I just found a video on YouTube that was done by the Discovery Channel. The name of the program is "Dirty Jobs: Mike Rowe" It shows how they sex chicks at McMurray hatchery.
If you want to see it, here....this is the link :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gTddabBi5A&feature=related
I hope you find it as interesting as I did! If you see it, what do you think?
Christy
Video on YouTube about sexing chicks at McMurray
Hi Ladybugs, I think this was posted before--everyone is so interested in sexing chicks. But there has got to be a better way. If you look at the pictures in Stomberg's Guide to Sexing Chicks it is easy to see how people can make mistakes. The internal difference are very small and highly variable. I guess ducks and geese are a lot easier.
oops, I didn't know that. I have scanned through some of the older threads but I stop so often to read different ones that I haven't gotten that far in them. I'll have to take a look at that book sometime. Just to see more than anything......from what I have read on this site, it can be dang near impossible to do, even for the pro's. Thank Catscan!
thanks, i bet a lot of folks would like to watch this again! i am more interested now that i actually got some bantams from Ideal...
did a lot of looking at chicks today. 4 week old, 7 weeks old... it is very interesting hte differences in the sexes at this stage, and some are not so clear.
catscan, make a note, the one you sexed is now number 19! you said a pullet, we shall see. actually, every one in that group with a "pullet tail" ahs a "teen" numbered band...
Hi tf--did you see my thread about the feather sexing slide show? The two other sites I posted there are the ones that started me looking at the feathering issue. When Pecky got his sickle feathers early and then molted them, it became easy to see the reason the cockerels tend to have short square tails. He now looks more truncated than the other Welsummer. The problem I have is with comparing different breeds. I am going to mark all my birds with pink or blue slip ties based on what I project and we'll see.
cool, yes i did see that but didn't have time to look... every time i band mine, left leg is cockerel right is pullet.... so we will see. this last time i use dyour BA/Jg idea on the tails. i noticed even the the PBJG a difference in size and temperament between the sexes...
working on getting Pecky and Rocky their own flocks, which means DH will have to build additional pens with chicken tractors in them...
I just watched the video. Have to say, I didnt like they way they fling the chicks. Made me sad for them! Seems like the job can be done just as fast in a more gentle matter. I dont like watching those videos in these warehouses for animals whether it be for chicks, slaughtering ect. Sooo sad. I've seen a few PETA videos. Didnt eat meat for awhile after watching them!
hi janastasio, I was wondering if someone was going to bring that up. When I saw it myself, I was a bit shock at the flinging too. I don't see how they can be treated that way. Then I saw a big hatchery video and what happens there and didn't think the flinging looked so bad after all! The whole system was made up of conveyer belts and while all the chicks were still in eggs looked pretty slick.......after they were hatched though....well, let's just say it turned my stomach. I thought it was amazing that the little things ever made it at all! The flinging didn't look so shocking after that!
I don't know how else they are supposed to 'move' large amounts of birds, but I'm thinking the other video is one I really could have done without seeing. Kind of with I hadn't.
Christy
yeah. one more reason i like to deal wiht breeders, small or large. i ams sure that fellow in MO you got your cornish from didn't have a conveyor belt. Ideal doesn't either. originally i thought that was the video you posted, they have one on you tube as well...
the breeder in IN i got my Giants from is raising them from her grandlmother's flock. they are well cared for. before sent off, she put boiled egg yolks in for food/moisture... i pre-ordered the hatch. yes, they cost more, and i am grateful to get some "cheap chicks" from Ideal.
somewhere in Missouri or Arkansas, there was a farm with Buckeyes, wish i could find them now...
lmao I watched the video and to think them chicks were going to oklahoma. Im not doing the poo thing.
hey tf......I know he doesn't have conveyors too. Way too small. In his pamphlet order book it says that his dad started hatching chicks and then retired from it. A bunch of years later when the son, the Mr. Griffith I deal with, retired from his career he started back in the chicken hatching business. Its almost hard to imagine that he is 84 now and still doing it.
I did a search on buckeyes and found a source where the website says they are still available, but I don't really know if they are a breeder. I couldn't find the ones for Missouri or Arkansas though.
L2G......yeah, don't try the poo thing. Ok, I admit it.......after I saw the video and with them cute just hatched chicks just sitting their in the cage.....well, my curiosity got the better of me. I didn't really expect to see anything, but just had to look. ummmm......yeah, won't be doing that again! Huh, wonder why the guy called it 'shooting'...............
Christy