Ameraucana Chick Wing Sexing - PHOTOS

[LemonAden]

Hey everybody! I have been breeding my Ameraucana chickens for a few years now and have hatched a few thousand of them. I am starting to get a good eye at 2 months of age for which are roos and which are hens. We are about the purchase a commercial incubator so that we can meet the higher demand we have been getting, which means we need to figure out how to sex them as early as possible so we don't waste money feeding roos and can just sell them instead.

Last winter we hatched out a batch of 20 chicks. We have a friend who claims you can tell by looking at the wings. There are indeed 2 different kind of wings, so we took his advice, sexed them by the wing really young and out of the 6 we decided to keep we are seeing that they are most likely all going to turn out roos.

We were told that wings that don't show an even pattern of length are roos, and the ones with the larger, more even wing feathers are hens.

I have taken a photo of each of the 8 we kept from our latest hatch. As you can see from the first 2 photos, the wings feathers are uneven, while the next 6 chicks all have even, long feathers. Also, the first 2 are a lot smaller in size then the following 6.

We really don't want to have to resort to trying to learn to vent sex, so we would really love any advice help we can get here.

Below are the 8 chicks, separated by the first 2 with the uneven feathers. Thank you!


EVEN WINGS:

 

[lclough1998]

Want to follow this post...hope mine are pullets. Assuming they are roos, that way i wont be disappointed. Does tail length mean anything?

 

[mustangsaguaro]

you Cannot feather sex ameraucanas. One of the parents needs to be slow feathering and one fast feathering to be able to feather sex. Also the birds you are using for as examples are way to old to feather sex even if you could. You have to do it within the first 3 days. After that it is to late. Hope this helps.

 

[LemonAden]

So I guess then my only option is to try and learn vent sexing. Are there any online instructions on how to learn it?

Thanks!

 

[CEH]

We sex our chicks once the feathers just in front of the tail have grown out sufficiently to see if those feathers are rounded or pointed. Rounded are pullets. This has been 100% accurate. The age at which this is useful varies with breed so you would have to feed the chicks for nearly two months. Take a look at adult birds, you will immediately see what I mean.

 

[Chicken Girl1]

Vent sexing is done at hatch and can be harmful to the bird if not done properly. The best way for you to sex your birds is to watch the grow cockerels tend to get redder/plumper, if you post again when they are at least 6 weeks we can try and help you.

 

[Chickylady23]

Its actually the other way around... pullets have uneven wings that grow faster than the roos at first. Then the roos catch up meaning you want to do it the 1st week of life. Pullets wings are one short, one long, one short, one long and curve like in the first 2 pictures. The others look like roo wings.

 

[DuckyKat]

Chickylady is correct. Even feathers are male, staggered are female. I've done with with a few americaunas and found success. Haven't had many to test it on yet though

 

[VannahBee]

What was the outcome? have you figured the sex out yet?

 

[VannahBee]

I have a some blue black and splash amerucanas and was wondering how to sex