Hens start to lay eggs around 18 to 20 weeks of age at the earliest. On the other hand, female chicks combs and wattles usually grow in later (10 weeks or older) and become significantly more red and enlarged in the weeks before they start laying eggs. Yet the comb and/or wattles on male chicks usually grow sooner and larger (noticeable around 6 to 8 weeks of age) and turn bright red earlier. Some hens have impressively large combs, even bigger than roosters! For either sex, a bright red comb is a sign that the chicken is healthy and sexually mature. Both hens and roosters have combs and wattles. Pullet development timeline by week ( source)Īnother way to tell the difference between female and male chicks is by watching their combs and wattles develop. Yet this can be hard to quantify or compare – especially if you only have one barred rock chick in your flock! (Our girl Zoey had a very large irregular white spot.) Male barred rock chicks also usually have more evenly yellow legs than female barred rocks, who have subtle black or gray on the front of their legs instead. For instance, male barred rock chicks usually have larger, scattered or irregular white spots on their head, while female barred rock chicks have a smaller, more distinct white head spot. Other examples of sexual dimorphism are more subtle, and therefore may be more difficult to rely on. Some autosexing chick characteristics are quite obvious: like the distinct dark chipmunk stripes down the back of female Crested Cream Legbars, compared to the lighter body color and yellow head dot found on males. Many hatcheries offer autosexing breeds as an easy way to guarantee females.Īutosexing chicken breeds include Dorkings, Crested Cream Legbars, Welsummers, Bielefelders, Rhodebars, and many other less common breeds. In the animal kingdom, this is known as sexual dimorphism. With some chicken breeds, you can easily tell the difference between male and female chicks just by looking at them! Certain breeds are considered “autosexing”, where it’s easy to distinguish male vs female chicks by different physical features or markings, even when they’re tiny fluffballs. The same four chicks shown in the feature image above – at 15 or 16 weeks old here. Turns out she’s just a huge bird! So much so, I often call her Big Bertha instead of Zoey nowadays.īe patient, give it time, and enjoy those little nuggets while you can. She had really thick legs, stood tall and proud, and was much larger than her sisters. As a chick, I was pretty darn convinced that Zoey (our current Barred Rock) was a cockerel for many, many weeks. Between imperfect sexing at the hatchery, androgynous individuals, early or late bloomers, those chicks really like to keep us on our toes! That said, there are always exceptions to the “rules” of sexing chicks outlined in this post.Įvery backyard chicken keeper has had a suspected cockerel in the group, though it often turns out to be a hen. When raising chicks, there’s always a lot of speculation and guessing around chick sex – especially before they reach 8 to 10 weeks old (when the differences become much more apparent). Then the sought-after female chicks head off to farm centers or customers – but the sexing process isn’t foolproof! It’s not uncommon for folks to end up with an occasional cockerel despite ordering all females. Autosexing breeds can be distinguished by more apparent physical features such as color. ![]() ![]() At hatcheries, trained professionals usually determine the sex of chicks by examining their cloaca (vent opening and sex parts) just after hatching. Young female chickens are referred to as pullets and young male chickens are called cockerels. Read along to learn about sexing chicks – with 5 ways to tell the difference between male and female chicks, along with a handy reference chart at the end. Share on Pinterest Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Email Share on RedditĪre you wondering if your chick is a female or a male? Well, you won’t really know until they crow… or, lay an egg! Jokes aside, it can sometimes be tough to say if a young chick is going to grow up to be a rooster or hen, yet there are a number of hints and signs that can give you a good clue.
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