Sexing - what age?

[lutz123]

No, nothing complicated. I really just want to know when, visually can you start telling a difference? I picked up 8 chicks on Monday of varying, but young ages. One or two were beginning to get wing feathers and I was told they were all under a week - I think 3 were day olds. Now I think 4 or 5 have wing feathers and a couple are getting tail sprouts. They are Buff Orpingtons and Barred Rocks (4 of each). There are a couple that seem more "male" - more boisterous and upright...but I am an absolute newbie and really don't have a clue what I'm talking about.

I'm sure I'll recognize comb color, etc, but is there anything else early on? Do you generally have a hunch?

Any website/previous topic links are appreciated. I searched but didn't really find what I was looking for.

Thank you!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Barred Rocks are pretty easy to tell soon. The males will feather out lighter greyish and the white bars will be big and bold white. The female will be much darker, almost black and the white spots will be smaller and look a bit more like speckles than vibrant bars. By week four, it will be totally obvious.
The head splotches can fool you, but the black "water mark" in black on the front of their legs indicates females as well.

 

[Break an Egg]

Beginners will start to see the difference at 7-8 weeks It also depends on the breed. At about 4 or 5 weeks there should be some signs.

 

[dsqard]

Chicks start getting wing feathers within a couple of days of hatching so it does seem like you have the age right on your chicks. The barred rocks you should be able to sex now by looking at the white spot on their heads. From what I have read on here pullets will have a smaller more circular dot on their heads and cockerels will have a larger, more irregular shaped (could even go down to the neck area) dot. The buff Orps will take a while longer. I don't have a lot of experience with chickens so I usually can't tell until they are about four weeks old on the single combed chicks.

 

[Break an Egg]

and there's also this:

http://www.users.on.net/~greggles/sexing.html

 

[galanie]

Orpingtons can fool you. One of mine was, I KNEW, a pullet. Had to be. Turns out it's not. Most of the time though, around 8 weeks like someone just said.

 

[lutz123]

Thanks! I can't believe I didn't think to search by breed. I think I may have 3 out of 4 BR pullets if leg color is indication. The other has black on the fronts of it's feet and "ankles", but not really all the way down the front...and for what it's worth, the ones that I thought were acting more dominant have the black water marks! Guess I have lots to learn. Predicting gender at least keeps me from obsessing over the bator w/ guinea eggs in it.

I'm not surprised that the woman I bought them from didn't offer the helpful hint of the BR leg color given how unfriendly she was and the conditions the poor chicks were living in...(broke every rule on the list of what to watch for!) I only left with them because I was a wee bit afraid of what the woman might do if I walked away empty-handed!

It was my $10 "rescue" by the time I left. Surprisingly, I chose well. They all look very healthy and happy. I pretend it's because they are just so grateful.

 

[lutz123]

Hey, this is kind of fun. By doing the feather length method on the BOs, it looks like I might have more roo's. That would be a little disappointing, as that's what I wanted most of.

I tell ya, I watched the Discovery Channel video on youtube that someone had linked to that showed the sexing, and I was amazed at how those poor hatchery chicks come to be!! Good thing they aren't puppies or they would have been shut down long ago...

 

[Fred's Hens]

Here you go. BTW, the roo has the dark leg fronts too and their head spots were indistinguishable. These came out of a sexed bin.

It is never perfect at the hatchery. But, by 3-4 weeks, the roos are obvious. Their little comb turn pink, their baby wattles sprout, But above all the BRs are a cinch once they start to feather in. Only the rooster have those distinctive, wide, bright bars. (hatchery chicks anyhow) Pullets are darker and only have specks.

 

[SparksNV]

I just got some FBC marans. They are 3 days old and I swear I see a well form saw tooth comb on one of them - is it common for that to happen this early?