tail feathers in baby chicks

[wjallen05]

I've noticed that my female baby chicks have tail feathers and the males do not. I ordered 4 Buff Orpington chicks with my last order, 2 females and 2 males. The two females have a purple mark on their head but only one has little tail feathers growing, and the other one with the mark and the other two (males) do not. Do yall think it's probably a male? (all the other chicks, SLW and RIR, are sexed pullets and all have tail feathers growing)

 

[namreknat]

Could be. A little more time will tell. The combs develop much quicker on the males.

 

[Animal15]

MABE
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WWWJFARM.HOMESTEAD.COM

 

[bigmike&nan]

Quote:
REALLY ??? We have 6 chicks. They are 3 weeks old today (and later tonight). I am retired and handle them a LOT. They ARE spoiled. So at first some were more friendly and forward. But now the ones I THOUGHT might be girls (including the one that has bonded with me most) are getting combs... Been there a couple days actually. I am including a pic... Sorry I do not mean to threadjack and will start my own thread...

It doesn't "matter" to me if they are boys, I'll love them just as much. Just curious... Thanks

 

[ella]

Feather sexing is possible in some cases.

Mating an early-feathering male to hens of a slow-feathering female will result in male chicks with very short flight feathers, and females that show wing flights past the wing coverts. This method requires inspection immediately after hatching, before the males feather growth catches up to that of some late hatching pullets.

Doesn't work in all cases, like all sex links it depends on the parentage. Heavier breeds are more likely to follow this rule. Light breeds tend to show comb earlier though.

 

[namreknat]

bigmike&nan :

Quote:
REALLY ??? We have 6 chicks. They are 3 weeks old today (and later tonight). I am retired and handle them a LOT. They ARE spoiled. So at first some were more friendly and forward. But now the ones I THOUGHT might be girls (including the one that has bonded with me most) are getting combs... Been there a couple days actually. I am including a pic... Sorry I do not mean to threadjack and will start my own thread...

It doesn't "matter" to me if they are boys, I'll love them just as much. Just curious... Thanks

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd80/mikennansourhouse/P2040383.jpg

When i got my buff orpington chicks I had ordered 8 females and 2 males so I naturally tried to figure out which was which. I noticed that all but two were getting tail feathers pretty quick. By 5 or 6 weeks the combs on those were noticably bigger. They are 4 months old now and those two turned out to be the males. I'll bet in a couple more weeks you will know.

 

[KWAK]

The other three are probably hens. My roosters grew there tail feathers before the hens the roosters were also bigger than the hens.

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how do you post questions i cant figure that out