sexing chicks

it is very important to be as specific and clear as possible when buying chicks. many people will buy in bulk and have their chicks shipped to them and a couple weeks later discover that six out of ten of their chicks are cockerels (roosters under a year)-which is very disappointing. so ask for females only, and make sure they are professionally sexed-yes there are professional chicken sexers in this world. but no one is perfect and it is hard for anyone to be 100% sure your chick is a girl. so her are some ways to tell they are females or males when they are younger, before the obvious signs:

MALES:
-bigger
-braver (not so skittish)
- redder comb
-bump in vent (butt), by gently squeezing-though this only works with newborns
-hackle feathers
-angular head
-spur development
-more dominant to other chicks

FEMALES:
-smaller
-yellower comb
-skittish
-no bump in vent
-rounded feathers
-small round head

can you tell what sex this chick is?
it's a female! this is Francine when she was a couple weeks old!
so as you see, it is very hard to tell what sex your chicks are at this age. and you would not be doing anything wrong if you waited until they were are couple months old, so the obvious signs would have developed (cock-a-doodling, hackle feather, spurs, larger, etc). but it is a bummer because you will get attached to them the longer you have them and it will be harder to give him away. but you will want to get rid of him before your neighbors might file a report-this has happened to a lot of my friends and sometimes they end up having to get rid of all their chickens! don't let that be you!
though if you think one of your chicks is a male-don't get rid of him right away! you never know, he could be a she! so ask a local farmer, or friend, or chicken keeper if they agree that your chick is a male first!
go to this site to find more ways of sexing chicks:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/95/sexing-chicks-in-the-backyard-flock