Sex Identification of Chicks

When chicks are produced and ready to be sent to the various holds that have ordered some, sometimes they ask for sexed chicks instead of a straight run. Thus it is necessary to learn how to differentiate between sexes.

One method is vent-sexing, a method that has been employed for many turns. It involves an examination of the copulatory organs. You need to be efficient, have good eyesight and keep in practice in order to stay accurate. For there is a lot of variation in the male and female organs, making it difficult for the inexperienced to accurately determine the gender of day-old chicks.

Another method is the use of sex-linked inheritance. Sex-linked characteristics are transferred by the female to her sons but not her daughters. When these characteristics produce recognizable traits, they can be used to identify the chicks.

One example would be the Istan Red male crossed with the Barred Istan female. This will produce female chicks that don't have any barring and male chicks that are barred. However the barring doesn't show up on day-old chicks, but it will show up as a white spot on the back of the head. The females will not have this spot and will be predominantly black, while the males will show the barring. Thus making this an easy way to sort chicks.

Another example of sex-linked inheritance is the rate of feathering. Slow feathering is dominant to fast feathering. Thus if you crossed a rapid feathering male with a slow feathering female you would get rapid feathering females and slow feathering males. The females will exhibit well-developed primary and secondary feathering, while the males will have primaries and secondaries that are much shorter.

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