Auto Sexing

Auto sexing simply means a chick’s gender is defined at hatch. This is a genetics twist used to our advantage. Hatchery’s have the reputation of disposing of the male chicks at hatch. I have no first hand knowledge of this and really don’t want to. Here at the Roost, we use everyone and everything. It all serves a purpose.

We have 2 species here that auto sex. The Welsh Harlequin Ducks are sexable for 3 days! Then magically you can’t tell anymore. It always cracks me up because I intend to set up 2 brooders and never do. The other is the quail. I have set up breeders to hatch Egyptian females and Pharaoh split males. This is important because many people only want egg layers and don’t want to mess with roosters. I have not found a reason to breed the split roosters, but I have buyers who will grow them out for harvest.

Now you are asking why is this important for me? Well, because I ship chicks and ducklings. This way you can get only females -or males-if you want! I ship chicks that are a week old to make them more able to withstand the stress.

The ducks wont be shipping until spring, but the quail chicks will start after the holidays and weather permitting. Think about your purposes and decide if getting guaranteed quail chicks hens is a better fit for you than hatching eggs.