Clearing up Myths

With the importance of having female chickens, there are many wives tales about how to tell males apart from females as chicks. In this article, we’re going to go over some very common myths that spread around and need to be exposed or explained.

(Wing) feather sexing

Ok, I’m going to explain the myth and the truth about wing feather sexing by giving a rundown on how it works. Many hatcheries use this technique and do very well with it. When a male of a fast feathering breed like a Leghorn for example, is mated to a female of a slow feathering breed— Orpington as an example, the resulting female chicks receive the fast feathering trait from their father, and the male chicks receive slow feathering from their mother. This gives a short timeframe soon after hatching to look closely at the feathers that are at the tip of the wing- females will have every other feather being longer than the one next to it, and males generally have wing feathers that are all the same length. Many people hear this, and assume all baby chicks have this trait, but this is not the case— only special hybrids created for that purpose will possess that sex-linked trait, and it is only in the first generation.

Egg sexing

Although there is no direct evidence that this is not a reliable method of sexing chickens prior to hatching, it is extremely unlikely, and I have not seen this work. Many folks may tell you “the shape of the egg indicates the gender” but if this were the case, large hatcheries would already be using this method to eliminate having too many males.

Stance

Another method, not completely a myth, but surely not reliable. The posture and leg-stance can vary from one chick to another and sometimes the cockerels will be more upright in posture but remember, there are many breeds with different shapes and sizes- separating chicks by their stance and posture that are of different breeds or strains, doesn’t give a great indication on males/females. Again, we can’t say it’s a complete myth, but we sure can’t say it’s reliable.

Color

There are many breeds that are Sex-linked or Auto-sexing, which means you can tell males apart from females at hatch by their color. But often breeds don’t have this trait and people will think “because I see color in their hackles (neck feathers) it must be a male”. This is sometimes true, but not always. Be sure to google what the male version of that breed looks like, or find other male-traits before accusing the hatchery or breeder of being wrong, or culling the bird.

Comb

There are many comb styles chickens will have. It’s typical for a large-combed Mediterranean breed, like the Leghorn, Minorca, or Andalusian pullet to look like a cockerel among a group of smaller-combed breeds like Wyandottes, Orpingtons or Brahmas. Remember to keep track of what breeds you have before looking for rooster-like traits in the flock.

Three reliable ways to tell.

Sex-linked breeds

This is probably the most reliable way to get 100% females. Breeds like Red, Brown, Black or Golden sex-links are specially bred for the production of female egg layers and tend to have a precise genetic profile for quality pullets.

Vent sexing

A reliable way, but it takes serious skill to get it precise. Most hatcheries will guarantee 90-95% accuracy on vent sexing. This is typically done with most traditional breeds.

Waiting till maturity

If you have highly valued birds in the flock, many times, it’s worth waiting till they’re fully grown to separate males from females. Even beginners should be able to tell roosters apart from hens, especially early in the morning when the sun comes up!