Sexing Rhode Island red chicks

[cmfarm]

I was doing a search on something and stumbled across a thread about sexing RIRs by the stripe on there head. There was a link with a usda study but the link seems to no longer work. Does any one have this stored away somewhere? Have people that breed RIR find this to be true? And if does it also work for Production reds? Thanks!

 

[melroseladi]

I had researched this a while back and found some of that info but I can only find this one that I bookmarked. I will pm you if I find any of my other bookmarks.

http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/IND43969461/PDF

Penny

 

[nicalandia]

I was doing a search on something and stumbled across a thread about sexing RIRs by the stripe on there head. There was a link with a usda study but the link seems to no longer work. Does any one have this stored away somewhere? Have people that breed RIR find this to be true? And if does it also work for Production reds? Thanks!

is not 100% acurate.

 

[melroseladi]

Right nicalandia. The studies that I read gave numbers between 80-88% accuracy. I take those odds. If I was picking rir chicks out of a straight run batch and only wanted pullets, I would pick all those with head stripes. I have 24 Heritage RIR chicks that I am marking for head stripes to see how they turn out. If they do turn out to be pullets I will use them for breeders. I am also marking the chicks with white fluff/spot over the wing web to see if those turn out to be cockerels. If so, those will also be used for breeders.

Penny

 

[cmfarm]

Thank you! I saw this link in the other post but for some reason when I clicked on it, it didn't work, but this one did.

 

[cmfarm]

So after reading through the article it seems that this method is about 80-85% effective. Has anyone ever tried separating striped chicks to see what the ratio of males to females is after they mature?

 

[nicalandia]

If they do turn out to be pullets I will use them for breeders.

Penny

this is the worst thing you could do, that is if you want to increase the chance of sexing them...

 

[melroseladi]

this is the worst thing you could do, that is if you want to increase the chance of sexing them...

nicalandia can you explain that to me please? I thought that if you have chicks that are marked in a way to be identified at hatch that the trait would carry on to the offspring? So I presumed that if females were marked at hatch you would want to breed them so that they would have chicks that would also be marked. Is that not correct?

Penny

 

[nicalandia]

nicalandia can you explain that to me please? I thought that if you have chicks that are marked in a way to be identified at hatch that the trait would carry on to the offspring? So I presumed that if females were marked at hatch you would want to breed them so that they would have chicks that would also be marked. Is that not correct?

Penny

Well you said you will USE Males you thought were females and use them as breeders.! does this make any sence? why would you breed a male that looked like a female at hatch to encrease your sexing traits? is not that counter productive? the best you could do is use the males that you thought were males and turned out to be males as breeders with females that you thought were females and turned out to be females. you see the logic of it?

 

[melroseladi]

No I am marking the chicks with head stripes and if they are female, which most should be, I will use them as breeders. I am also marking the chicks with the white fluff spot on the wing web and if those turn out to be male, which they should, I will use them as breeders. Any that are head marked and turn out to not be female will be culled, and the ones with white fluff that turn out not to be male will also be culled.

Penny