The Ultimate Guide To Sexing Of Chickens

Method For Sexing Of Chickens

The method of segregation of male and female chickens and other birds is called sexing of chickens. It is essential for breeder and layer chicks at day old stage. Sexing of chicken is also important for the breeding of poultry.

Procedure for Sexing Of Chickens

The main procedure for Sexing of different types of Chickens depends on types of chicken and Poultry. The sexing procedure must be followed through day Old stage. Sexing procedure is mainly followed on

• chicks

• quail

• turkey

Sexing of Chicks

The sexing of chicks is performed by the best three methods-

• Vent (Cloacal) or Japanise method of sexing

• Proctoscopic method of sexing

• Sex-linked characters

See also- The common diseases of chicks

1. Vent ( Cloacal method)

It is also called the Japanese method of sex. This method was first developed in Japan and considered to be the most popular method of the recent time. The sexing is done on the basis of the genital eminence of the day-old chicks.

Differential characters of vent sexing in chicks ( Table)

Characters	Male	Female
The elasticity of genitalia eminence	More elastic	Les Elastic
Boundary and contour of genitalia eminence	Distinct Boundary and contour	No Distinct Boundary and contour
lusture and color of eminence	Distinct Lusture	Transparent appearance, Color does not differ from other parts of the cloaca
The difference of position of eminence	Much more outside	Further inside

Differentiation of Male and female chicks by genital eminence

Left – Cockrel

Reight – Pullet

Methods for Vent sexing in chicks

• Hold chick in one hand firmly but gently with chicks rear-facing you over that can be cleaned easily.

• Press gently on the abdomen, then gently squeeze its vent with the thump and first finger of the other hand.

• Clear the Faeces of the vent.

• Carefully spread the vent using your bump and index finger and cause the tissue just inside the vent to be visible.

• Check if the chick has a small bump which would indicate that the chick is male.

• Chicks with no visible bulge or just a slight indentation can be classified as female.

• Place males in one box and female in another box

2. Proctoscopic method

Proctoscope is an optical instrument with an illuminated glass tip that is inserted into the chick’s bowel through the cloaca, enabling the sexer to view the testicle of the cockerel or the ovary (left) of the pullet.

3. Sex- linked sexing

It is described by the two fundamental methods of sexing-

a) Colour of plumage

In this method, sex-linked characters are used to identify the sexes of chicks. For example, when a Rhode Island Red male is mated to a Barred Plymouth Rock female, all the female progenies will be black and male progenies barred.

b) Feathers Growth

Slow-feathering and rapid-feathering genes are used in breeding programs so that the sex of day old chicks can easily be determined. Feather sexing is common in layer and broiler parent stock.

Steps for Feathers sexing of Day old chicks

• Step 1- Pick up the chick by gently holding the neck between the index and middle finger. Ring and little finger will automatically support the rest of the chick body

• Step The chick wing will present between the thumb and index finger, bring your upwards pushing gently against the index finger. This will spread the wing open facing toward

• Step 3-Look into the covert and primary feather and determine whether the chick is a male or female

• Step 4-Gently place the sexed chick into the appropriate box or chute. When sexing parent females, any chicks that are not clearly female should be put with the male off sexes.

HOW TO KNOW THE SEX IN CHICKS

According to Feather sexing a chicken, also referred to as wing sexing, is another fairly easy and straight-forward way to sex a chicken. As with venting, to use this method, you must do it when a chick is about a day old. If you wait much longer, its feathers will be well-developed, and you’ll be unable to see differences between males and females.

Female chicks will have wing feathers earlier than male chicks, developing them before hatching. Males, on the other hand, start developing their wing feathers after hatching. This means that wing feathers are going to be much more visible in day-old female chicks than males.

The wing feathers of day-old male and female chicks look remarkably different. Female chicks have alternating feather lengths on their wings. There will be a long one, followed by a short one, then another long one, and so on and so forth. By contrast, male chicks’ wing feathers will all be the exact same.

Age of Sexing in chicken

The best age of sexing in chicken at day old or hatch day due to identification points of sexing easily differentiate from rooster or male-female chicks. Identification points are vent, primary feathers, etc.

What are chicken breeds that can be sexed at birth?

The breed which is sexed at birth also called Autosexing breeds. the Cream Legbar which is called autosexing breed results from a careful mix of Araucana, Brown Leghorn, and Gold Legbar. The final result is a pretty bird that is a prolific layer of blue eggs

Sexing of Rooster chickens

It easily tells which is rooster chicken according to the characterization of genital eminence and feathers in chicken. characterization of genital eminence points of chicken are- elasticity, boundary, and contour, position, etc.

Duckling Sexing

It is also determined in two stages with two methods of sexing-

• Japanese or Vent Method

• (b) Sexing of Duck (adult

a) Japanese or Vent Method

The color of the cloaca of day-old male duckling appears to be pinker than that of female ones.

b) Sexing of Duck (adult)

Characters	Male	Female
Squawk ( six weeks of age)	Not so pronounce	Much more pronounced
Tail Feather	Turned upside	No such turning
Color of Plumage	Darker	less dark

How to differentiate Kaki Campbell Male and Female duck

• Male-Color of the plumage of the neck is bluish-black

• Female- The color of the plumage of the neck is chocolate

Sexing of Quail

The procedure of sexing quail by the following three process-

• Day-old stage

• Three weeks of age

• Five to six weeks of age

Day-old stage	It is not practiced due to the very small size of birds 9(each weighs about 6gm)
Three weeks of age	Female- Darker cinnamon color feathers on the upper throat and lower breast region. Feathers are short and blunt. Female- Lighter cinnamon color feathers on the upper throat and lower breast region and characteristic black stippling, Feathers are long and pointed
Five to six weeks of age	Male- makes peculiar sound particularly during the night.

SEXING OF OTHER BIRDS

The venting method is also used for sexing turkeys, guinea fowls, geese, ostriches, and emus at the day-old stage.

Auto sexing Breeds

The autosexing breed is defined as purebred birds that can be sexed at hatch, generation after generation, based upon markings and coloration. It is are derived from breeds with barred markings crossed with other specific breeds. its often developed from a cross between two breeds. Some autosexing breeds are-

• the Cream Legbar- Results from a careful mix of Araucana, Brown Leghorn, and Gold Legbar.  The final result is a pretty bird that is a prolific layer of blue eggs

References

Manual on Avian Production And Management, Dr. Ghosh and Samanta

Natural Chicken keeping blog (http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/)

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