If you've ever tried hatching your own chicken eggs, then you probably know what an annoying thing it is to not know how many males are going to end up being in that batch when they hatch. And what's worse, is that you usually still don't know who's who until the chickens are mature enough (6-8 weeks on average; some folks can guess sooner, others later) that you can tell by looks as to who's a male and who's a female. A place only needs so many roosters, you know...
A couple days ago I learned two neat tricks to telling the difference betwixt male and female chicks not only when they're 2-week old youngsters, but possibly even when they're just an egg. I can't claim that these are fool proof since I have yet to try this (dying to, now though! My curiosity is killing me!), but so far I've heard a lot of positive results from other folks about these. And hey, it can't hurt right? If you're about to let a hen go broody, or if you want one last batch of eggs in that incubator, then it sure wouldn't hurt to pay a bit more attention to those eggs, right?
So without further ado...
Below is a diagram of the difference between "pullet eggs" and "cockerel eggs". And should you care for the link to the original article on this (to prove that I'm not going nuts and making this up), you can find that by clicking HERE. It's a Mother Earth News article, so it may take a few moments to load (or it does for me anyway).
Aaaand the second trick: Sexing chicks by their wing feathers. Okay, I personally think this is the coolest thing. The bees knees, if you will. ;) This looks so simple that I'm practically foaming at the mouth to get my hands on some tiny chicks and see for myself that this holds true. I mean, seriously, do you know how handy that would be if I knew how many pullets vs. cockerels I was looking at, so early in the game!?!? Or what if I was buying 2-3 week old chicks from a breeder and wanted to get as many females as possible!? Yep, I'm pretty excited to learn this trick. So, the handy dandy link to this new knowledge can be found by clicking HERE! The link leads to a fun looking homesteading/homeschooling/homemaking/family oriented type blog.
Have any of y'all tried either of these tricks before? How'd they work??
5 comments:
I have not found the wing feather indicator as all that reliable. I have discovered that if you have straight run chicks all the same age, you can compare the feet size of all of the chicks and it becomes apparent rather quickly, as to who is a cockerel and who is a pullet.
I band my chicks when they are still in the brooder. Yellow for girls and white for boys - to test my theory and I have been correct 90% of the time.
Heather in PA
I used the egg shape for getting more pullets a few years ago. And, it worked great.
We tried the egg trick and hatched almost all roosters. Not good. However I find the wingfeathers very accurate at 1 or 2 days old. Kathy
I have heard that the wing method does work, but only with certain breeds. I have heard also about a method developed by the Japanese. They gently squeeze day-old chicks to reveal the sex organ through the vent. There is more info online.
I have a chicken for a pet and I wanna name it but I can't tell if it's a boy or a girl. Help!
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