How to determine the gender of a chicken and when to do it
When newborn chickens are born dry, they are almost impossible to distinguish from each other. But how, in this case, to cope with a very important task, how to determine the sex of the chicken?
For experienced poultry farmers, this is a matter of a matter of seconds, but those who are just starting to breed poultry will have to practice a lot to gain this skill.
The most accurate result is obtained by the method of determining sex by DNA and by studying the chromosome set of a bird. However, it is unlikely that effective, but extremely expensive and technically complex methods will be available to ordinary farmers and home owners in the near future. Therefore, in their practice, most of them adhere to old methods, tested by a huge number of generations of chickens and roosters, which are based on external differences and behavioral characteristics of chicks.
The easiest way to share chicks with owners rocks, roosters and chickens of which differ in color. In this case, even the one who first sees a poultry with his own eyes will play against the task.
But how to distinguish a rooster from a chicken, if the chickens are "one-faced"?
How to determine the gender of a chicken by size?
Many novice poultry farmers believe that growing larger roosters, being chicks, also have more females. Indeed, there is such a difference, but it is only 1-2 grams, and in some cases the rule does not work at all.
If you want to know how to determine the sex of a chick, it is much more effective to observe not its weight, but for external signs. Males, for example, have stronger and wider legs already at day old. But experienced poultry farmers trust more in how the feathers on the wings of chicks look.
How to distinguish a rooster or a hen by the wings of chickens?
This method is popular both with owners of small private farmsteads and with specialists of large farms. Plumage growth and its features are visible already in the first day after birth, therefore, conclusions about gender can be drawn from the appearance of the wings.
How to distinguish between chicks by sex with this method? In cockerels, the flight feathers are longer and the wingspan is wider than in future chickens of the same age. Females have feathers of different lengths on their wings. The sorting accuracy for these criteria is from 60 to 80%, which allows the method to be used even in industrial conditions, while supporting the results with other verification options.
How to identify a rooster or hen by the chick reflex reactions?
It has long been noticed that chickens and roosters react differently to certain interventions. Before determining gender chicken in this way, the chick is gently picked up by the legs, turned upside down or laid on its back. Males usually stretch their necks, while future chickens, on the contrary, are grouped.
A similar reaction can be observed if you stir up something, frighten the young.The hens instantly sit down on the litter, and the males scatter anxiously and try to take a threatening pose.
The Japanese way to tell chicks by gender
Among specialists working on large farms, the so-called Japanese method of finding out the sex of a chick is widespread. Although the accuracy of the determination reaches 95%, it will not work to use this technique without sufficient skill.
Before identifying a rooster or a chicken, a chick in hands, you will have to understand the structure of the genitals in chicks and know their differences.
Males can be separated from females by finding a genital tubercle in the anus, which future chickens do not have:
- First, you should cleanse the baby's cloaca from traces of feces.
- Then the chick is taken in the palm of the hand, turned over and the legs are spread so that the chick's cloaca is in the field of view of the researcher.
- The hole should be pushed apart while pressing the abdomen so that the internal structure is clearly visible.
How to determine the rooster or the hen is in the hands of the poultry farmer by the appearance of the chicken cloaca:
- In females, the cloaca looks like a neat nodule without visible bulges.
- In males, in most cases, a genital tubercle is found.
Since, with careless or inept handling, this method threatens with injury and penetration of infection into the genitals of chickens, only experienced poultry breeders can conduct research. Otherwise, diseases and the loss of part of the livestock cannot be avoided.
How to distinguish adolescent chicks by sex?
In the second half of the first month of life, the bird can already be distinguished by its appearance. First, the sex of the chick can be determined by the plumage. In chickens, it is formed earlier and more actively than in roosters, but the size of males at such a young age may be larger.
In the second or third month, the rooster's decoration of the head becomes distinguishable: a comb, a beard begins to form. At the same age, spurs appear, which young chickens do not have, the shape and length of the tail change.
Despite the many existing methods of how to distinguish chicks by sex, none can give one hundred percent guarantee of accuracy. Therefore, those who know a lot about home poultry farming do not rely on only one method, but support the choice with the results of several tests.
A video on how to determine the sex of a chicken will help you find acceptable ways for yourself, gain theoretical knowledge in this matter and avoid mistakes when using them in practice.