silkie chicks

[loupan]

Can you sex a 2 day old silkie chick by its wing feathers i have been hearing all sorts this would be great if you can

 

[stephanie1992]

idk maybe u can. um i know with others the female will have long and short feathers on the wings while the males are all even

 

[cmom]

No. Feather sexing requires maintaining 2 breeder flocks for the parents and one breeder flock for the chicks. (Two flocks would work, but this is easiest way to explain it.)

The breeder flock for the female line must be slow feathering only, and the breeder flock for the male line must be fast feathering only. To breed for the chicks you would then cross the slow feathering females with the fast feathering males. The resulting offspring would be the opposite of their parents. Females fast feathering and the males slow feathering.

Some hatcheries just switch the males on the mother and father lines. The resulting offspring of one flock would be feather sexable and the offspring from the other flock would be sold as straight run. (Remember that the mother must be slow feathering and father fast feathering for feather sexing to work).

Because the males' feather grow slower, they will be shorter and of equal length. Females' feathers will be not only longer but some feathers will be much longer than the others (sort of a row of long and a row of short feathers.