Gender and Leakage

[MacandT]

Hi all, I have a black showgirl chick that I'm not sure if it's a male or female. I think it's a cockerol but I'm not sure. Comb and wattle make me think male. Does the gold leakage generally mean it's male or could go either way ? Not sure how old, maybe 3 months.

Also is this leakage on my white roo ? I have three from the same hatch and two show some of that yellowing and one is clean white.

 

[Little Baby Bean]

@LadiesAndJane

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Hi all, I have a black showgirl chick that I'm not sure if it's a male or female. I think it's a cockerol but I'm not sure. Comb and wattle make me think male. Does the gold leakage generally mean it's male or could go either way ? Not sure how old, maybe 3 months.

Also is this leakage on my white roo ? I have three from the same hatch and two show some of that yellowing and one is clean white.

@LadiesAndJane

Do you have a full body view of your show girl?Suspect it is a male but I would like to see a full body photo. For your white silkies the yellowish leakage is often a sign of dominant white. Could be it. Your whites could also just be a gold based instead of a silver based white which also tend to have more of a yellowish cast to their hackle feathers. Have you had these guys since they were chicks? Do you remember their down color?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

My paint cockerel in my avatar photo is based on dominant white and as you can see he has what is called “Champagne”coloring in his hackle feathers as well. Champagne sounds so much better than “smudgy”.

 

[MacandT]

Do you have a full body view of your show girl?Suspect it is a male but I would like to see a full body photo. For your white silkies the yellowish leakage is often a sign of dominant white. Could be it. Your whites could also just be a gold based instead of a silver based white which also tend to have more of a yellowish cast to their hackle feathers. Have you had these guys since they were chicks? Do you remember their down color?

No only had them for a couple weeks. Our first silkies. I can text the seller to find out though, what would certain colors of down mean ?

Here are couple full bodies of the showgirl, the other black cockerel is from the same hatch.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Recessive white (the more common type) silkie chicks are either gold based or silver based and you can usually see in the chick down. The yellow chicks are usually gold based and the grey chicks are usually silver based. The silver based tend to feather in more crisp white. Dominant white silkies are very yellow as chicks and often have lighter skin (they are used to create paints).
It really doesn’t matter, but it would explain the yellowish feathers in your roosters.
Photo below of some of my chicks earlier this year. These chicks are full siblings. All of them feathered in completely white. Both parents were recessive white, one was gold based, one silver based.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

No only had them for a couple weeks. Our first silkies. I can text the seller to find out though, what would certain colors of down mean ?

Here are couple full bodies of the showgirl, the other black cockerel is from the same hatch.

Honestly still on the fence with the showgirl! The leakage appears to be fairly uniform.

 

[MacandT]

Great info. Thanks! I have a clean white pullet that they are breeding with so I'll pay attention to the chicks coloring.

Honestly still on the fence with the showgirl! The leakage appears to be fairly uniform.

That would be great if the showgirl was a female. I wasn't sure if hens could have the little wattle showing since all my silkies are bearded.

 

[Rhodebar Lover]

The Showgirl looks like a cockerel to me...

 

[MacandT]

The Showgirl looks like a cockerel to me...

Im thinking so too.