POULTRY PRODUCTION AND HEALTH MANAGEMENT

EXERCISE NO. 6 CHICK SEXING

Name (First Name, Surname): __________________________________

Year Level: _____________________________ Score: ____________________

Section/Block: __________________________

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. This is not the case with
poultry. In male birds, the reproductive organs are inside the body cavity. This makes sexing newly
hatched chicks difficult.

Facts versus chick-sexing myths

• The shape of the egg that houses a developing chick is not indicative of the hatchling’s sex.
• Holding a weight on a string over the developing egg and watching it swing in a circle (female) or
back and forth (male) is not an accurate or scientific way to determine the sex of the chick.
• One cannot candle an egg and determine if the embryo is male or female.
• The males switch from chirping, which is common to all chicks, to attempting to crow.
• The males have larger bodies, combs, and wattles than the female.
• In single-comb birds, such as Leghorns, the male’s comb stands upright and the females typically
flop over on one side.
• The males develop larger spurs than the females.
• The males have longer, more pointed, and narrower hackle feathers (located on the neck). The
hackle feathers typically have a rounded oval shape in females.
• The males and females both have main tail feathers, but only the males have saddle feathers.
• In crested chickens such as Polish, Sultans, and Crevecoeurs, the crest feathers of the females
are curved and form a soft topknot. The crests of the males are pointed to give a more punk-like
appearance.
• The combs of young roosters begin to develop earlier than those of females. The timing of this
varies from breed to breed. In most breeds with large combs, it is relatively easy to distinguish
between the two sexes. For some of the breeds with small combs, such as those with pea
combs, distinguishing the sexes may be more difficult.

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 Figure 1. Genetic basis for sex determination in mammals and birds

There are various methods of sexing chicks that can be used at hatcheries: vent sexing and feather
sexing are the commonest.

Vent sexing was developed in Japan and brought to North American poultry producers in the 1930s. It
involves holding the chick upside down in one hand, expelling the fecal material, and everting (turning
outward) the vent area. The producer can then look for the presence or absence of a rudimentary male
sex organ. This process sounds much easier than it actually is. To accurately sex chicks in this way, you
need to be well-trained and have had a great deal of practice.

Feather sexing is possible for some chicken breeds. The Rhode Island Red and New Hampshire breeds
can be sexed by wing color at hatching. Male chicks have a white spot on the down over the wing web.
This spot is lost when the chick down is shed and replaced with feathers.

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The Barred Plymouth Rock breed carries a gene for barring (B) that is carried on the Z chromosome (see
Figure below). This gene produces a white bar on an otherwise black feather. The gene is incompletely
dominant over the non-barring gene (b). In adults, the male, with two barring genes (BB), has feathers
with broader white bars than those of the female, who has only one of the barring genes (B_). As a result,
males are overall lighter in color. The sex of purebred Barred Plymouth Rocks chicks can be determined
on the basis of the size and shape of a light-colored spot on the top of the head. At hatch, males have a
large white spot. The spot is much smaller and narrower in females. This has been found to be about
80% accurate.

Figure 2. Genetic basis for sexing day-old barred Plymouth rock chick

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 Figure 3. Comparison of the wing feathers of a slow-feathering male and a rapid-feathering female
at hatch

Sex-linked crosses are based on the color or growth rate of feathers, characteristics carried on the sex-
determining chromosomes of chickens. To understand how this works, it is important to have a basic
understanding of the genetics involved. It takes a pair of sex-related chromosomes to determine the sex
of the offspring. The mother contributes one sex chromosome to the offspring, and the father contributes
the other. Most breeds do not have this type of sex-linked characteristic, but crossing certain breeds can
result in different feather characteristics for the offspring. the other. In mammals, males carry an X and a
Y chromosome, while the females carry two X chromosomes. It is the male that, genetically, determines
the sex of the offspring. In birds, it is the other way around—females carry a Z and a W chromosome, and
males carry two Z chromosomes. It is the female, therefore, that, genetically, determines the sex of the
offspring (see Figure 1).

• The sex-linked trait of barring has been used in such sex-linked crosses. When a non-barred male is
crossed with a barred female, the resulting females will be non-barred like their father, while the resulting
males will be barred like their mothers (see Figure 3). At hatch, both sexes have dark-colored down, but
the males have a white spot on the top of their head. It is this specific cross that must be used. Crossing a
barred male with a non-barred female will not work. Common breeds used as the non-barred male
include Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire.

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 Figure 4. Genetic basis sex-link cross of barred female to non-barred male

Activity Proper

Based on the above descriptions as a reference, let’s apply the two methodologies by sampling a number
of chicks engaging the vent and feather sexing techniques.

Acquire at least 4 chicks of 1 to 5-day-old of any breed randomly picked from a poultry source (you can
use native chickens of similar age). Allow your animals to acclimatize/rest for ten minutes prior to
manipulating them for the said assessment. First, disinfect both hands, and examine individually your
chicks following the given methods or you can simply utilize the provided images as your point of
reference. After ascertaining the gender/sex identity of your four specimens, exchange them with another
group for one more round of examination. Record the result of your evaluation in the table provided
below. Under each method, compute the percentage (%) of male and female-identified that you have
identified.

CHICK SEXING
Chick number Vent S. Method Feather S. Method
No.1
No.2
No.3
No.4
No.5
No.6
No.7
No.8
% (sex ratio)