sexing chickens

[sheribeee]

How do you tell the difference between male and female chickens?
My chicks are about 12/13 weeks old, and i have 6 of them bought as tiny lil babies!! I have no idea how to tell which are boys, and am worried about how to rehome to suitable (loving) homes for my boys. I live in the town.
There is nothing really noticable between them, 2 are quite brown, the others are still yellow, other than that.. nothing. appreciate any suggestions x many thanks.

[Kleiber]

Some chickens are what they call "auto-sexing" i.e. you can tell as soon as they're hatched what gender they are (e.g. Welsummers). Do you know what breed your chicks are? If they are hybrids, it could be a while before you can tell the difference. Get back to me & I'll see if I can help. K.

[dundurn]

To the trained eye, you tell by looking at their posteriors. There used to be a career in this as no one wanted to use up lots of chicken feed on little roosters-to-be who would never lay any eggs. Later there were cross-breeds (e.g. Wyandotte x Barred Rock, Leghorn x Barred Rock) where the male chicks could be immediately identified by the colour of their heads.
Usually though by 6 weeks you should be seeing combs on male chicks. If all your chicks had some comb development this early, then you may be unlucky and have all boys. If not, then you may be lucky and have all girls. There are other clues - males tend to be heavier, braver, thicker legged, with spurs and less rounded heads.

[Kleiber]

12/13 weeks is still early to be able to tell, depending on the breed. We really need to know what breed they are.

[sheribeee]

I bought them from a farmers market as mixed chicks, and that was it. I have no idea what breed, they are definately not a special breed of any kind.
They all have combs, but the two brown ones have little ones and the yelloer ones have bigger cones... i dont know if this is because they may be different breeds or not.
The yellowy ones do seem to stand up to one another, but my 2 lil bantam ladies stand up to them like it too.
I dont even kno what age they will begin to crow at if they are boys.
Im dreading knowing, as i love them all so much, i would hate to see them go. Plus they really do need names now bless em!! xx

[Kleiber]

Oh, boy! You could end up with a load of cockerels! To be honest, unless you've a trained eye (as dundurn said) it's very difficult to tell the gender of bog standard chickens till they're quite mature. The young cockerels will start sparring among themselves at about the age yours are now, but may not start to develop spurs till much later. The only help I can offer, without seeing them, is that the cockerels' combs will be larger than the hens' and the lads will fight amongst themselves. I'm sorry I can't be of any more help. They're still quite young, though, so you may not be able to tell for another couple of months. Hens usually come into lay at around 26 weeks.

[wildwood]

The different colour of your chickens has nothing to do with the gender. It merely indicates that they are different/mixed breeds.
At this age the young fellows will be beginning to show their iridescent feathers which will first show on the saddle (the back in front of the tail) and neck. Have a close look, these small feathers are longer/pointier with the outside whispy - they have no inlerlocking barbules - which makes them look somewhat iridescent.
The girls don't get these shiny feaners. Roosters also should be showing longer legs and larges combs at this age but this depends a lot on what breed(s) you have, the stocker breeds take longer to exhibit their gender signs.

[sheribeee]

I have been out to my chookies this morning and spent time with them ( as i do each morning) but today i took a closer look.
My yellowy ones are huge compared to the ones i know are definately hens.
They have little red bits hanging down too under the beak, which are much longer than the hens.
I think i probably gonna have 4 boys arent i!!!!!
I wouls cry if they r all boys!!