1. Look at their wing feathers. While baby chicks are covered in down the ends of their wings will have a light feather fringe. To view the wing feathers grasp the chick firmly in one hand. Use your other hand to extend the wing out until the feathers are somewhat separated and visible. A male (cockerel) chick will have wing feathers of roughly the same length. A female (pullet) chick will have wing feathers featuring two varied lengths.
- You can perform wing sexing 1 to 2 days after hatching and usually get accurate results. If you wait longer than this the wing feather development will accelerate too much to read
2. Look at their down color. A chick is covered with downy soft small feathers until it develops past 6 weeks of age. Male chicks usually have light-colored heads whereas females often have dark brown ones. If a female has down spots or stripes they are typically brown or black. In contrast, a male’s accent marks are generally white or yellow.
- For example, male Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire chicks will have almost golden down coloring.
- Similarly, Red Stars are a sex-linked breed so the male and female are different colors. Males hatch buttery gold while females hatch reddish-gold.
- In some situations you can estimate the sex of a day-old chick using down color reading.
- Certain breeds will have sex-unique down patterns. For example, male Barred Plymouth Rocks chicks will have yellow spots on their heads.
3. Look at their size. At about 3 to 4 weeks old you should be able to start to tell the difference between male and female chicks based on their body size. Male chicks will generally have larger bodies and heads. Female chicks will appear a bit more petite.
4. Attempt vent sexing. A warning in advance, it’s usually best to hire a professional to perform this procedure. However if you choose to do it yourself, make sure to be gentle with the chick. Hold the chick in your hand and apply light pressure to its abdomen until the chick defecates. Look into the now clear anal vent. If you see a bump then the chick is likely male. No bump indicates a female.
- In some breeds both males and females will have what looks like a series of small beads in their anal vent. In these cases the male will have a larger round center bead. The female center bead will be flat in appearance.
