Do You Have Cockerels or Pullets?

I inherited several chicks from a coworker of mine and have spent the last three weeks learning about the different ways us chicken folks recognize what gender our chicks are as soon as possible. There are the old wives tales, they're very entertaining, as well as the vent sexing done by those who know more than I do. How do the rest of us, those who have just a few chickens on our urban farms, tell? Especially when you're like me and you aren't allowed to have roosters in the middle of a city?

I have learned a few things that have made all the difference, the biggest being - it depends on the breed.

I currently have four breeds of chicks; Rhode Island Reds, Australorps, Barred Plymouth Rocks, and Leghorns. The easiest, by far, are the Barred Plymouth Rocks. Not only do they have a specific kind of dot on their heads, but they have several things that are different in the genders. I've separated mine out by male and female and I'm very curious to see if I turn out to be correct. Here's my evidence:

1. Barred Plymouth Rocks: I have three, one male and two female. My evidence is based on feather color, beak color, leg size and color, and feather growth.

The chicks on the far right and far left are female Barred Plymouth Rocks. This is evident in the black on their beaks, tail feather growth and darker feathering than the male chick. Their legs are also thinner than the roo.

This is my male Barred Plymouth Rock. He is a little more energetic and squawky than the ladies. He also has thicker legs, lighter feathering and his tail feathers took longer to start coming in than the ladies. His beak and legs are also yellow, without any black on them.

I based my decision on this post in Backyard Chickens, that is so helpful. http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/798635/sight-sexing-barred-plymouth-rock-chicks-at-hatch The author obviously has a lot of experience with Barred Plymouth Rocks.

2. Leghorns: I have four total (UPDATE: I have 1 White Rock and 3 Leghorns here, I believe all female. I was totally wrong); one female and three males. Because Leghorns grow very fast, it's more challenging to tell them apart. Today I took them outside for the first time and let them run about and it was most obvious who was what. Three of them have significantly less feathering and combs that seem slightly more pronounced. The comb difference is very slight at this point and definitely not enough on its own. Today it was very apparent that the ones I thought were male have thicker legs than the female. We'll see if I'm right in a few weeks, I'm sure!

This is one of the males. Note the lack of large tail feathers and the very thick legs.

These are the three males huddled together. Notes the lack of feathering and large amount of fuzziness still on these guys.

This is my female Leghorn. Note the heavier feathering and longer tail feathers than the males. She's staring down one of my cats right now. Haha

I based this on a lot of factors I read on Leghorns on the internet, but one of my favorite sources was a drawing at this link:http://hanburyhouse.com/how-to-distinguish-male-chicks-from-female-chicks-in-1-week-old-cochins/  from Hanbury House. She does an excellent job of explaining basic differences in male and female growth.

4. Rhode Island Reds and Australorps: I'm feeling challenged by these still. I believe I have one of each of the Australorps. The feathering is the same, but leg thickness is definitely different. I don't really have a good picture of these to show you.

I also believe my Rhode Island Reds are likely all hens. I have one of those that challenges me a little. One of the chicks is much smaller than the others. Not enough to be a bantam, I believe, but enough to have some sort of growth issue. We call her Turtle and she is the sweetest thing. Her feathers are definitely not developing like the other RIRs, but this could easily be some sort of issue. I don't think this is a sign of gender for her. She is energetic and jumps about and eats like the others, but is definitely more passive and likes to be held and hang out with me. Here are a few pictures I took today. We'll see soon if I'm correct on these as well. :-)

Three week old Australorp. I'm not sure which this is, the male or female.

One of the Australorp hanging out with Turtle.

Turtle hanging out on my lap. She's a sweetie. I'm very curious to see if she's truly a hen.

These are the other two Rhode Island Reds. They are significantly more feathered than Turtle and their feathers are darker as well. This leans towards Turtle being male. At the same time, she's not growing or developing like the others.

Basically, it's guesswork, but it does seem consistent. I feel like I should address the other methods folks use, the old wives tales.

1. Holding the chick on their back - hens calm down and lay still and roos are all wiggly and don't cooperate. With these, I found the ones I believe are male never calmed down for me and of the females, some would at times and some didn't at all. It's just not reliable. I think it just depends on whether they've had their naps that day. :-)

2. Holding them up by the next to see if they draw up their legs or not.I tried this with a few and was very careful. I didn't feel it was a great idea and it definitely was not consistent.

3. I didn't try the dangling anything over a head and I didn't hang anyone upside down either. These just seemed silly, so I skipped them.

So, we'll see. This is my first experience with sexing chicks and it's kind of fun. I wish I had fewer roosters, but I'm sure I'll be able to find them a good home.