Bit Of A Thick Question

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what are the people called that sex chicks, ?? I need my chicks sexed as we are not allowed to keep cocks and would rather try and find homes for cocks (if we have any) sooner rather than later. I really dont want to get 'attatched' to the chicks and then have to get rid. I have rang both my local vets to see if they could sex them for me but both said that its a specialised art and cant help. I have googled it and have read about how to do it myself but im so scared of damaging them.
Thanks Natalie x
 
afaik many breeds you just have to wait till they are a bit older and feathering starts coming through before you can even think about sexing them. Things like a more red coloured comb will appear and feathering/markings may be different.

I only keep a few breeds but the ones I keep I've never been able to sex till they are more developed. Some breeds I can start to tell around 4 weeks, others closer to 6 or even 8 weeks.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but most people don't want cockerels and they can be very hard to find homes for. The down side of breeding/hatching your own is you have to face having a surplus of cockerels and being stuck with them. Also if they are only really pet quality and not really decent birds to breed from in the future can make it even harder. I think you need to be prepared to face the possible reality that cockerels may need to be culled should you not be able to find homes for them.
 
Cockerels - the hardest part.... they don't mention that when you buy an incubator... :(

Having said that, I have rehomed a fair few cockerels over the years - to people with hens on allotments and friends of friends who want a cockerel to go with their hens - but the demand is certainly not high. It pays to ask around though.

Yes, there are 'Chick Sexers' who look at the chicks vent to decide if it's a male or female bird but these people are very few and far between since the invention of the autosexing hybrid that shows sex by the colour of the down. Most of the commercial stock these days can be sexed at day old this way and (sadly...) the boys are gassed.

If you look at the prices of hens, you will find some hybrids are £15 or so each whereas a similar age pure breed pullet would be double this... this is because the hybrid can be sexed so early and the rearing costs are so much lower.

All of this said, I received an interesting email a couple of weeks ago. Now I have no experience or idea whether this is legit but I'm certainly not ruling it out.. here's the email:

Hi, I am able to sex all types of birds without the need for DNA, feather or machine testing. The method is a bit contraversal as it requires intuition rather than scientific methods. My results are always 100% accurate and would like to find out if there would be interest in this. I would be interested in demonstrating and gathering evidence for those who are ineterested.

If you want the email address of the person that sent it, let me know by PM- as I say, I've no idea if this works but I would certainly be prepared to give it a go one day. ;)

Tim
 
I found that very interesting because the breeder I got my Pekin bantams from has a method of determining the sex of very young chicks, and reckons she has only got it wrong a couple of times. She showed me a group of day old chicks and how to study their body language. The ones she said were roos held their heads up higher and their eyes had a more steely gaze to them whereas the hens tended to look more submissive. But having said that I was unable to do it with a chick I raised, I thought it was definately a hen but then it grew a comb and started crowing at 6 weeks. :lol:
 
The age old chesnut of sexing :o
If somebody could help me out and tell me if I am :? barking up the wrong tree!
We had 11 eggs under a broody - six hatched (3 weeks old now) from the following breeding (C then H):
Buff Orpington X Faverolle
Buff Cochin X Black Rock or Black Maran
Now:
given the fact that one has 5 toes means that it's a fav.
Fav cocks always have black heads (?) with hens being Salmon/Blond (?).
So, with it getting a black (sorry for this) tail, does that mean it's a cock or should I wait a while before full plumage shows?
If it is male, then looking for a good home!
Also, with this cross breeding, is there a definitive answer on which sex passes the colour down?
Sorry if that was a bit long winded :o But all help in these matters appreciated.
Thanks

Ade
 
Jani said:
Also, with this cross breeding, is there a definitive answer on which sex passes the colour down?
Click to expand...

A hen passes on some of her characteristics to her sons and not her daughters so if you cross genes for silver and gold down, the cock from the 'gold' breed (your Buff Orp) mated with a hen from a silver breed should give gold down in the female chicks and silver down (passed from the mother) in the male chicks.

I don't know if the 5 toes in the Faverolle is a sex-linked trait (gene carried on the sex chromosome) if it is then the Faverolle hen will pass this down to her sons but not her daughters. I think leg / feet colour is sex-linked but I'm not sure about the 5 toes.

Tim
 
I use the old methord of sewing needle and cotten wrapped around first finger dangle down about 3" if it swings in a circle its pullet in a straight line a cock.
I have had good readings my chicks are mainly silkies which are hard to sex.
On hatching eggs a circle means fertile and no movement non fertile believe it or not.
all hatching eggs show female (pity), before you hatch them, wish I could hatch all pullets ha ha.
I do chicks 2-3 days old gives them chance to get on their feet.
How it works I dont know but it does for me and some others have said it worked for them. Give it a try no harm in trying.
For fun have done it off photos and computor moniter and the sewing needle swings ? my family laugh when I get the needle going then they watch it move. It was an old poultry breeder who showed me how it worked.
 
Wow, that sounds interesting, I'm definately going to give that a try.

Does it have to be anything special - a special thread or needle, or can it simply be straight out of the sowing box?

Tim
 
I'd just use any sewing needle and thread. Just a guess.

I'm a bit sceptical. I wonder if its a bit like the pregnancy one :lol: Still worth a go :D
 
I have always believed in the laws of science - but I think it's worth a go - who knows what's going on here. I used to keep lots of racing pigeons when I was younger and nobody can explain how they can find their way home from hundreds of miles away to me yet! ... :shock:

Tim
 
yes just out of the sewing box, and yes like when someone is expecting a baby.
try it on your hens and cockrells if it works on them you know you will be able to sex chicks.
how it works I dont know but it works for me.
oh I have no magical powers ha ha.
 
Ah well if you can try it on adult birds then I'll give that a try sooner than later...

If I can get them to stand still for long enough! :lol:

Tim
 
haha Oh i have giggled :lol: lol but guess what im off to do....lol yes i have my needle and thread ready.
Be right Back!
Natalie x
 
Now :o needles and thread :lol: I am not sure sure I believe in hocus-pocus, but we have spent far too much time in the garden debating which is which - First thing tomorrow, the darn is out.......
I'll keep you informed.
 
Well the strangest thing we did was with 6 sussex chicks at 8 weeks old I was convinced they were cocks. so I read about putting them in a pen on the lawn, and two of you one stood each end of pen and threw a straw hat over said pen. the idea was the cocks necks would raise up to look and pullets would crouch down. they all crouched down. So hubby said there all pullets come 12 weeks old they were crowing so so much for the straw hat trick. A friend had them to grow on, for eating, so much for buying pullets at auction.
So if the needle does not work you may be lucky with the straw hat? :lol:
 
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