5 week old Silkie, plz say it’s a girl!

[Cheyenne97]

This is just an old wives tale. It's not reliable at all.

I disagree. It’s worked for me almost every time. 8-10 chicks!

 

[Cheyenne97]

I disagree. It’s worked for me almost every time. 8-10 chicks!

That I got from a breeder

 

[starri33]

Don't know that it's right, but I've researched and everything I've found said that you could check out their wings when they are little, a hen, is a varied length of feather "long, short, long, short" and a roo is even length feathered. As they get older what I've found is they say the hens have a double row of feathers on their wing tops.. found this all on You-tube, if it's true, I have 4 hens and 2 roo's out of my hatch, 6 eggs in and 6 eggs hatched.

 

[Cyprus]

Don't know that it's right, but I've researched and everything I've found said that you could check out their wings when they are little, a hen, is a varied length of feather "long, short, long, short" and a roo is even length feathered. As they get older what I've found is they say the hens have a double row of feathers on their wing tops.. found this all on You-tube, if it's true, I have 4 hens and 2 roo's out of my hatch, 6 eggs in and 6 eggs hatched.

This is only applicable to birds bred for this trait, typically from hatcheries.
Does not work on most birds, so probably not accurate with your chicks.

After many, many chicks hatched I have found that the pullets almost always feather out a lot more by 3 weeks.

 

[starri33]

This is only applicable to birds bred for this trait, typically from hatcheries.
Does not work on most birds, so probably not accurate with your chicks.

After many, many chicks hatched I have found that the pullets almost always feather out a lot more by 3 weeks.

bummer.. I've ordered some blue spiral leg bands, I figured I'd ban the ones that look like they might be roo's and see how bad I'm off.. I do have like 3 of the chicks that seem to be feathering out a lot faster than the others, all of them are just 1 day apart on hatching. 20th,21st,22nd of November.

 

[Stacyoung13]

Hi,

I’m part of a lot of forums. Kind of a forum junkie but this one by far has the nicest users which makes me love it even more (so thank you!). I know....silkies are notorious for being hard to sex. But I’m getting a little nervous soo early on! My Fifi is a little over 5 weeks old. Sheep and sheep can be. Let’s my 7 week old Sumatra boss her around all day long. She’s scared of the world! Always hunched into a ball. In fact I didn’t even think she could reach her gravity waterer until I saw her stretch that long neck up 3” to drink it after she watched Birdie, my Sumatra do it. Couldn’t believe how long her neck was and how tall she could get if she wants. If she could, her tail would be between her legs at all times! By this I figured...or hoped at least she was a she!

Anyhoo, I know it’s soo soo early. And you really can’t see what her head feather shape will be but the question I have is, I always thought silkies have a black comb only. “Her” comb looks a little red to me. If you look closely at the pics you’ll see at the very top it looks a little pinkish. Or discolored. Please tell me that’s not a sign!

Honey, you probably won't know for sure until 4-5 months old. and then maybe not. Here are pictures of BooBoo, my 9 month old black silkie.

what's you guess? boy or girl?

 

[Stacyoung13]

Hi,

I’m part of a lot of forums. Kind of a forum junkie but this one by far has the nicest users which makes me love it even more (so thank you!). I know....silkies are notorious for being hard to sex. But I’m getting a little nervous soo early on! My Fifi is a little over 5 weeks old. Sheep and sheep can be. Let’s my 7 week old Sumatra boss her around all day long. She’s scared of the world! Always hunched into a ball. In fact I didn’t even think she could reach her gravity waterer until I saw her stretch that long neck up 3” to drink it after she watched Birdie, my Sumatra do it. Couldn’t believe how long her neck was and how tall she could get if she wants. If she could, her tail would be between her legs at all times! By this I figured...or hoped at least she was a she!

Anyhoo, I know it’s soo soo early. And you really can’t see what her head feather shape will be but the question I have is, I always thought silkies have a black comb only. “Her” comb looks a little red to me. If you look closely at the pics you’ll see at the very top it looks a little pinkish. Or discolored. Please tell me that’s not a sign!

I have 5 silkies. 3 hens, a pullet and a roo. BooBoo is a hen. I went back and forth, cockerel, pullet, cockerel, pullet,.....until she laid at 7 months. Splash, my partridge roo was crowing at 4-5 months. My blue, and white hens were easy to tell at about 4-5 months. My buff I knew early, about 2 months. My point is, YOU NEVER KNOW, TIL THEY CROW. Here are my babies.
BooBoo (9mth)
Pong (9mth)
Cotton (9mth)
Lucy (6mth)
Splash (9mth)

 

[BirdieandFifi]

I have 5 silkies. 3 hens, a pullet and a roo. BooBoo is a hen. I went back and forth, cockerel, pullet, cockerel, pullet,.....until she laid at 7 months. Splash, my partridge roo was crowing at 4-5 months. My blue, and white hens were easy to tell at about 4-5 months. My buff I knew early, about 2 months. My point is, YOU NEVER KNOW, TIL THEY CROW. Here are my babies.
View attachment 1612453 BooBoo (9mth)
View attachment 1612449 Pong (9mth)
View attachment 1612448 Cotton (9mth)
View attachment 1612451 Lucy (6mth)
View attachment 1612447 Splash (9mth)

Wow pretty birds! It definitely is hard to tell with this breed.

Since I’ve posted this Fifi’s head fluff has rounded out a lot but I still can’t tell. Fifi seems to be a lot more dominate than before but still follows Birdie around like she/he is Birdie’s chick or something. And fifi is still a huge drama queen and cry baby about everything. I’ve come to realize you can’t base their gender off their temperament since silkies seems to be quite nice and easy natured.

Since I can’t find any other breeders here in Southern California, I’ll more than likely buy a DNA’d silkie from the only breeder of splash silkies I’ve found that actually have chicks available. They’re expensive as heck but at least I won’t have to get my heart broken when it’s a roo and at least it will be quality.

 

[Stacyoung13]

Wow pretty birds! It definitely is hard to tell with this breed.

Since I’ve posted this Fifi’s head fluff has rounded out a lot but I still can’t tell. Fifi seems to be a lot more dominate than before but still follows Birdie around like she/he is Birdie’s chick or something. And fifi is still a huge drama queen and cry baby about everything. I’ve come to realize you can’t base their gender off their temperament since silkies seems to be quite nice and easy natured.

Since I can’t find any other breeders here in Southern California, I’ll more than likely buy a DNA’d silkie from the only breeder of splash silkies I’ve found that actually have chicks available. They’re expensive as heck but at least I won’t have to get my heart broken when it’s a roo and at least it will be quality.

that's what I'm gonna work on this spring, a splash and a painted. If things go as planned.LOL

 

[scrambled please]

I’m hoping I have roo same age, same color. Funny thing I was noticing, I have no older roo, how one of my GIRLS has red in her comb. I hope she’s what you want.