Whis is it that some chicks are born with and some without a comb

[Bock_Bock]

can you tell sex by this as i just hatched out about 20 chicks maybe mor ea si lost count lol but some of them had small combs and others had none, do you think this could be a good way to predict sex in a chick or is it that some breeds are born with them and some are not i would love to know thanks

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Different breeds of chickens have different comb types. Sounds like the ones you described that had combs are single combed. They are the traditional chicken comb (stands up, has points). The ones you descibed as having no combs are probably peacombs, rosecombs, or walnut combs.

It is almost impossible to sex a chick when they are first hatched. There are people that are specially trained to vent sex (look at their privates, so to speak), but the ordinary person just don't have much luck.

Something that may help you is to try feather sexing. You can look up example pictures online for this. I *think* that if a chick is a female, it gets its wing feathers before a roo. If you pick up a chick and look at the wing feathers:
Roo - "feathers" will look like little toothpicks
Hen- "feathers will be little toothpicks at the wing, but will start fraying out at the ends

Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong!

 

[MissPrissy]

Only certain breeds can be wing sexed. All breeds cannot be sexed in this manner.

 

[Bock_Bock]

missprissy do you know which can be sexed by wings what about silkies but im guessing that this is only for pure bred chicks not mutts like mine or does the chick just have to have the strain of a breed in it to do this?

 

[Bock_Bock]

i just watched the video for feather sexing and its not if the feathers are growing out or looking like toothpicks it is that females have 2 deffrent size leangth feathers while roos have the same leangth wing feathers i am going to try this tomorrow

 

[Katy]

Bock_Bock: Could you start using some punctuation in your posts? When they're one long run on sentence they're very difficult to read.

 

[Bock_Bock]

Sure! I can try to use punctuation marks', if that will make you feel better. It doesn not bother me to use them. I have all the time in the world. Thanks for the suggestion, it is greatly appreciated.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Thanks. Much easier to read.

 

[Bock_Bock]

Your welcome.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I believe the feather sexing has to do with a specific gene--sorry, don't recall which one. I do know that I've seen it in some of my silkies, but not all; therefore in my flock it is an unreliable method.