Rooster or Hens?

Kentuckyrain

Chirping
Jun 4, 2015
148
12
78
Northern Michigan
I have 4 chicks that are 19 wks,and 16 chicks that are 15 wks, not sure what sex they are yet.

The father/rooster was a white silkie pure breed.
I had 1 hen that gave me 5 eggs, she was a white silkie pure breed so I know which 5 are hers and are 100% Silkie chicks but not the sex.
I had 3 other hens that are the mother of the remaining 15 chicks, only 1 is white like i'ts mom hen, the other 14 are different.

I'm trying to figure out if any are roosters or not. Pics were taken this evening, lol, not 2008


Above: White Silkie Rooster was father, 3 mixed hens, mother.

Above: U can see 2 white silkie's from silkie rooster and silkie hen.

Silkie rooster was father

I know the mother hen of this white chick up front and center.



Left one above, is the mother hen of the white chick above. right one is the mother hen of some above.

This Wyandotte rooster is the father of my new chicks that are 12 days old and some of the barred rocks are mothers.

Old hen to the left up top is the other mother to chicks, but not baby chicks.

new chicks, father/rooster is Wyandotte,,

new chicks, father/rooster is Wyandotte,,

new chicks, father/rooster is Wyandotte,,

new chicks, father/rooster is Wyandotte,,

new chicks, father/rooster is Wyandotte,,
 
I'm pretty sure all your barred birds would be male sex links from your barred Rock hens. Silkies carry recessive white, not dominant, so I don't think the father would be hiding barring.

The three in the front of the first pic are male
second pic, the birds on the far left is male
third pic, back and second from front are male
fourth pic, two cockerels
fifth pic, both males
 
I'm pretty sure all your barred birds would be male sex links from your barred Rock hens. Silkies carry recessive white, not dominant, so I don't think the father would be hiding barring.

The three in the front of the first pic are male
second pic, the birds on the far left is male
third pic, back and second from front are male
fourth pic, two cockerels
fifth pic, both males

X2 on donrae's post.
 
I'm pretty sure all your barred birds would be male sex links from your barred Rock hens. Silkies carry recessive white, not dominant, so I don't think the father would be hiding barring.

The three in the front of the first pic are male
second pic, the birds on the far left is male
third pic, back and second from front are male
fourth pic, two cockerels
fifth pic, both males
Oh boy,, looks like a lot of males :(
 
So I see a lot of pple giving away roos so I doubt I can sell them. I have a friend that knows how to butcher chickens, is there a certain age/size I should wait for to butcher them?
 
It's personal preference. Some folks butcher as soon as they start crowing or harassing the pullets.

I wait until around 20ish weeks. I've found for most dual purpose birds that's about when you quit gaining weight on the carcass and are just feeding to maintain, so you're losing money from there on out. Several folks are doing birds earlier, they're a bit more tender and receptive to grilling or baking when they're younger.

Lots of info in the meat bird section about butchering and cooking dual purpose birds. My best advice in a nutshell....sharp knife, let the bird rest at least 48 hours before you plan to cook it, and soak it in a brine before cooking.


Something that may be interesting to check...I remember years ago one of the genetics gurus here said if you put a silkie male over a white or yellow-skinned hen, the offspring would be sex linked by shank/skin color. males would have white/light skin from the momma, females will have the black/dark skin from the silkie father. I've never been able to try this myself, but maybe you could look at your birds and see if that carried over. Of course, it would depend on having light skinned hens......
 
Last edited:
It's personal preference. Some folks butcher as soon as they start crowing or harassing the pullets.

I wait until around 20ish weeks. I've found for most dual purpose birds that's about when you quit gaining weight on the carcass and are just feeding to maintain, so you're losing money from there on out. Several folks are doing birds earlier, they're a bit more tender and receptive to grilling or baking when they're younger.

Lots of info in the meat bird section about butchering and cooking dual purpose birds. My best advice in a nutshell....sharp knife, let the bird rest at least 48 hours before you plan to cook it, and soak it in a brine before cooking.


Something that may be interesting to check...I remember years ago one of the genetics gurus here said if you put a silkie male over a white or yellow-skinned hen, the offspring would be sex linked by shank/skin color. males would have white/light skin from the momma, females will have the black/dark skin from the silkie father. I've never been able to try this myself, but maybe you could look at your birds and see if that carried over. Of course, it would depend on having light skinned hens......
Thank you so much for all that info.

The White Silkie father had bred with 3 Hens that all had light skin and his was black. Some of the offspring do have black skin and some have light skin. Hopefully you are right about the skin color, it might be very odd to eat black chicken,,?

ok, just went and looked at the skin color. Most of the ones in the pics above that are roos, have light skin color. And I just looked at all 3 hens that laid them, 2 of the 3 have light skin color, the darkest feathered mother hen has dark skin.
 
Last edited:
It's personal preference. Some folks butcher as soon as they start crowing or harassing the pullets.

I wait until around 20ish weeks. I've found for most dual purpose birds that's about when you quit gaining weight on the carcass and are just feeding to maintain, so you're losing money from there on out. Several folks are doing birds earlier, they're a bit more tender and receptive to grilling or baking when they're younger.

Lots of info in the meat bird section about butchering and cooking dual purpose birds. My best advice in a nutshell....sharp knife, let the bird rest at least 48 hours before you plan to cook it, and soak it in a brine before cooking.


Something that may be interesting to check...I remember years ago one of the genetics gurus here said if you put a silkie male over a white or yellow-skinned hen, the offspring would be sex linked by shank/skin color. males would have white/light skin from the momma, females will have the black/dark skin from the silkie father. I've never been able to try this myself, but maybe you could look at your birds and see if that carried over. Of course, it would depend on having light skinned hens......

X2 on donrae's post. If you wait much beyond 20 weeks, the meat will begin to toughen up.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom