Things You'll Need
- Towel
- 2 boxes or incubators
Instructions
Sit down in a chair near the chicks and place a towel over your lap. The towel will keep your clothes relatively clean while you sex the chicks. Decide how you are going to separate them or keep track of the roosters vs. hens. You can use separate boxes or incubators for this purpose.
Look at the feathers on the tails of each chick. There are several ways you can try to sex your chickens, and some methods require that you wait until the chickens are several weeks of age in order to tell. For the hens of Old English game, the tail feathers will develop more quickly than their male counterparts. Rooster tails will remain downy longer than the hens.
Look for the presence or lack of a comb, which is a fleshy growth on top of the chick's head. Baby rooster combs will develop earlier than that of a hen.
Hold the chick gently as you carefully turn them upside down. Examine the vent on the underside of the chicken and search for the presence or lack of male sex organs. If the vent looks masculine, then you have a rooster.
Grip the chicks above their wings gently, but firm enough to pick them up. Look at the chicks feet. If they raise their feet, then there is a large chance the chick is a rooster. If they remain calm and keep their feet down, it is probably a hen.