Ameraucana - Is There An Easy Way To Sex?

SandyM · Post by **SandyM** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 2:43 pm

WLLady wrote:QR_BBPOST If they are wheaten ameraucanas the wings will get a black bar on them while the girls wing stays brownish wheaten colour. I have had them for years and get about 65% correct because they can masquerade for a while....saddle and hackle and egg laying or crowing are sure signs lol

Ok, so when they feather out the wheatens will get this? Or now? Cause if it's now I have a load of Roos

Post by **WLLady** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 4:29 pm

As they feather out the males will get the dark bar. They will be darker than the girls.

SandyM · Post by **SandyM** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 6:47 pm

Ok!! I'll be watching :)

Shnookie · Post by **Shnookie** » Wed Jun 08, 2016 11:18 pm

I hatched some Ameraucanas today. I have hatched them before, but I didn't notice this at that time. While I was looking through the top of my incubator (Hovabator), I noticed that if you look close, some have a small nubbin on their beaks where the comb would be (I assume males), and some don't (I assume females). I also noticed if you look really close you can actually see the tiny ridges of the comb and see its shape. If you have only a few, this may be a way to sex them early. I am going to mark them so I can see if it works.

Post by **WLLady** » Thu Jun 09, 2016 8:23 am

good luck shnookie! let us know, that never worked for me....but i might not be seeing as well as i used to! LOL.. i usually go by the saddle/hackle for the sure signs, and the black bar on the wing, and males (especially wheaten males) will feather in black on the shoulders and look really quite messy for a while LOL. i find the blue wheatens a bit trickier, because the blue stays quite light on the shoulders, and have mistaken boys for wheaten girls a couple of times.....LOL. i have a bunch in the grow out coop right now that i can JUST sex now at 3weeks. i'll try and take some pics tonight

Doug The Chickenman · Post by **Doug The Chickenman** » Thu Jun 09, 2016 9:51 am

Shnookie wrote:QR_BBPOST I hatched some Ameraucanas today. I have hatched them before, but I didn't notice this at that time. While I was looking through the top of my incubator (Hovabator), I noticed that if you look close, some have a small nubbin on their beaks where the comb would be (I assume males), and some don't (I assume females). I also noticed if you look really close you can actually see the tiny ridges of the comb and see its shape. If you have only a few, this may be a way to sex them early. I am going to mark them so I can see if it works.

That doesn't work for me. I have to wait for the combs to start going more red on the roo's but still can get caught by fast growing girls.
Crow or eggs are the only true signs.

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Thu Jun 09, 2016 10:55 am

I must admit I have looked at that little bump, wondering if there is a connection to sexing, but marking them at this stage hasn't been a great success, zip ties proved to be way too fascinating to the other chicks and had to come off, nail polish wore of, and in the end the Ameraucanas have fooled me so many times, I have gone back to waiting patiently.
It's not as crucial here, since I don't sell any birds until they are 3-4 month old and by that time there is no doubt who is who :)

kenya · Post by **kenya** » Thu Jun 09, 2016 5:55 pm

Agree with OC

Shnookie · Post by **Shnookie** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 10:39 pm

The nubbins do seem to match with the sex of the chick. Males have them, females don't. The little pink bump is above the comb. It can be seen when they first hatch probably because their head feathers are flat. It shows more when you look from the top or the side. From the front you mostly see the comb. I checked my chicks the day after hatch, and the bumps couldn't be seen (head feathers are fluffy now), but I could feel them a bit. Yesterday I checked again, and they were gone. I think the best you could use the bumps for is maybe on hatching day to count how many have it (males). You wouldn't know who was who later on though.

If you look at the chicks in this picture, the one on the right has what I called a nubbin (pink bump above comb), and the one on the left doesn't.
The chick on the right was the first one to hatch and is definitely a male (behavior and comb shape).

You can already see the three ridges on his comb on hatch day.

This was taken the day after hatch.

Females have one ridge down the center. I think maybe the outside ridges on the males' combs sometimes get hidden by feathers as they get older, making them look like females. This is one of the female cross-bred chicks.

I tried to take pictures of the comb on each of my chicks, but I was doing it myself and they were all blurry. I have marked down which chicks I think are males and which I think are females based on how their combs looked yesterday. The six Ameraucana cross Euskal Oiloa chicks that I have are already sexed. The two males have a white dot on their heads. I don't know how long that will last so I put a bit of nail polish on their heads. When they are bigger I will mark them with zip ties.

I don't have a lot of chicks at one time. I watch them quite a bit. Behavior can give you an idea of what sex they are fairly early.

Maximus · Post by **Maximus** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 7:40 am

OK, so maybe I'll take some pictures of my growing flock and get opinions on roo or her. They range from 12-14ish week. Most hatched first week or so of April. A few a bit earlier