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Can you feather sex Ameraucanas?

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Guest:
I have a 12 year old boy, who wants to buy chicks from me, and insists we can sex them at day old.

I know how to feather sex, but are Ameraucanas able to be sexed successfully that way?

Sue

Mike Gilbert:
I know of no way to feather sex chicks when day old.
I know there is supposed to be something about the feather structure of the wing feathers, but never paid much attention to it.   It seems to me if it were that easy all the hatcheries would be using that method.

grisaboy:
Feather sexing is used by many hatcheries, especially in the broiler and layer industries.  Like any other sex linked gene you have to set up your matings properly for it too work.  In this case the short (slow) feathering is dominant to the long (fast) feathering gene.  So you have to breed a long feathered male kk over a short feathered female K-.  The resulting males will be Kk and since short feathering is dominant, they will have short primary feathers.  The females will be k- which will result in long (fast) growing primaries.  
Here is a link with pictures of day old chicks being feather sexed.
http://animalsciences.missouri.edu/reprod/ReproTech/Feathersex/sld001.htm

I don\'t think anybody in the exhibition poultry business is setting up pens for feather sexing.  

Curtis

John:

--- Quote ---are Ameraucanas able to be sexed
--- End quote ---

Curtis is referring to hybrid chickens which are not a breed of chickens.  Ameraucanas, Leghorns, Cochins, etc. are breeds.  
Barred varieties of standard breeds are the only day-old chicks that I know of that can be sexed by phenotype/feathers (down).

Mike Gilbert:
What I was referring to was a theory being bandied about that pullet primaries shortly after hatching will be longer than those of cockerels.   I can\'t lay my hands on the source anymore, but it was not referring to hybrid matings utilizing the K series (slow feathering) genes.  That was the theory I expressed doubts about.  

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