23 week old silkies: male or female?

[EmmaRainboe]

Also just thought I'd share, here's an amazing article on sexing silkies: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/sexing-silkies.75451/

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Thanks for the tag, @EmmaRainboe!
Honestly, these all look like pullets. I would expect more male features ar this age but as others have noted, silkies are tricky!
Agree the one black, may be a late bloomer, though I am doubtful.

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

These all look like ladies. The only suspicious one to me is the black #1, because of how wide the comb is. But eh?

 

[Karlijn]

Thanks everyone, for your replies, really appreciate it. We will let you know once they have started laying or crowing

 

[SulkyBantam]

Good-oh! Or update in a month or a so and we'll see what them.

 

[Matilda Belle]

Black Silkie 1 appears male. The rest appear female.

 

[Karlijn]

Hi all, just wanted to update you on our silkies. Only a few days after this discussion, one morning there were 3 (!) very cute little eggs lying in the henhouse. Since then we have had approximately 1 egg/day, with a total of 8 eggs in the first 7 days.

We were very surprised to find eggs, since we weren't expecting them to start laying this soon (5 1/2 months old, and very close to the shortest day of the year).

We are not 100% sure exactly which ones are laying, but one time we saw black silkie #1 sitting on an egg, and late last night I also saw black #1 separate from the rest in their usual sleeping area, and this morning found an egg at the spot where she had been sitting. So it seems to us that at least black #1 is female. We are just wondering now if all of them are laying, or maybe only 3 of them.

ps @EmmaRainboe still thanks for the link to the article!

 

[Matilda Belle]

You can check their vents to see who is laying.