, but usually by 6 weeks. Depends on the breed and individual chicken.

There are auto-sexing varieties, like sex links, if you want to know right away. Barred rocks can be pretty reliably sexed when they are chicks, and I heard that purebred Bielefelders are auto-sexing as well.

Sexlinking is different than autosexing.

 

[Saveria]

Yeah, I'm not so great with terminology. Thanks for letting me know.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Yeah, I'm not so great with terminology. Thank for letting me know.

Autosexing is something that can be bred continuously for down generations within a pure breed. Sexlinking is a one time cross that cannot be repeated down the generations. It can be either by breeding different breeds together, like most hatchery offerings, or if a breed has the required colorings, can be kept in a single breed to offer pure sexlinks (like a barred cochin over a black cochin would make pure sexlinked cochins)

 

[Saveria]

Thank you for sharing that. I knew you couldn't breed sexlinks and get sexlinks, now the terms make sense.