Chook Me!

I purchased baby chicks. How can I tell weather they are chickens or roosters?

They have all their feathers, except on there heads, their is still some down feathers.

Public Comments

1. Wait till they grow up. nfd♥
2. Look at the wing feathers- the length of the feathers will tell you. If the feathers are all even, then the chick is male. If one of the two rows of feathers on the wing is shorter than the other row, then the chick is female.
3. honestly I have no idea.. I just wait til they start to crow.. or lay.. of course they start to look like roosters too... here is a link you may find interesting http://www.gomestic.com/Pets/Unusual-Pets-Chickens.76299 never heard of the feather thing...
4. when they start to get feathers other than the wings if they are rounded they are hens and if they aren't they are roosters. You cant tell before then but Mine are about 2 weeks old and I could tell for the first time today.
5. To determine the gender of a chick, the ONLY way to know until they get older is to visually inspect the vent. The feather method only works in certain breeds. In other breeds there is a sex link color, meaning female chicks are born one color, and males another. But not knowing the breed, it impossible to say whether the feather or color method will work. If you turn the chick over and spread open the vent, you can see clearly if it is male or female. The male has a penis, which will be a prominant cone shaped structure within the vent. The females do have a little triangle shaped organ, but it is flat looking and not prominant.
6. Cribber gives the closest to the truth answer however I recently had a man who raises "Show Chickens" to tell me how to pretty well tell which is which by just looking at their "combs" (fleshy material on their heads) though this isn't fool proof. Generally speaking,a female's comb will be shorter and closer to her head whereas a male's comb will be longer and stand taller. Never heard about the "feather test" and this man who has been raising and showing chickens for over 30yrs never mentioned this method of "sexing".