# Eye Sexing?



## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

This might be a really odd question.... but years ago when I was dealing with parrots I learned how to sex parrots by looking at their eyes. This was before DNA sexing was readily available so people were pretty creative in how they determined sex. I can't find any reference to this online but I never had it fail me. Basically the females (and I hope I don't have this reversed!) had a pupil that was directly in the center of the eye, leaving the iris extremely symmetrical and even. The males on the other hand had a pupil that was usually a tiny bit off-center, leaving the iris slightly asymmetrical. 

I was wondering if anyone ever tried this on chickens? I was just thinking about it and I think I am going to go out tomorrow and pick up a few birds to have a look! If it works I am going to see if I can determine chick sex the same.... just wondering if anyone else has tried this...


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

I've never heard of this. I have the most success with my chicks using the wing method. A day or two female will have 2 rows of wing tip feathers and a roo will only have one row.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Nope, I never heard of it either. If it turns out to work that could make life really simple for Silkie breeders.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

So I had it backwards... the roosters appear to be the symmetrical ones... but I did see a difference on these two I picked out tonight. You can see in the top right corner of the hen's eye the there's more iris/yellow than the opposing corner. Tomorrow I will have my boyfriend help me take exactly straight on photos of more eyes to see if it's not just coincidence! Then I guess I will keep two chicks as the ultimate test...


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I am still wanting to see if female chicks have a bigger vent than a male. How funny.
BTW, I LOVE your silver pencilled rocks. I wonder if they have the same personality as a BR?


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

Haha, I don't know that one... you mean like they sex love birds? I never got that one down! 

And thank you. The SPRs are very very quiet and somewhat aloof. They're not skittish AT ALL but they're not the ones at my feet asking for cuddles either. They're really funny because they're easy to not see but when you do see them it's always like, "Damn! That's a gorgeous bird!" And quiet... my BR's were chatty, these little ladies I haven't heard anything at all from. I haven't heard their rooster crow either. For some reason he lacks in confidence bad.

Today was INSANE... so I didn't get to further this little theory of mine. Tomorrow maybe...


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