Topic of the Week - Sexing Chicks

[Farmgirl805]

I have had 6 BR and this one is a male. The distinctive yellow/white spot is how you can tell if they are male or not. Pullets have darker heads some have a little yellow but it’s mottled.

I knew it. Thank you. I have half a mind to wait till he starts crowing and take him into the feed store and tell Debbie not to be so rude, not to assume their customers are idiots, then take him to the lady who I know can rehome him (thank god for her!) since I can’t keep a Roo inside city limits. Debbie assured me “this doesn’t happen, only 2 out of 500 chicks in the last batch”

This happened to me last year too. Different chick supplier but out of 8 chicks last year I ended up with 2 Roos. Had to rehome them too.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

If that chick is indeed a pure Barred Rock, that's a female. Males get a double dose of the barring gene and have lighter barring and less of that dark wash on the legs. All Barred Rock chicks should have a spot on their head, male or female.

Male and female Barred Rock barring on 5 week old chicks as an example. The male has the red leg band and the female has the blue leg band. Notice how much more white he has in his barring compared to hers.

This chick is the same female as shown above (the 'Blue' label was referring to her leg band).

If your chick does end up being male with that dark of barring, that would mean he's not a pure Barred Rock and instead most likely a black sexlink of some sort.

 

[Farmgirl805]

If that chick is indeed a pure Barred Rock, that's a female. Males get a double dose of the barring gene and have lighter barring and less of that dark wash on the legs. All Barred Rock chicks should have a spot on their head, male or female.

Male and female Barred Rock barring on 5 week old chicks as an example. The male has the red leg band and the female has the blue leg band. Notice how much more white he has in his barring compared to hers.

View attachment 3448331View attachment 3448338

This chick is the same female as shown above (the 'Blue' label was referring to her leg band).

View attachment 3448340

If your chick does end up being male with that dark of barring, that would mean he's not a pure Barred Rock and instead most likely a black sexlink of some sort.

Oh wow. I have no personal experience with Sex Links. This chick was hatched on 3/7 so would be approx 3 wks old. I’ll attach some other pics real quick- which again - aren’t the best- I just ran in to the brooder room and grabbed the chick for pics just for this post so plz disregard them if necessary . The barring on this chick is definitely not as pronounced as the male you have referenced above.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Black sexlinks most often are bred from a female Barred Rock crossed to a rooster without barring. Because of how the barring gene is inherited in such a cross, only the males inherit a barring gene and the females do not, so they're distinguishable at hatch by the presence or absence of the barring head spot. The gene for barring is sexlinked, meaning females can only ever have one copy of the gene at most and can only pass it to their sons when they have it, while males can have zero, one, or two copies and pass it indiscriminately to both their sons and daughters.

In pure Barred Rocks, both males and females inherit barring; males get two copies, one from their mother and one from their father, while females only inherit one copy from their father because their mother cannot pass the gene down to her daughters. As I noted before, it's that double dose of barring that the males get that makes them lighter in color than the females in purebred Barred Rocks.

So if there's no reason to believe that a black sexlink male could have been mixed up in the Barred Rocks where you bought your chicks, then that's a female. The barring is too dark for a pure Barred Rock male.

Slight edit for clarity​

 

[Farmgirl805]

Black sexlinks most often are bred from a female Barred Rock crossed to a rooster without barring. Because of how the barring gene is inherited in such a cross, only the males inherit a barring gene and the females do not, so they're distinguishable at hatch by the presence or absence of the barring head spot. The gene for barring is sexlinked, meaning females can only ever have one copy of the gene and can only pass it to their sons, while males can have zero, one, or two copies and pass it indescriminately to both their sons and daughters.

In pure Barred Rocks, both males and females inherit barring; males get two copies, one from their mother and one from their father, while females only inherit one copy from their father because their mother cannot pass the gene down to her daughters. As I noted before, it's that double dose of barring that the males get that makes them lighter in color than the females in purebred Barred Rocks.

So if there's no reason to believe that a black sexlink male could have been mixed up in the Barred Rocks where you bought your chicks, then that's a female. The barring is too dark for a pure Barred Rock male.

I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt as I’ve been told that this feed store consistently buys from a large hatchery in Texas and I’ll just hope they know what they’re doing in Texas. I’ll make a note to be nicer to Debbie.
and not go in there and show my …. butt … by accusing them of selling me a Roo.

I guess I was so upset about losing my blue laced red Wyandotte and my French Golden Cuckoo Maran due to them being Roos last year that I’m super skittish about it happening again. After 10 yrs at this I guess I still don’t make a very good chicken “farmer”.

 

[3KillerBs]

Our feed store says that about one in ten from the pullet tub will be a rooster. They say it in a way that makes you think there are lot of people who feel obliged to tell tham they got a rooster. I don't know who their supplier is. Getting an occasional rooster is a bonus in my eyes.

Any hatchery website that I've seen says that sexing is guaranteed to be 90% accurate -- except for some breeds that are more difficult to sex, where the accuracy may be lower.

It's in that fine print that people don't read.

 

[Farmgirl805]

Our feed store says that about one in ten from the pullet tub will be a rooster. They say it in a way that makes you think there are lot of people who feel obliged to tell tham they got a rooster. I don't know who their supplier is. Getting an occasional rooster is a bonus in my eyes.

Getting a bonus Roo would be great for me too if I could keep it. darn city slicker ordinances….

 

[Farmgirl805]

Any hatchery website that I've seen says that sexing is guaranteed to be 90% accurate -- except for some breeds that are more difficult to sex, where the accuracy may be lower.

It's in that fine print that people don't read.

I’ve bought direct from the hatchery the first few times, this is the first time I’ve purchased from the local feed store. I know that Roos are more common than what Debbie was trying to convince me of. That’s why I have been so concerned. That’s part of the reason I was so upset when I was as talking to her and she was so condescending to me, as if the mere idea of me ending up with a Roo was “RiDiCuLoUs” But I thought “maybe they just have great sexers at that particular hatchery that they use?”

At the end of the day, Debbie can stay a rude and grumpy. I just want to raise my gals and run around with them in the sunshine.

 

[3KillerBs]

The hatchery is making or saving money every time a cockerel is mistaken for a .pullet.

No, they are not.

All the reputable hatcheries offer replacement or money back if you get more than their stated percentage of cockerels.

Any hatchery that did consistently tilt the sexing errors would go out of business because people would stop buying from them.

Also, the errors do work the other way. I remember reading posts from people who bought the cheap "fry pan specials" of assorted males knowing that they'd get their boys for the freezer and the oops pullets for replacement layers.

 

[Somshine]

Okay, I know Easter eggers and olive eggers can have different breeds in them. But I've been able to successfully pick hens out of straight run chicks really well. Never brought home a rooster. I always went for the ones that were more feathered and not so fluffy. My hatch is due tomorrow. I'm going to guess on them based on this and see how right I end up being. If it's fairly accurate at least for the particular chicks I have at least that will be helpful! I'm going to look at those wings at about a day or two and I'm going to mark the ones I think are roosters