the chick whisperer, gender by voice?

[klf73]

a couple of months ago I was looking at a pen of chicks, teenage type, and wishing I could tell gender. Some of the breeds were new to me so I wasn't confident, especially on the swedish flower hens. Ok, we had the obvious cockerals but after one of my "pullets" developed real late I wasn't sure of anything anymore. My son (13) walked up to me and asked what I was doing. I said I was wondering if one paticular bird was a pullet. He said hold on I'll check. He opened the pen, picked up the bird and put it to his ear

. I laughed and asked what the heck he was doing. He said he could tell by their "voice". I asked him about a few other birds and he obliged, then looked at me and said why are you looking at me like that? I was thinking he was crazy, or silly at the least. He said, mom I'm serious. I said ok and moved on. I just went out to look at those "questionable" birds and wouldn't you know each one he said was a girl, is(the roos, he was right about them too but I didn't take stock in that as there were only 2 and were culled)
He said he could only do it on a certain age(it was before saddle feathers, but not itty bitty ones). I didn't realize my son was paying that much attention to my chickens. He helps me with them for one of his chores but he seems to do it begrudgingly.

so apparently their peeps have a different decibel levels

I never thought my son would teach me something that I didn't know....

 

[GoldDogsMom]

that's talent! Does he have a good ear for music too?

 

[klf73]

Quote:
well, he took guitar lessons a few years ago and the teacher said he had a natural ability to play and picked up on everything. He is PDD-NOS, he is high functioning but it gets in his way....we still haven't found anything he will stick with....except those stupid video games(I was so happy when that stopped working because I didn't have to say no and fight about it

)

 

[biddybird]

There is a certain pitch that only kids and young teens can hear. Wonder if it is something along those lines.

 

[Dutchess]

Quote:
That's right, I've heard about that too. They say some convenience stores play the "pitch" loud to keep the kids away after school due to shoplifting. I have not seen it in action, but I have heard of it! Never heard it though!

too old.

 

[so lucky]

Maybe he has some "savant" qualities? I saw on TV this week that the actress Marylou Henner has the ability to remember EVERYTHING in her life, when she actively tries to recall something. We are all given talents; many times they are never discovered.