how can you tell the sex of baby chicks ?

Question

i have 2 baby chicks about 3 weeks old, they were colored with food dye ,green and pink, is this harmful and how can i tell if there roosters or hens ?

Answer 1

That is not cool that you colored them with food coloring.

Answer 2

First the food coloring really not hurt. This was big around Easter years ago. As they grow the color go away.
Sexing baby chicks is not easy. It takes a trained eye and you look at the ........ uh ......... well, you look at that! Ha! I see if I can find a link.
The way I sex them, as, I already have them so when I know not a big deal.. As they get a little older you will notice the Comb on top of the head is more prominent on the male.

I found this at Mother Earth News. It just a small portion of what there. One Popup got through my Blocker.
Vent sexing is based on the fact that the hatchling cockerel has a rudimentary sex organ called the "male process" . . . a very small, glossy, transparent bulb that protrudes from amid the second of three cloacal folds inside the cavity. The structure is independent of the surrounding tissues and pokes out almost as far as the vent opening when the border is pushed down far enough for examination. If you're not farsighted, you can see the process with the naked eye. In contrast, the typical female chick has a shallow depression—or just a trace of swelling—at the same site
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Livestock-and-Farming/1974-05-01/How-to-Sex-Day-Old-Chicks.aspx

Answer 3

The only way to tell as a chick what the sex is,they have to be "sexed". In otherwords have to know how to open their rectum to inspect for the male part or the female's "vent" where she accepts the male during mating. A vetern chicken raiser,breeder and showman of the chickens he raises told me you can look at their comb. . . the red flesh on top of their head. It would seem that the female chick will have a smaller comb that fits closer to her head whereas a male will have a larger comb that stands taller than a female. . .though this practice does depend on the breed of chicken so sometimes this method won't work. Most chicks that are sold are primarily female though once in a while a male will slip through the system. As the bird gets older you will definately know for sure as the rooster grows the red flesh that hangs from their chin that is called "Waddles". And then too is the crow that generally will sound weak at first but as their vocal cords mature so does the crow. Chicks/ducklings grow FAST. By the time a chick or duck is about 6wks old you will have a "teenager" bird all totally feathered out and ready to go outside. Chickens can fly but not long distances and not very high. When you start allowing your chicken to live outside,if you do not have a coop or henhouse for them and allow them to "roost" whereever they can then you may have a bird who will roost up in a tree and will be harder to retrieve. I keep my birds in a pen with a henhouse. I don't want them to jump their fence so I have to clip their wings a time or two until they forget they know how to fly and then they quit trying to jump my fence. When you are trying to teach a chicken where to roost at night,it is recommended that you keep that bird confined to that area for a minmum 48hrs. Upon letting them out after that 48hrs,they will always return to that place to roost at night because this has now become "Home".

Answer 4

There are crosses that sex can be told by feather pattern and length, or coloring but only those crosses. It is possible to tell by looking at the vent - this is an expert job not something you can learn on the internet. Many of those coloring Easter chicks get the roosters left from a sex sorted group destined to be laying hens because they are cheap, so odds on they are rooster chicks

Answer 5

Poultry sex can be determined by vent sexing which takes a highly trained eye. Or, feather sexing can be done on some breeds at time of hatch.
The whole food coloring thing is super popular around Easter. It shouldn't hurt them whatsoever.

Answer 6

you look at their wings- the primary and secondary feathers. The females will have one short and one long. the males have all the same length.

Answer 7

i have no idea but look to see it they has pink or blue booties on that might help

Answer 8

let them run around a bit. male chicks will run after the female chicks....i think.