what breeds can be feather sexed?

[xyresicchick]

i am hatching out bantam silver laced wyandottes and bantam frizzle cochins in a week or so, and i want to know what breeds can be sexed by their wing feathers at a day old? do you think i'll be able to do that with these breeds? sorry if this is a silly question, i've never had chickens before, nevermind hatched them.

 

[logansmommy7]

I'm interested in this too. I have 15 chickies and a large portion of them are growing wing and tail feathers rapidly-there are a few in there who aren't...they are getting the wings but much slower. They are black australorps and New hampshire reds...anyone???

 

[chickerdoodle]

 

[xyresicchick]

i know there are specific sex link chickens but do you neccesarily need that kind? can you or can you not sex by the wing feathers? i would like to be able to pick out my keepers very early on. any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pdsavage]

I belive you breed a fast feathering type with a slow feathering type...
here found this
Feather Sexing

Text by "an anonymous friend"

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).

Most hatcheries just buy the slow feathering females and fast feathering males or simply ship in hatching eggs from someone already set up.

Most of your common white and brown egg layers and a few rare breeds are feather sexable. Probably all chickens have the genes for for fast and slow feathering, so it would be just a matter of culling for this trait until you have two lines that breed true--one for each trait.

Because the males' feather grow slower, they will be shorter and of equal length (see Figure 1). 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--see Figure 2).

Source: http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sex-links/BRKFeathSex.html

 

[chickerdoodle]

If this is true and the hatcheries do this then I have 4 roos and 1 pullet--agghh!!!

All of mine were supposedly sexed female chicks. Sheesh, I'll just have to wait a few more weeks to know for sure.

 

[xyresicchick]

okay, so which breeds are sex link breeds?

 

[fastpat]

Quote:
None of the breeds you have, as far as I know, can be color gender identified as young chicks.

Other than sex links, i.e. the males are one color and the females are another even as chicks, the easiest sex ID feature is comb development. Males develop their combs earlier. When my Partridge Rocks mature into their adult feathers they will have different colors according to sex.