Written by : Dr. Jacquie Jacob, University of Kentucky. Figure 1. Genetic basis for sex determination in mammals and birds Image created by Dr. With most animals, it is relatively easy to determine the sex of the newborn. The male reproductive organs are located on the outside of the body and are relatively easy to see, even in newborns. This is not the case with poultry. In male birds, the reproductive organs are inside the body cavity.

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Facts About Chickens That You Can Use In Determining Sex of Baby Chicks
Although J. Mulder and O. This shape also differs from one breed to another. Therefore, the egg's form cannot indicate the sex of the chick it will produce. If it did, all the layings of a particular fowl—or of a particular breed or strain—would be of one sex. Common sense, or any familiarity with chickens, will tell you that this is not so. So there you have it: both sides of The Controversy. Some say that you can sex chickens by the shape of the eggs from which they'll hatch.
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Many of us who keep backyard chickens raise them from hatchlings or day old chicks. And, sometimes our curiosity gets the better of us and we wonder whether these fluffy little ones will grow up to be clucky hens or crowing roosters. As a backyard chicken keeper, you can learn to sex your chicks by simple observation, for the most part. The first and most versatile method for sexing the widest variety of chicken breeds is to note the occurrence of wing feather development. Lastly, and the most reliable, as well as, the most complex method of all, is the vent sexing method. The first three methods of chicken sexing can easily be performed by humble backyard chicken keepers, noting here that there are always eggs-ceptions! Vent sexing, on the other hand, is a highly complex process which requires years of training due to the fact that there are just so many variables that can cause a misreading. Thus, breeders and hatcheries employ highly trained persons to perform the chicken sexing process. There are two ways to sex a day old chick by observing its feathers. Feather sexing is a simple technique that even an amateur backyard chicken keeper can perform.
By Don Schrider — Whether at the feed store choosing day-old chicks or hatching our own, all of us would probably enjoy knowing how to tell the sex of baby chicks to determine which are cockerels and which are pullets as soon as possible. Over the past years there have been many methods developed for how to tell the sex of baby chicks; some methods proved haphazard, some have proven quite effective. Before we take a look at the methods, it is important to remember the role chance can play in our success in learning how to tell the sex of baby chicks. Under normal conditions, a group of chicks generally hatch with percent males and percent females. So that means any method we use to determine the sex of the chicks has about a 50 percent chance of success — even if the method is erroneous. For a method to be reliable then, it must be more than 50 percent accurate every time it is used.