When the eggs begin to hatch the excitement of waiting may make you want to instantly sex the chicks to figure out which are male and which are female. However proper identification is hard to obtain without the services of a trained professional. While there isn't a 100 percent accurate method there are a couple methods you can use to help determine the sex of a baby chick.
Hire an expert to sex your chickens if you want a high percentage of accuracy. One shouldn't give a guarantee for 100 percent accuracy but a high percentage is desired. Experts are trained to spot the subtle differences that can distinguish a male from a female.
Look into the vent of the chick. The vent, or anus, houses the sexual organs. In a chicken there are 15 possible shapes. The shapes identify male and female sexual organs. Since the copulary organs are quite small and the differences in the shapes ever so slight, it often requires a trained professional to be able to distinguish the shapes.
Use the feather sexing method. Examine the feathers of the chick. A chick with longer primary feathers is likely female. Primary feathers that are shorter or equal to the length of the covert feathers are a signal of being a male. Rounded tips at the end of the feather often identify the chicken as female.
Look at the colors. If the chicken has been bred for color the colors will be distinctive and be the best way to sex a chick. The color variations and marks vary for each species so you will need to study the color patterns for each specific species.
