Feather Sexing

 Feather sexing a chicken, also referred to as wing sexing, is another fairly easy and straightforward way to sex a chicken. As with venting, to use this method, you must do it when a chick is about a day old. If you wait much longer, its feathers will be well-developed, and you’ll be unable to see differences between males and females.

Female chicks will have wing feathers earlier than male chicks, developing them before hatching. Males, on the other hand, start developing their wing feathers after hatching. This means that wing feathers are going to be much more visible in day-old female chicks than males. However, there’s more to feather sexing than that.

The wing feathers of day-old male and female chicks look remarkably different. Female chicks have alternating feather lengths on their wings. There will be a long one, followed by a short one, then another long one, and so on and so forth. By contrast, male chicks’ wing feathers will all be the exact same size.

This is a relatively accurate way to sex a chicken, but as with venting, you have to be very careful. To feather sex a chicken, you must gently pull out the chick’s wing and spread it carefully. If done too roughly, this can damage the chick’s wing permanently.

This PDF from Aviagen.com has a step-by-step guide with pictures on how to properly feather sex a chicken. Consult it before trying this yourself, and make a special note of how to properly hold the chick while sexing it.



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