Silkie thread! - Page 2314

Hi all.

Quick Gray Silkie question:  Can you sex the youngsters based on their head coloring? 

I see the std of perfection states a males' head to be Dark gray and the females' to be Chinchilla gray.  

Does this mean that pullets have lighter colored head feathering, or just that a dark gray headed female would not be show-worthy [and vice versa with a male].

Thanks!! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by CALI CHICK 

 

When your blue roo (mentioned above) finally developed his comb and began mating was he a top roo, equal roo or did he get picked on?  Also, do you know if he has offspring?  Your blue roo seems most like my Bullet.  Maybe they just develop differently like people.

Yes, blue roo is top roo but only in with cockerels. All his eggs are fertile and have dozens of off-spring. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by peepblessed 

Yes, blue roo is top roo but only in with cockerels. All his eggs are fertile and have dozens of off-spring. :)

Thank you, Peeps!  That totally puts me at peace of mind about Bullet having a 'smallish' comb so far.  He has plenty of time.

-I'll be honest, some days I wonder if he's a girl.  He still doesn't have a single streamer that I can see and does more clucking than crowing.

Hiya!!! I am new to Silkies - just got chicks in February this year - and when one went broody, I was a bad mother and let her sit.  I hadn't read anything on Silkies or bantams, and never thought about them being any different, until today, when I was reading on the emergency page, and now I am panicked!  They just hatched 2 days ago, all 4 eggs, and 2 of the 3 Easter eggers I let her sit on.  The EE's are a little bigger (well there's one mistake) but don't seem to be picking on the Silkies.  I have them in a box I built on the back porch with the mom - thermometer says it's not getting down below 76 at night, and so far it hasn't been over 88 during the day.  She snuggles them good at night, and I have a blue nightlight in a jelly jar in one corner that gets warmer than my hands, but not too hot to hold - they occasionally snuggle it, but mostly run around like toddlers on speed during the day.  The nest end is closed on 3 sides, but the rest is chicken wire, with a short draft guard - I put a bale of shavings next to it because that worried me.  I'm giving them water with a little electrolyte in it, medicated chick starter, and some hard boiled egg.  They won't eat the feed wet, but chow it dry just fine.  They all seem healthy, but are they hard to raise?  I just figured leave them with ma and treat them like regular chicks, but I went and read some posts on here, and well, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing...

So what's that trick again for sexing them based on beaks?  Aren't the sharply curved beaks that look eagle-like, usually males? If so, 2 of my three month olds are females (:

Quote:

Originally Posted by aoxa 

I just have to share pictures of my friend Jamie's silkies at the show I just came back from. She is 6 months and absolutely breathtaking!

Very nice!!! Impressive birds!