Ideal sent me a link to a UTube video of their facility
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOKTZHa5Xi0
it's amazing how they handle the eggs and chicks and they survive. Let the USPS get their paws on them for just two days and wham dead chicks or damaged eggs!
MollyD
Ideal video
Thanks for sharing!
My kids will love it.
Enjoy! I learned some things watching it ^_^
MollyD
I think it is cheating me. It plays half of it and then stops and goes to the replay screen. It looks like it should be a little over 10 minutes but it stops at 5 right when they are talking about the "tell apartable eggs" Is that the end?
No there is more after that :-( I wonder why it does that? Maybe it's your ram? How much does your computer have?
MollyD
I have a 1g. I've watched you tube videos before without a problem. I'll try it again. maybe it just doesn't like me :)
Hope you can see it cause it was very informative.
MollyD
I only have stupid dial up and cannot watch it * the phone lines are ancient and there is no cable for me wow I think I just wrote a song title!
I am getting my order (and lots of others too) from them so I am very excited!!! I cannot wait to see those naked necks!! oh and the white faced spanish! Ideal was good last year and I hope with the break in the weather everything is great this year too!
Yippee, I finally got the whole thing. Good video.
LoraK wish you could see it.
Yes I thought they did a very good job explaining the whole process. I never knew there were some breeds you could sex by the length of the tail feathers!
MollyD
You can tell by wing feathers also.
I've read that the tails on hens grow faster then the tails on roosters. Funny because when they are done the rooster is the one with the longer tail. The 4 week baby buffs we have are feathering that way though. We have one rooster and 4 hens. The hens have nice tails and longer wings. The rooster has shorter wings and tail.
I've also read that you can tell on some babies by the comb color. Hens combs will stay smaller longer and more yellow whereas roosters combs will grow faster and get redder sooner. In the Sebrights we have there is one that has a bigger comb growing and it is red. We suspect its a rooster because the little thing acts like one :) even at 4 weeks old.
Interesting video, my kids enjoyed it. Seeing how things work and how they do things is right up my sons alley. He loves to see the workings of stuff especially if it includes chickens.,,,,,or computers :)
I've got straight runs of Buff Orpingtons and New Hampshires coming in. From what you say I should be able to sex the Buffs by their tales? How about the New Hampshires?
MollyD
Not sure about the New Hampshires. Our Buff girls feathered the same, wings longer and goes to the rear, the male has a shorter blunt wings. The girls have longer tails and are beginning to look like hens. The roo's tail is still shorter and he is looking more like a roo in the face.
So at least with them I will be able to tell right from the start what I've got! Enough time to add poulets if I need to.
I have 5 Delaware roos coming. They were out of poulets :-( Tried to add some this morning but no luck. Wanted to get 4 or 5 poulets. We'll be keeping the best rooster from this bunch and the rest will be invited to dinner :-) Same for any extra BO or NH males!
MollyD
Not being able to get the video to work, are you saying that the pullets grow the tail feathers first? Mine are 10 days old now and if so, I might be able to count how many roos I have. I certainly hope so. Makes it much easier to tell.
GG
I think there is some breed specificity. I know some sex-links are identified by the wing feather growth of the pullets. I suspect my short-tailed Welsummer is a roo. But I am not sure it is easy to see the difference in all breeds.
Granny they had the VP of Ideal and she said that for feather sexable chicks they looked at the tail feathers. If the front row was longer than the back row it was a female. If the front row was shorter than the back row or they were the same length the chick was male. I just went back and watched the video again to make sure I got that right :-)
MollyD
What do you mean by "the front row" and "the back row"?
GG
Well she was holding the chick with it's vent towards her. I assumed she meant by front row the feathers further away from her. She sort of flicked it's stubby tail as she talked.
MollyD
Okay, because I have 10 day old chicks with tails about 1/2 inch long already. And they have pretty long wing feathers. Others don't have anything showing at this time. So, I will probably give it a guess.
GG
I think the Ideal lady was looking at the wing feathers not the tail feathers.
No she said tail feathers smedgekles. She was very clear about that.
Edit: Just went back and watched it for a 4th time and you are right smedgekles it wasn't their tail. It was a wing. The first few times I watched I thought that was the chicks butt! LOL This time I could see she was holding it's little wing up. Now I really can't tell you Granny which is the front row! Sorry about that.
MollyD
This message was edited Apr 10, 2008 2:25 PM
Hard to tell what is what when they are fluff balls MollyD, its all fuzz with a beak :)
Granny, From what I understand if you pull the wing out and if the part closest to the body is shorter and the other part longer then it is a hen and the opposite on a roo. Or if they are the same length it is a roo.
Thanks, smedge, I might try that on the few I am thinking of keeping. Especially the one with the most white on it's head. It already has pretty long wing feathers and tail feathers. So, hoping it is a roo as I am going to keep one of them and put the rest of the roos in the freezer.
GG
If they are feather sexable chicks then it may work. Our chicks from our hatch last year feathered out so funny. The roos feathered fast and the hens slow.
One hen looked like she had a feather boa around her back, it was the weirdest thing. Check out the picture, it looks odd.
I've read that on some chicks the roos feather slow and the hens fast. On our Buffs the hens are feathering faster.
smedgekles LOL if my computer screen weighed less I would have been rotating it trying to figure out what I was looking at! Finally got it. LOL
Is there a list of which breeds are feather sexible? I'm getting New Hampshires, Buff Orpingtons and Delawares (unless I can get some pullets from Ideal those will be all males)
MollyD
That is a wild looking bird isn't it. She was sort of hanging her head off my sons hands. Her head is to the right. We named her Boa because she looked like she had a feather boa on her back. She is now a beautiful hen. She feathered out very pretty
I've been trying to find a list of feather sexable birds, but so far I've not found one.
Maybe we can create one on this forum if everyone chimes in who knows one.
MollyD