Sex a Chick

Posted on April 15, 2008 at 9:12 p.m. by Jill.

Does anyone know how to sex a chick?

The 4-H boy who sold me the four Faverolle chicks did not. It's possible that of the four chicks now in my possession, not one is capable of laying an egg and all of them are illegal. (In Chicago, the rule is that you can't own a rooster and you can't slaughter chickens within city limits. Owning hens is okay, at least for now. My understanding is that the City Council considered banning chickens altogether last fall, but backed down for the time being. If anyone knows an update on this, I'd be interested.)

As the chicks grow older, the roosters and hens will distinguish themselves from one another. The 4-H boy did say he'd take any roosters back from me and trade them for hens. He shows the birds, and salmon Faverolle roosters are gloriously beautiful. The hens are no slouches either, being a pretty buff color. They produce eggs that have a tawny tint to them.

My hope is at least two of the chicks peeping away in my bathroom are hens; two is the number I'd like to end up with anyway.

Two seems pleasingly metro; four starts to sound like Green Acres.