9 week Silkie...gender???

[PinkCoopDeVille]

I have two 9 week old silkies still in the brooder (it's still very cold here). We have an inkling that one may be a roo and we can't have roos where we live at the moment (will be moving to a more chicken/roo friendly area in the next year). The predicament I have is that I just can't put the other silkie in with our older girls because I have a feeling she will be picked on but the lady we buy our chicks from doesn't have anymore in the same age range as our chicks. Any suggestions? We thought we might sell the silkies as a pair if it ends up being a rooster but also thought if we could find another chick at the same age we might introduce her to the babies and have them both go in the big girl coop together. My problem is them getting picked on/not liking each other. Lots of questions, I know but I'm a worried chicken mom lol!

 

[Jacob Temple]

well i have had this problem and i know what you mean about cold i live in north GA also and mine are having trouble with this cold but first of all are the older ones in a warm place see at first they probably will pick on her and if she is afraid to be around them she will likely go off to her self to sleep i have black frizzle cochins and they have some chicks from last fall and i have some standard cochin and game chicks so i put all of them in the bantam pen with the big ones so they will snuggle together and they did get picked on for a couple hours but they all snuggled up together that night and i went and check on them and a couple didn't they went off to there selves so i put them in the nest box
( which was what they were sleeping in ) in the back and they stayed there and i may have done it one more night but they all sleep together now but i don't think it should be out with the other ones if they don't have a real warm place to get to

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

For what its worth, Silkies are one of the most difficult breeds to sex. I've been raising them for some time and I don't even begin to guess gender at 9 weeks.

I would hang onto them both for a while. You're planning on moving in the near future, and Silkies are very slow maturing, so you've should have time to figure things out before you hear crowing.

 

[PinkCoopDeVille]

@Jacob thanks for your input! I am at least going to wait out this below freezing weather before I put her in with the big girls especially since she has more fuzz than feathers anyway. I hope they will at least let her cuddle. I also agree with howfunky that it's going to take a while to tell what he/she is. Just a waiting game at this point. I had toyed with the idea of finding a same age pullet and letting the silkies get used to her in case.

 

[Jacob Temple]

i have raised silkies before and it took a long time to tell what sex that i remember the only thing i can remember is my roosters grew a little faster and my whites had red combs or a purpleish color and the roosters were more prominent but if you can you see i have a 8 foot by 8 foot pen about 11 feet tall with 3 open open wired sides for my Standard cochins and i have a rabbit and pigeons in there and so like the pigeons wouldn't freeze i put 2 tarps on 2 sides and the front i have wood already up about 5 foot so i left it open so they can have a little sun when it is out but they have done remarkably better than my ones running around but i put a lot of pine needles in there .

 

[PinkCoopDeVille]

My coop sounds similar to yours (the silkies are still in our indoor brooder but our Marans and Ameraucauna are in the coop). We tarped it for the winter but left the sides untarped so they could get sun. They sleep in the corner on the ground (we have roosts, they just won't use them for whatever reason) away from any wind. We hope to put the silkies out there by the end of February but if it's a rooster, we would haveto sell it, hence the other silkie would be going in the coop on her own, 2 against 1.

 

[Jacob Temple]

how old are your americanas and marans

 

[PinkCoopDeVille]

They are about 8 1/2 months.

 

[Going Quackers]

Slikies can be tricky and some truly hide what they are lol

We actually own mostly roo's... the joys of the straight run ... normally they have a differing look, wispy feathering etc... one of our roosters and if you look real well, the two pullets in behind.



Better shot of one of the pullets for comparison..

 

[PinkCoopDeVille]

Yeah, as much as I want it to be a chicken, it's looking more and more like it won't be. Apparently it crowed a little (I haven't heard it but my boyfriend did). Also, it's a bit bigger than the other even though they're the same age. We discussed it and what we might do is put them in together with the big girls in a few weeks so they can get acclimated and then sell him once they get used to each other...I just hate separating the two of them. An alternative is selling them as a pair and start from there trying to find laying hens.