Aaah, aren’t they sweet. The cutest little pure-bred Buff Orpingtons and Black Australorps. I’m so pleased that I saved some eggs from my Buff Orpington hen before the rooster departed.
One of the fun parts of raising baby chickens is trying to determine the sex of baby chicken. I posted a previous entry about a method I learned of and did on my last set of chicks. From the development of those two I would say that method this go around turned out to be correct. In that post someone commented about another method that hatcheries use by comparing the feathers on a day old chick. I ran a search on the web and found an excellent tutorial with pictures on how to sex by the wing feather method.
This morning I sexed all my new baby chickens and this is what I concluded:
- Holding method–1 cockerel and 3 pullets–Buff Orpington & 1 cockerel and 1 pullet–Black Australorp
- Feather method–1 cockerel and 3 pullets–Buff Orpington & 2 pullets–Black Australorp
When I was doing the holding method on the Australorp chick I wasn’t too sure about the male because one time he struggled and the next he held calm. So maybe the feather method will be correct. I hope so. I’ll keep you updated as they develop and then we can confirm which is more accurate.
In my previous hatch a few weeks ago I resulted in a cockerel Buff Orpington so I may end up with two roosters before long and can continue my raising of this breed. Samantha commented on that post also about another website that tells how to sex as the chick starts developing. My two are now about four weeks old and true to form the pullet is far more advanced than the cockerel. They are doing great though but it turns out the pullet is not a Buff Orpington. Her mother was Ellie Mae, the half Silver-laced Wyandotte. So this little pullet is part Orpington and Silver-laced Wyandotte. She looks just like her mother except for more golden in coloring.
Tomorrow I am starting a new batch of eggs–15. Most are pure-bred Black Australorps but I put in a few of the Buff Orpington eggs also so they should be good egg layers if nothing else. If I keep this up before long I may just have baby chickens for sale. That was not my intent but who knows.
Update 6/8/09–The Buff Orpingtons turned out to be 2 pullets and 2 cockerels. Not sure about the Australorps as they were traded at a chicken swap.
Tags: sexing baby chickens
February 11th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Awwww they are so cute, Carole!! And I was so thrilled to hear about two more ways to sex chicks… I’ve never been able to get the “vent” method down very well, so I always just watched their combs. (Which generally take about two to tree weeks to start developing.)
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February 12th, 2009 at 10:03 am
How cute! We just ordered an incubator over the weekend and are still waiting for it to show up. I’m really looking forward to hatching some of our own.
~Jenny~
Jennys last blog post..Make Something Monday #9
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February 12th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
They are soo cute! I love having chicks. I wanted chicks this yr but the problem is my supplier isn’t around anymore and I have no clue who to go to to cull and get chicks. Maybe next yr! Aren’t raising chicks so much fun? My 3 yr old loves them and they all love him just as much.
Karries last blog post..Bob Bull Saved From Slaughter
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February 28th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Mine are due to hatch sometime between march 2nd and march 4th. Seeing yours so cute just makes me giddy with anticipation. None of mine will be pure breed, I have one RIR rooster, and the mother hen a Silkie. THree of the eggs are 1/2 RIR and 1/2 Silkie… the other eggs she is sitting on are all kidnapped from the other hens. I actually caught a couple of the other hens sitting in Silkie’s nest with her and laying eggs in her nest so SHE will sit on them for them. Bunch of lazy hags!!!LOL! They are all fathered by my RIR rooster, but have mothers who are buff orpington, barred rock, Aracauna, and some weird looking french chicken with a really long neck. I call her ET. Oh and one really pretty black hen who is green when the sun hit her. I do not know the name of her breed but she lays really big green eggs.
So anyway with the hatch coming up I thought I would again look into sexing the babies. I found a really awesome website with great info about chick sexing. Look at this!!
http://web.archive.org/web/200.....exing.html
I can’t wait to see what kind of chicken I will get from 1/2 silkie and 1/2 rir??? A red giant with a fuzzy head? HA!
I haven’t decided whether to let the silkie raise them, or if I should raise the babies myself….. They are always so much friendlier when hand raised… But 11 in my house?? I don’t know, could get stinky.
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May 10th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
aaaaaaaawwwwwwwww they are so adorible…. i was wondering what type of breed of chickens are the little yellow chicks that are usually hatched in schools and projects?
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May 11th, 2009 at 7:30 am
Kailey, The yellow are Buff Orpingtons and the black are Black Australorps. Both good layers and friendly breed.
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