While baby chicks are covered in down, the ends of their wings will have a light feather fringe. To view the wing feathers, grasp the chick firmly in one hand. Use your other hand to extend the wing out until the feathers are somewhat separated and visible. A male (cockerel) chick will have wing feathers of roughly the same length. A female (pullet) chick will have wing feathers featuring two varied lengths. You can perform wing sexing 1 to 2 days after hatching and usually get accurate results. If you wait longer than this, the wing feather development will accelerate too much to read. A chick is covered with downy, soft, small feathers until it develops past 6 weeks of age. Male chicks usually have light-colored heads, whereas females often have dark brown ones. If a female has down spots or stripes, they are typically brown or black. In contrast, a male's accent marks are generally white or yellow. For example, male Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire chicks will have almost golden down coloring. Similarly, Red Stars are a sex-linked breed, so the male and female are different colors. Males hatch buttery gold, while females hatch reddish-gold. In some situations, you can estimate the sex of a day-old chick using down color reading. Certain breeds will have sex-unique down patterns. For example, male Barred Plymouth Rocks chicks will have yellow spots on their heads. At about 3 to 4 weeks old, you should be able to start to tell the difference between male and female chicks based on their body size. Male chicks will generally have larger bodies and heads. Female chicks will appear a bit more petite. A warning in advance, it's usually best to hire a professional to perform this procedure. However, if you choose to do it yourself, make sure to be gentle with the chick. Hold the chick in your hand and apply light pressure to its abdomen until the chick defecates. Look into the now clear anal vent. If you see a bump, then the chick is likely male. No bump indicates a female. In some breeds, both males and females will have what looks like a series of small beads in their anal vent. In these cases, the male will have a larger, round center bead. The female center bead will be flat in appearance. If you are willing to wait this long to determine the sex, then your odds of success increase quite a bit. The physical changes, such as waddle development, will be easier to see. The behavioral changes, like the startle response, will also be more clear and consistent. In addition, if you wait for a few months, then the males are likely to start crowing.

Summary: Look at their wing feathers. Look at their down color. Look at their size. Attempt vent sexing. Wait until the chicks are 6 weeks old.

Use an old book that you don't mind getting a bit wrinkled or stained; the moisture from the leaves could damage the pages slightly. The book should be as large, or larger than your leaves. Thicker books are best, but any book will do as long as you add weight on top of it. Weight can be in the form of a pile of books; these will not get damaged so it's okay to use books you want to keep. Measure your book and cut papers the same height of the book. Paper should be cut to double the width, of the book, and then folded. Open the book and add one piece of pressing paper. Arrange your leaves on one side of the paper, close the fold in the pressing paper, then close the book and set it aside with a couple of books or weight on top until the leaves are dry. If you're layering more than one sheet of leaves in the book, leave about a quarter inch (0.6 cm) of pages between layers. Place it under several other heavy books, or another heavy object. Stack this in a dry place. They're ready for your project.

Summary: Choose a heavy book to use as a press. Cut pressing papers. Fill the Press. Stack more books on top of the book. Remove the dried leaves when they're completely dry.

Poison ivy always has clusters of three leaves. Use this as the defining characteristic, as this plant is not so obvious in most other ways. Poison ivy is remarkable with its ability to grow in a variety of ways. Although it is called "poison ivy" it can not only grow upwards clinging to surfaces like an ivy, but can also grow as a bush or single plants. If growing in rocky places, it tends to take over from all other vegetation. If growing near something like a tree or a fence, it will twine itself around the object as it grows, creating a dense mass of vegetation which cannot be crossed. Beyond clusters of 3 leaves, there are several other identifying features of poison ivy. They include: Both poison ivy and poison oak plants produce small clusters of fruit. If either plant has berries, do not touch or consume them for any reason. All parts of the plant contain the irritating urushiol oil, so avoid any contact with all parts of the plant. Urushiol is a colorless (or sometimes slightly yellow) oil that can remain on objects for months. The oil content is highest on the plants in the spring and summer months. There are a number of fun, rhyming catch-phrases that you can teach to children to help them identify and stay away from poison ivy. Here are some of them:

Summary: Look for the vine with clusters of three leaves. Recognize more of poison ivy's identifying features. Check for fruit. Don't touch any part of the plant. Teach children rhyming phrases to help them avoid poison ivy.

Use a coaxial cable to make this connection, ensure that there is a little slack in the cable so that there is no tension on the connectors. You can use the HDMI cable that came with the box, or any other HDMI cable. Make note of the HDMI port that you use on your TV so that you can easily switch to it later. Many Comcast cable boxes have multiple HDMI ports. Make sure you're using the HDMI Out port on the box and not the HDMI Input ports. If you don't have an HDMI port on your TV, you can use a coax cable to connect the "To TV/RF Out" port to your TV's coax port. This will not result in high definition image. Plug it in to the Power connector on the back of the box. If you connected the box to an HDMI port on your TV, switch to the HDMI input that matches that port. If you connected the box using coax cable, switch to channel 3 or 4. If you have multiple TVs and have active coax outlets, you can use digital adapters to connect your cable to additional TVs. Each adapter will need its own coax wall outlet. Connecting a digital adapter is pretty much the same as a regular cable box. Use a coax cable to attach it to the wall outlet, and HDMI or coax cable to connect the adapter to the TV, and then connect the power adapter. Make sure all of your digital adapters are connected and powered on before starting the activation process.
Summary: Connect the "Cable In/RF In" connection to the cable wall outlet. Connect the "HDMI to TV" port on the cable box to the HDMI port on your TV. Connect the power adapter to the wall outlet. Switch your TV to the correct input. Connect any additional digital adapters.