Sexing a silkie

[Rik]

Ive bought a partridge silkie from a breeder but the breeder is a newbie herself and is not sure of the sex of her chicks. What are the tell tail signs i should be looking for?
Before i went to buy the chick i did some reading and found this site

http://www.americansilkiebantamclub.org/articles_page.htm

But being a newbie myself i didn't really know what i was looking for and i was second guessing myself. Any help would be great.

Thanks Rik

oh yeah the chick is 4 weeks old

 

[jenlynn4]

There is really no way to for sure sex a silkie until you hear a crow or see an egg. The best we can do is guess. I have found that if the feathers swoop back twards the neck on the crest, that allot of times its a boy. If you post some pics here I can take a look and give you my best guess. Also watch there behavior and posture. Boys tend to stand more erect and girls are morelikely to be short and squatty, but there are always the exceptions that just dont act like what they should and fool you.

 

[asher]

Someone was able to tell me the gender once on a chick (partly grown/feathered out) by the pattern of the partridge. I'm not familiar with it, though. How old is the chick?

 

[Sharisr32]

Take your finger run it down the little leg feel for spurs - Roos have spurs you'll feel the difference and get almost 100% accuracy around 5 days (thanks Duck lady and friend) But if you perfer tricks I also heard if you face North and sing God Bless American in Dutch that you are surpose to hatch only girl eggs

 

[LICHICK]

The way I've sexed my silkies is that I look at the fluff at the back of the topknot or crest. If it has longer strands (streamers) in the back of the topknot it is a rooster. If the top knot is mostly round without long streamers in the back of the head it is a hen. I've been able to tell this way before they crow, but not until about 3 months old. I was wrong once with sexing about 30 silkies. Also the larger comb will tell you before they crow.

 

[cresty]

I watched a tv show the other night called "How it works". It was about hatcheries. It was quite amusing and a little scary 'cause I couldn't figure how how all the little chickens falling and being bumped on the belt got away with no broken legs, etc.

Anyway, in the area where they were sexing the chicks, they showed the feathers. If two rows of feathers were even, it was female, if one row was shorter, it was male. Now was that only for certain kinds of chicks???? It looked like she was checking the wing. It went sooo fast I could hardly tell. And the chicks on the belt were all solid yellow, if that means anything to anyone.

Cresty