50's Housewife: Here chick, chick, chick!! Male or Female??

It all started on a beautiful day with my family about three weeks ago. We were looking for a new truck for my husband, eating out, running errands, just having an all around good time. Our leapord gecko had recently died after almost 14 years (she was 3 years old when we got her), so I thought it would be a neat surprise to go get a new gecko.

On our way to the pet store, hubby decided he needed to look at some things at the feed store. No problem, right? Wrong!! The boys found the baby chicks. That really should not have been a big deal. I mean, they've seen baby chicks at the stores before and it's never been an issue. But, hubby decided to tease them with, "You should get some chickens so you have fresh eggs." Big mistake Daddy!! They took it as for real and permission to get baby chicks.

Long story short, we came home with 10, count them, 10 baby chicks, heat lamps, bedding, food, everything you would need to raise the babies into full grown chickens. One problem. We had never had chickens before and had no clue how to tell the roosters from the hens at that age. YIKES! This is pretty important information here. Why weren't we taught this in health class?? I mean, seriously now!

We are now three weeks into raising these chicks. Everything is going great, and we have even learned how to tell the males from the females by their wings (can be done the day they hatch). Yes, even at this age, I can still learn something new! I figured I would be kind and share our chicken experiences with you all, as we go along, so that you may learn something new as well. If you already know most of this information, then help a woman out, please!!

The last two pictures are the ones that will show you how to sex your chicks. Completely kid friendly!!