chick just hatched....how to tell gender?...nt

[lottie j.y6s4ly]

s

[3lilreds in NC]

I know nothing about chickens, but I don't think you can tell right away. My neighbor had a chicken for a while, and we thought Dumplin was a hen, but she turned into a rooster! So "she" had to go back to the chicken farm. (We live in a neighborhood that frowns upon being awakened by roosters, LOL)

[Donna T.]

My son is an absolute expert on poultry. He says you can't tell until they are grown.

[Carol in Cal.]

If you buy chicks, you can buy them sorted or unsorted. The sorted ones are all presumed to be female, but this is not guarenteed, and around here it is informally assumed that 2-3 chicks in a supposedly 'sorted' dozen will turn out to be male.

[Remudamom]

It's just like cats, if they grow up and have babies, they're female. If they have something else, they're males.

Hens lay eggs, roosters crow about it .

[lottie j.y6s4ly]

s

[kokotg]

There's a website called backyardchicken, with forums where you can post pictures and ask what kind of chick you have. not that early, though. people post pics of 3 and 4 week old chicks, and educated guesses are made (roosters get combs earlier and redder than hens, for one thing), but you won't know for sure until they either crow or lay eggs.