How to Identify the Gender of a Baby Chicken

Determining the sex of a chicken before they develop secondary sex characteristics, which more easily identify them as roosters (male) or hens (female) is most useful in egg hatching farms where roosters are of no use. There are several ways to determine a chick's sex after they are only one day old.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. The cloacal, or vent, method is the oldest technique and still the most reliable. This involves examining the baby chicken's vent, located under its tail, in search of a genital organ. Gently squeeze the baby chicken to evacuate its anus. If a genital organ is present, it will look like an obvious bump, or a pimple. Roosters have bumps, hens do not. This is not easy to accomplish, but after proper training, positive results are easy to come by.
2. A second method, known as feather sexing, has become more common in recent years, but is only possible with specific chicks who have been bred accordingly. By looking at the wing feathers of newly hatched chicks after 48 hours from their birth their sex can be determined. In hens, the primary and secondary feathers are noticeably different in size. Roosters have uniform-sized feathers.
3. A third method, which also relies on genetically modified chicks, is known as color sexing. Commercial chicks have been developed whose sex can be determined by the color of their feathers. Hens are typically white and roosters are a dusty brown,