At what age can baby chickens be ID\'s male or female?

[Guest]

My baby flock is six weeks old now...about when should I be able to tell the cockerels from the pullets?

Thanks much.

--Ron

[Mike Gilbert]

If you have silvers, the females will be developing salmon color on the breast area, while the males will be getting some black feathers on the  breast.    Otherwise, males will be developing pointed feathers in the saddle (in front of the tail).
Male combs will be a little larger with more color, as a general rule, than those of the females.    But don\'t be in a rush, just enjoy the ride.

[Guest]

Mike,

This is what I have:

15 Ameraucanca Silver male crossed with RIR females
5 Ameraucana Silver males crossed with either Ameraucana Silver or Amerauacana wheaten.
Total = 20.

Some of the birds are all white; some are white/black; some are black/grey; I have one with white and brown splotches, and one with a lot of jet black.

But, to re-cap it\'s the pointed feathers on the saddle and the larger, brighter comb that are the give-aways? I\'m not rushing -- but I am -- because I don\'t want to be busted again for roosters (illegal where I live) -- I probably have a few more months to go, but I definitely need to address it before they become sexually mature.

In the meantime, I\'ll enjoy their presences here. So far, it\'s been a great ride. I have bamboo poles run through the poultry netting for roost bars -- one of them is 3 feet up and some of the birds can reach it from the ground. They\'re fantastic flyers. Clip wings? Not on my life! :-)

[Guest]

I have noticed around 6 weeks, cockerels are larger and have redder combs.

[Guest]

being that many of yours are cross breeds it may be harder, but I can usualy identify them by 5 days by their feathering, Sean does a differant \"rooster test\" and checks their voices, again by about day 5.
At that earlie stage we are only about 85% accurate, but by 3 weeks their feathers are very easy to determine
the roosers are usually a bit slower to feather over their backs, and usualy have a much more abrupt stature, the roosters will have pointy feathers emerging in their saddle region, hens are more blunt and rounded

[Guest]

The birds are still cheeping (7th week starting today), so is there a way to tell by the cheeps?

I notice that a number of them have pink combs, while others have almost no combs at all. The combs are more prominent now than they were last week. I also noticed that some of the birds are simply much larger than the others -- so I would imagine those are probably roosters in the making.

I was tempted to try vent sexing, because I saw diagrams of that on another site, but -- well -- I\'d rather not.

Thanks.

--Ron

[Guest]

I have found it is one thing to be told how to sex them, yet another to actually do it.
I have had several folks try to tell me how to sex them when we got our first \"Solid colord\" Ameraucanas..but even then i couldn\'t figure it out, it left me feeling kind of dumb.
But, at one show, I got brave and asked one of the vetern show folk if they could pick the male & female chicks out from the box for me .
To which he quickly showed me how to check them for their feathers..and the light came on DUH!!  After that it was easy.
I discoverd I am a Visual Learner.
Sooooooo
If at all possible, try to find someone local and have them show you, or if you can find a show near by ask a vetern exhibitor..most are very willing to help

I would try, but the closest I come to you is Cobelskill, and that is in th fall, unless your close to harford PA, in that case we plan to  be there june 10th

[Guest]

Rita,

Sorry for my tardy reply. I was in the last week of an MBA course and I\'m also getting ready to \"break my ARM\" (adjustable rate mortgage), so I\'ve been a busy little beaver.

I don\'t know if I\'ll be out that way on 6/10. How about I put technology to work? If I take several pictures and post them on a website, would you be willing/able to ID based on what\'s posted? Aside from doing me a favor, it would be a public service to all those new to poultry.

I think I have a good idea of who the roosters are, but I just want to verify. Thanks much.

--Ron

[Guest]

Watch for agressiveness. Male birds are more agressive than female birds. The ones that are fighting are most likely your males. I have seen birds as young as two weeks start to peck the heads of other chickens.

Rooster

[Guest]

Hi Ron,
It would be cool if you could make it to Harford!!
but is not, that is understandabe.
photos can sometimes work, but due to quality and angles taken, can ve hard at times.
However my sister posted some of hers to show me how big they have grown sinse we droppd them off, and most coule be identified, so worth a shot.
Rita

[Guest]

Rita,

I\'m going to make a webpage with photos. I\'ll try to get top-downs (so you can see the backs), as well as profile (side shots). It\'s going to be a few days though, because I\'m doing a lot of house and garden work right now. The birds are 8 weeks today and were just fed the last bit of starter feed.

They go on grower for the next 8 weeks after this. I have about that much time to ID the birds -- the roosters must be off my property before they start to crow, or I\'ll get busted again. So, I want to enjoy the birds as much as I can until that time comes.

If anyone is interested in these birds, please let me know. My wife would rather me not take them to the feed store I was using, as she feels the owner doesn\'t treat his pre-sale birds well (minimal feed/water, cramped conditions) -- and I tend to agree.

Thanks.

--Ron

[Guest]

devitor I will buy some of them when you get ready to sell

[Guest]

Lamplighter,

Shoot me an email and we\'ll discuss these birds and how to proceed.

--Ron