Help sexing my silkie chick

[showjumper_girl2002]

Hello everyone. I'm looking for opinions on whether or not my silkie chick is a he or a she. What are your thoughts?

 

[suecharp]

I'm just getting started with silkies myself but from what I understand from talking to people, including breeders, is they are very difficult to accurately sex unless you DNA. You can't really tell by looks until they are months old, or if they start laying or crowing (which isn't 100% either since I had a hen that crowed!). Vent sexing is possible but it should only be done by an experienced person as you can seriously injure a chick if it's done incorrectly.

I just hatched a batch of 4 and we are going to DNA them. I'm not confident enough to even try to vent sex.

 

[TwoChicksChix]

How old is this chick? Anything less than 8-12 weeks it can be nearly impossible to tell.

 

[showjumper_girl2002]

Yeah, I've heard and read that it can be very difficult. She (hopefully lol) is about 8-10 weeks so I guess I just have to wait and cross my fingers. I'm really hoping she's actually a she because I'm so attached to her and where I live you can't have roos. She's just the sweetest and snuggles with me every evening while we watch tv

 

[TwoChicksChix]

She looks pretty female to me, but if I can get a better picture of her comb and wattles, maybe a direct front face photo.

I think she might be a bit younger than 8 weeks though, as my newest batch of silkies is 8 weeks and they’ve feathered out more than her. Though she could just be slow.

 

[showjumper_girl2002]

She looks pretty female to me, but if I can get a better picture of her comb and wattles, maybe a direct front face photo.

I think she might be a bit younger than 8 weeks though, as my newest batch of silkies is 8 weeks and they’ve feathered out more than her. Though she could just be slow.

I think you're right, I believe she may be just slightly less than 8 weeks now that I'm looking at a calendar. Here are some pics of her face. I don't see any signs of wattles developing yet.

 

[TwoChicksChix]

Hmm, no, she doesn’t look like a male, though she does have a straight comb, which is weird for a silkie.

Silkies are supposed to have walnut combs, so that comb makes me think that there’s something else in her genetics. Most likely her parents or grandparents were crossed with a Cochin in order to add other colors into the genetics and she ended up keeping the straight comb.

 

[showjumper_girl2002]

Hmm, no, she doesn’t look like a male, though she does have a straight comb, which is weird for a silkie.

Silkies are supposed to have walnut combs, so that comb makes me think that there’s something else in her genetics. Most likely her parents or grandparents were crossed with a Cochin in order to add other colors into the genetics and she ended up keeping the straight comb.

It's funny you say that, I noticed that today. I've never had chickens with walnut combs before so I thought it started out looking like this and then developed into a walnut comb lol

 

[TwoChicksChix]

A walnut comb is what my mother and I call a brain comb, because that’s what they end up looking like. Weird protruding brains lol

 

[NNYchick]

Here is a good picture of one of my boys walnut comb, it really does look like a walnut stuck on their head. He is still young so his is still dark but as the testosterone gets flowing it will be more mulberry colored.