Wing feather sexing?

[schambo]

I have two baby wheaten ameraucanas (maybe blue wheaten or splash?) and two baby lavender orpingtons. Hatched sometime between Tuesday and Thursday this week. Any idea of sex? I’m thinking all girls because some of the feathers look much longer? But I’m really new to this, so I probably have no idea.

WA1 (Sunny)

WA2 (Sammy)

LO1 (Smokey)

LO2 (Stormy)

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Any idea of sex? I’m thinking all girls because some of the feathers look much longer?

According to my understanding.. wing feather sexing only works on (or until) day 3 and when a slow feathered breed is crossed to fast feathered or vice versa.. so probably not relevant on your pure bred chicks.

It's highly unlikely though not impossible (especially in small batches, not long term) to hatch all one gender.

Congrats on your babies!

 

[Ch1cken Tender]

I have two baby wheaten ameraucanas (maybe blue wheaten or splash?) and two baby lavender orpingtons. Hatched sometime between Tuesday and Thursday this week. Any idea of sex? I’m thinking all girls because some of the feathers look much longer? But I’m really new to this, so I probably have no idea.

WA1 (Sunny)
View attachment 3586295

WA2 (Sammy)
View attachment 3586296

LO1 (Smokey)
View attachment 3586298

LO2 (Stormy)
View attachment 3586299

Pretty chickies! Ameraucanas are wonderful. Please post more pictures when they’re about 6 weeks or so old. I’ll do my best to sex them then!

 

[Chive]

Wing feather sexing only works on breeds that had a fast-feathering mother and a slow-feathering father, so it probably doesn't work on your chicks. The only breed that I know it works on is the Amberlink.
They are so cute!

 

[Galaxy_rules]

I don’t try to wing sex my chicks any more, I tried to at day 2 and one said cockerel and the other, hen. Now, at 4 weeks, the “hen” is definitely a rooster and vice versa.

 

[NatJ]

Wing feather sexing only works on breeds that had a fast-feathering mother and a slow-feathering father

That is backwards. The cross needs to be fast feathering father (the recessive trait that will show in the daughters) and slow feathering mother (the dominant trait that will show in the sons.)

According to my understanding.. wing feather sexing only works on (or until) day 3 and when a slow feathered breed is crossed to fast feathered or vice versa.. so probably not relevant on your pure bred chicks.

When the cross is done correctly, the chicks can be sexed at some older ages as well. The wing feathers show a difference when they first hatch, but the other feathers come in at different rates too. It tends to be more obvious after a few weeks, when the fast-feathered chicks have feathers all over, while the slow-feathered chicks still look partly bald (there is a reason it is called slow feathering!) Once they all have a full set of feathers, it is too late for any form of feather sexing.

But I agree with both of the above posters, that feather sexing will probably not work on these particular chicks.