Sexing by tail feathers?

[JohnsonHomestead]

I have had more that a couple people tell me that you can sex any chicken at a few weeks old by tail feather development. Hens are suppose to get tail feathers first and roos start later on. I have some production red chicks about a month old now and obvious difference in tail feathers. I am just curious if anyone has tried this version of sexing and how well it works?

 

[secuono]

Idk about chicks, but I sex them when they are a bit older. Males will start w/the two long feathers. Japs, at least all of mine and other micro breeds, the males will hold their tails right up early on, even when chicks.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Did you purchase straight run chicks? Hatchery sexing is 90% accurate.

With straight run of same breed a combination of leg size and tails works quite well for first two weeks. Yes the pullets tails start first so many mistakenly think they've all cockerels from the start. With leg size we had one pullet whose legs were thick and long, had us guessing for about a week. She is just a great bird, fast development, excellent body type with long leg features of an excellent layer. With tail development on her and comb development on cockerels all was clear by 2 1/2 weeks.

 

[PeeperKeeper]

Yes about 75% of the time this is accurate on breeds whose tails tend to fan up ward. I have trouble with the "Rocks" breeds as their adult tails tend to go straight back or curve down. The best method is to check wing feathers at 1 or 2 days old. you tube has a good video on sexing chicks.

 

[JohnsonHomestead]

Egghead jr, this group I hatched myself from my eggs.
I tried the wing sexing at actually came out the same as tail feathering,lol. All of them are long thick leg birds for most part, I will be hatching several more from same stock after first of the year, I am figuring by the end of summer I should have a good idea how well my wing and tail feather sexing works out, at least with the pro red stock I have.

 

[HappyChickenLover]

All depends on the breed, my oegb i can tell by the tails

 

[HappyChickenLover]

saddle feathers help a ton for finding a cockeral

 

[JohnsonHomestead]

Saddle feathers? You stepped in what? lol. Have idea where to look for them(on back between wings, maybe), but what would I be looking for?

 

[annageckos]

Quote:
Saddle feather won't come in until the chicks are older, I think it is around 10-12 weeks old. The males get long stringy, pointed saddle feathers, the females don't.

 

[JohnsonHomestead]

ok, I may be getting confused(not hard to do) I know roosters get long pointed feathers around the neck as they get older, always known those by hackle feathers. So would saddle feathers just be another name for the neck feathers? With the pro reds I have, the roos combs and wattles are getting good red before those feathers are well formed.