Barnyard,  Chickens,  Homesteading

Chicks and how to sex them

May 26, 2012

I tried to think of a nicer way of titling this but that is basically it.  We have launched ourselves into the world of hatching chicks.  To begin with we were very new to this, we had never incubated chicks before.  We had heard from other people who said,candling was a joke and how can you see a tiny little dot in the egg so we did not bother.  Around 18 days I started to get anxious and started reading about candling and discovered there was a whole lot more to it than what I had initially heard.  We candled a few of our eggs and saw that they were viable and we were all the more excited.  We had also read that if an egg was bad you could smell a musty smell right through the egg.  We had only put in 10 eggs and 9 had no odor but the 10th clearly did so we disposed of it.  Day 21 came and went and nothing happened I was so disappointed.

On the morning of the 22nd day there were pip marks on an egg and then another, over the next 24 hours 4 eggs hatched. Two more hatched and another started both chicks that hatched later died and the one that started was never strong enough to hatch.  Technically our hatch rate was 60% but our survival rate was only 40%.  We later remembered it took us the better part of a day to reach and maintain the desired heat, hence our hatch delay.

The children love the chicks.

He was so worried it would drop, that chick wasn’t going anywhere!

Hannah was not to worried about dropping them, I love how most of the kids have their eyes on the chicks!

Taliah with my favourite chick!

I do believe Joshua is holding a future rooster!  This one hatched first and was trying to put everyone else in their place right away!

Not too sure about how Joel is holding the chick but he sure likes them.

I love this picture of Hannah peeking in the brooder.  This is our newest brooder, Dave converted our old TV stand into a brooder so now we can sit and watch reality!   It still needs a complete coat of whitewash on the outside and I will post better pictures another day.

The four little chicks our doing great.  In the first few days between day 1 and four you can sex chickens by looking at their wings.  If all the feather tips are even you have a male.  If there are two rows you have a female.  

This is quite simple to do, just gentle pull their wing out and you are looking for the tips of the feathers on the end of the wing.

We were all set to stick some more eggs in the incubator when we noticed our little bantam hen had gone broody.  We decided to let her sit on some eggs.  She is sitting on six eggs.

Poor thing she isn’t moulting, our rooster is a little too rough on her.  I think she is quite happy to be sitting on those eggs.  We have also placed 24 more eggs in the incubator so here is hoping for a bunch of chicks in a couple more weeks. Theses were taken this evening their tail feathers are just starting to grow!Chicks are not easy to get a good picture of they are constantly moving!!!  My favourite little chick-hen.

This post was shared at, Our Simple Farm

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36 Comments

  • marlece
    May 26, 2012 at 4:07 pm Reply

    There is nothing like a baby chick, they are so darn cute, looks like quite a family affair getting those babies born! I do love it so much!

    Hey, wanted you to ck out Shauna's update on her blog, I think we are on a path of Jesus showing up in big ways. Thank you again for all of your love towards us.
    My recent post Nephew Dawson

  • Tracy
    May 27, 2012 at 7:01 am Reply

    We are looking for a home in CT and I just saw one that had a bunch of chicks in the backyard. They were so cute, so I can imagine how much your children are enjoying the process of watching them hatch and adjust to life outside of the egg! Very cute and you have a beautiful family! Tracy
    My recent post ….bon appetit…..

  • itsgreattobe
    May 27, 2012 at 11:15 am Reply

    I've learned much during this Hodgepodge Event on VoiceBok. I had not realized how to tell the difference between the males and females. I like how you re-used an old TV stand to make the brooder. You also captured some great pictures. I'll share on my social media channels!
    My recent post Blog Contributor Guidelines

    • CherylatOldPath
      May 29, 2012 at 9:33 am Reply

      The kids are animal crazy they\’d have a giraffe here if we said yes. I often get asked what animal do you think we\’ll get next Mom? Time will tell.

  • Leigh
    June 1, 2012 at 2:18 pm Reply

    Love that I learnt something new here today. Your comment made me smile about it not being easy to photo chics because they are constantly on the move! I feel the same way about my twins 🙂 _Great and interesting post. BTW you managed to get fabulous photos._Leigh _www.oneandoneequalstwinfun.com

    • CherylatOldPath
      June 2, 2012 at 8:52 pm Reply

      Leigh my youngest is getting close to 16 months old and I have the worst time trying to get a good picture of him he either walks towards the camera or he is too busy to even look my way! Glad you learned something new!

  • Vickie
    May 1, 2013 at 9:31 am Reply

    Ohhh, soooo cute! I love that you can watch reality TV – what a hoot! Good look with your next batch! I found you on Simple Living Wednesday.

  • adrienne
    June 24, 2013 at 6:53 pm Reply

    can you only sex them b/t days 1-4? I have week old chicks and just came across this blog…..I'm SO curious as to what they're going to be!! Trying to not get too attached b/c i live in town and we can't have roos. Our hens went broody so we got some fertilized eggs from a farmer friend. My kids loved the experience.

    • CherylatOldPath
      June 24, 2013 at 7:12 pm Reply

      It will be harder to tell because by a week their feathers are getting much longer. You can try, if you see 2 rows then it is most likely a female, but it is possible the feathers have grown enough that they\’ll look like they are all roos and that is not necessarily the case. Best to do this within the first dew days if you ever do it again.

  • april
    May 25, 2014 at 10:53 am Reply

    I have a chick that was rescued from traffic and brought to me when she was just a few days old. I think she is about 3 weeks old now. Is it to late to check the feathers to see if she is a he? She is kind of aggressive to the big girls. See, I went out and bought 2 more chick’s to be raised with the rescue so she wouldn’t be lonely. During the day I let the big girls free range and I let the little babies run around the coop.(much bigger)..well three of my 2 month old girls came back in the coop and pretty much did their own thing. Totally ignored the babies. But the rescue started picking on the big girls. Standing up to them staring them down and then attacking. Like she was protecting her little friends. Not sure what to do.

    • CherylatOldPath
      May 25, 2014 at 7:38 pm Reply

      It is too late to sex them this way. We have also since encountered that this way of sexing works for some breeds and not for others. It does sound like some rooster behaviour but that doesn\’t mean your chick is a rooster. Chickens are funny, I\’d watch them and so long as no one is getting hurt it should all settle itself out. Anytime new birds are introduced there will be new pecking order established.

  • Lori
    May 31, 2014 at 4:20 pm Reply

    Once you find out which are male and which are female, what happens to the males? I know there isn't room for more than one Rooster at a time, but half a brood can be male there is…well you know what I'm getting at.
    I have sent a few Roosters to the stock pot myself and have always found it dismaying as I'm a ovo-vegetarian and understand the price to be paid in this regard. Rooster Sanctuary? For some species it really does suck to be a male. 🙁

  • Vicki
    March 9, 2016 at 10:40 am Reply

    I would love to know how accurate your "sexing" turned out to be. This method of sexing chicks only works on lines that are specifically bred for it. One parent must be "Fast feathering" and the other "Slow feathering". People depending on this method may well be very disappointed! Remember…whatever method you use you will be right 50% of the time.

  • susan fisher
    April 9, 2018 at 7:42 am Reply

    Hi Cheryl!
    i was fallen on your page here and i like it a lot!
    We are walking the old path too,, even while living in France.
    maybe we are some of the ancienne Celtics here. 😉
    i say the forest, the nature is my church my temple where you can have always a nice direct connection
    to higher ground, god.
    best wishes from France, Susan

    • CherylatOldPath
      May 24, 2018 at 8:12 pm Reply

      Hi Susan welcome here I am glad you like it I really need to get back to writing on a regular bases.

  • Mack Webster
    February 23, 2019 at 3:13 pm Reply

    Thank you for the information on sexing baby chicks. I've always wondered how it was done. And….thanks for a great website. I am also a follower of JESUS and I will pray for Joel and his family. Love in JESUS. Mack

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