PippinTheChicken
🧡🤍💙
Pippin's Guide to Sexing Silkies!
MALE
FEMALE
Parts of a Rooster
Myths about silkie sexing
Helpful links (and members)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/tips-on-sexing-silkies.1477252/page-5
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/sexing-silkies.75451/
Silkie Sexperts
Other ways
Vent Sexing- checking the reproductive organs of the chick. This is done by carefully holding a chick upside down and squeezing it so that it empties its body of fecal matter. A trained chicken sexer will be able to identify a slight bump that signifies that the chick is male.
I do not suggest this method as it can kill the chick if you are not properly trained
DNA Testing- this can be performed with blood samples, feather samples and eggshell samples. If you send these samples to a lab, they will test for the Z chromosome or W chromosome in birds to determine their sex. Males will have only Z chromosomes and females will have ZW chromosome pairs. It is the females, not the males who determine the sex of the embryo.
MALE
- Tail feathers extend longer than tail
- Wide U-shaped comb
- Wattle growth
- Feathers extending from crest
- Lower back feathers droop down the sides
- Neck feathers are long
- comb is taller than the beak
FEMALE
- Round crest (not always reliable)
- Comb is thin and goes up in 2 parallel lines and join into a small walnut
- Saddle feathers are in an upside down U shape and don't extend further than the tail
- Neck feathers are shorter
- comb is the same height as the beak
Parts of a Rooster
Myths about silkie sexing
- If the back claw points upwards, it's female. And if it points down, its male
- Longer beaks mean rooster and short beaks mean hen
- If there is a lump on the leg it means rooster***
- what shape the egg is before it has hatched. When the egg is longer and more narrow, it supposedly male. When the egg is rounder, it’s supposed to be female
- tying a small weight to a string and hovering it over the chick. if the weight swings in a circular motion, it’s female. If the weight swings in a linear motion, the chick is male.
Helpful links (and members)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/tips-on-sexing-silkies.1477252/page-5
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/sexing-silkies.75451/
Silkie Sexperts
- PippinTheChicken
- LadiesAndJane
- MysteryChicken
- PioneerChicks
Other ways
Vent Sexing- checking the reproductive organs of the chick. This is done by carefully holding a chick upside down and squeezing it so that it empties its body of fecal matter. A trained chicken sexer will be able to identify a slight bump that signifies that the chick is male.
I do not suggest this method as it can kill the chick if you are not properly trained
DNA Testing- this can be performed with blood samples, feather samples and eggshell samples. If you send these samples to a lab, they will test for the Z chromosome or W chromosome in birds to determine their sex. Males will have only Z chromosomes and females will have ZW chromosome pairs. It is the females, not the males who determine the sex of the embryo.
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