Is it a Girl or a Boy?
Here are some common chicken terms about the sex of your
chicks.
Pullets: baby chicks vent sexed from the hatchery, to
be 90% female.
Hen: adult female chicken that is laying eggs, laying
begins between 18 and 24 weeks, depending on breed, overall health and
environment.
Broody Hen: a hen that is laying eggs and sit (set) on
them till they hatch (21 days), care for and raise biddies.
Rooster: sexually mature male chicken, it breeds, it
struts, it has spurs, and it crows.
Straight Run: chicks that have not been sexed at the
hatchery, you get a 50/50 chance of female/male.
Can we at Woodville Ace Hardware sex chicks?
No, we can take a guess and that is all it would be. No one
here is trained to vent sex chicks. We have learned a few tricks or “Old Wives
Tales” from customers over the years.
My favorite is to flip the chicks over on their back and if
they draw up their legs to their chest they are female, if they stick their
legs straight out they are male.
Some customers look at the tips of their wing feathers when
they are just a few days old, if they are uneven they are female, if they are
all even they are male, this also depends on breeds.
Some breeds of chicks have spots or color on their heads that
could let the experienced chicken breeder tell female from male.
But sex-links and auto sexed chickens have taken the guess
work out of it by breeding a hybrid chicken from two pure bred chickens, called
a sex-link. The term auto sexed is applied to this cross breeding. Sex-links
have the trait that when hatched males and females are different colors, yet I
have had customers tell me they have had a rooster in their sex-links. Not so
sure this is 100% accurate either, but that the theory.
Personally I have a hard time trying to tell female from male
in any birds, I have looked at turkeys, ducks, chicks, guinea and such not been able to see what it is the hatcheries see when vent sexing chicks.
I work with the chicks every day in the coop, sometimes there
are one or two that standout as being more aggressive. When I scrap or tap the pens the little chicks will run toward you, I assume these are
male, following protective and aggressive behavior of a rooster. But unless I
sell that one to a customer and they return to confirm this, I never know.
About the time your chickens start to get feathers, you can
begin to see the difference in their body weight, their comb, and watching
their behavior. They will not start to develop spurs or start to crow until
they are 5-6 months old.
What do I do with a Rooster, I do not want?
First, you do not have to have a rooster to have eggs, only
if you want to incubate eggs and raise your own chicks. But a rooster has its place in your flock, he will defend
his hens, even if it means his death. Without a rooster there will be a hen
that will take over a roosters roll.
I get asked this question all the time and there are several
ways to get rid of an unwanted rooster.
- You can eat them. But do it early, after 21 weeks the meat is very tough and even pressure cooked, may not be worth the trouble. I understand grinding the meat for stews or chili works very well with older roosters or hens.
- You can give them away. Using social media or Craig's List may help you find them a new home, but don't be concerned about their destiny.
- Many times I just turn them out of the coop, they either make it in the yard or not. Eventually something will probably eat them.
- Roosters will mate with every hen in your flock, several times a day. They will fight with each other, when more than one rooster is with your hens and tear up the hens backs. If you are going to keep one, find the strongest and fittest.
- You can keep them in a separate pen if you don't want them in with your hens. When they are kept together they are usually pretty content and don't fight each other.Hope you find a happy home for your roosters. Let me know if you find another way to get rid of unwanted roosters.
