How can I sex my chicks?

There's no easy way I'm afraid, unless they have sex-linkage / are autosexing (i.e. if you cross certain breeds you can get different colouring of day old male / female chicks). Some professionals can sex chicks by looking at feather development and the vent but this is difficult for the novice and usually comes with experience within certain strains. Wait for 10-12 weeks until some start to crow to be 100% sure, you will usually see wattles and combs developing earlier than this and once you have a little experience you may be able to gain confidence in sexing at around 7 to 8 weeks.

The price of pullets is usually reflected in this - i.e. hybrids that are sold at £12-£17 each are autosexing and the supplier can cull at day old. Pure breeds are double the price as they usually are feeding cockerels too until they can tell what is what as well as being slower to mature.

An example of an autosexing breed is the Cream Legbar or the Rhodebar. Sexing of these chicks can be done at a day old - see this article on Autosexing for more information.