Cream Legbar pullet a roo? and of course Thoughts on my white silky?

[cyndiandthan]

Hi Chicken lovers,

So here are a few pics of our latest round of chicks...

I purchased hatchery chicks from my small feed store, my goal was building a nice color egg basket, and a couple of silkies just for fun. Well we lost 2/4 silkies they were only a couple days old and at day 8 they died. The white silkie was so super tiny and a little younger, compared to the BCM, Oliver egger, and Cream Legbar.

They are now all 4-5 wks old except for the Barnie that is pictured its about 6 wks....Anyway the white silkie's feet are huge! and its about the same size as the other chicks even though its suppose to be a bantam. Could it be a full size bird? also I feel like the feathers on the top are growing way back and not straight up....big feet and streamers..roo?

Now to the legbar whose comb is turning pretty red and check out those wattles? I was worried last weekend but then read that they were auto sexed....today I swear those wattles look even larger 5 days later?? This was a pricey chick $18 I really wanted an actual blue layer, and after the private breeder sold out I went to feed store. Now I'm worried its not pure, so auto sexed and egg color could be a wash anyway.

I can't have roosters b/c I am in a residential neighborhood, so any roos have to go, I also wanted to raise chicks altogether, so sooner I know the better so they aren't so far apart. I was hoping that starting with more silkies would give me better odds...no quite...LOL

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

Well, if the Legbar is pure, which, if it came from a hatchery, should be, although the quality may not be great....it is a pullet. But I'd agree, it had rooish waddles and comb. I guess you will just have to wait and see.
The silkie is too young. It will grow more of a crest later. Please post pics of the whole body, crest, and comb with crest pulled back at 12 weeks.

 

[EastIndie]

Hi Chicken lovers,

So here are a few pics of our latest round of chicks...

I purchased hatchery chicks from my small feed store, my goal was building a nice color egg basket, and a couple of silkies just for fun. Well we lost 2/4 silkies they were only a couple days old and at day 8 they died. The white silkie was so super tiny and a little younger, compared to the BCM, Oliver egger, and Cream Legbar.

They are now all 4-5 wks old except for the Barnie that is pictured its about 6 wks....Anyway the white silkie's feet are huge! and its about the same size as the other chicks even though its suppose to be a bantam. Could it be a full size bird? also I feel like the feathers on the top are growing way back and not straight up....big feet and streamers..roo?

Now to the legbar whose comb is turning pretty red and check out those wattles? I was worried last weekend but then read that they were auto sexed....today I swear those wattles look even larger 5 days later?? This was a pricey chick $18 I really wanted an actual blue layer, and after the private breeder sold out I went to feed store. Now I'm worried its not pure, so auto sexed and egg color could be a wash anyway. View attachment 1394013View attachment 1394019View attachment 1394021View attachment 1394023View attachment 1394025

I can't have roosters b/c I am in a residential neighborhood, so any roos have to go, I also wanted to raise chicks altogether, so sooner I know the better so they aren't so far apart. I was hoping that starting with more silkies would give me better odds...no quite...LOL

The legbar is definitely a cockerel

 

[Mylied]

I'd agree the legbar is a cockerel and not pure. Because that coloring is female, but that's no female.

I agree the silkie is too young to sex. I have seen on here pics of monster silkies that come from Tractor Supply. They don't stay tiny. Maybe whoever you got that one from, got their silkies from the same supplier. A lot of the time they'll get a single comb too, instead of the walnut comb. I can't tell what your silkie has. Still might be a sweet bird, just not bantam sized.

 

[cyndiandthan]

I'd agree the legbar is a cockerel and not pure. Because that coloring is female, but that's no female.

I agree the silkie is too young to sex. I have seen on here pics of monster silkies that come from Tractor Supply. They don't stay tiny. Maybe whoever you got that one from, got their silkies from the same supplier. A lot of the time they'll get a single comb too, instead of the walnut comb. I can't tell what your silkie has. Still might be a sweet bird, just not bantam sized.

interesting! I wasn't sure if the size was indicating to it being a cockerel. So far the comb doesn't look single to me it looks wide. The other remaining silkie we have from our 4 silkie chicks is a black that is super small in comparison to the white silkie. So I have been wondering what size it is, and the feet were what I noticed first, how they were almost the size of the barnvelder that is like 2 wks older? We were planning on adding onto our coop a special silkie house, to keep them separate from our full size girls... Now im super confused I have one bantam and big silkie LOL and cockerel leg bar....what the what?

 

[drumstick diva]

Hatchery birds are not bred to the "SOP"(standard of perfection). They are generally poor quality. Silkies should have a "walnut" comb which looks like an ugly, ugly lump. Females sometimes have a narrow one but, it varies. Males generally have a wide one that looks like an ughly toad died on their forehead.

I do(would) say Silkies are beautiful birds, but, have no idea why the powers that be thought they should have such an ughly comb.- to meet a standard of perfection.

 

[drumstick diva]

poor quality can include being too large, not having 5 toes on each foot, lack of black pigment in skin, beak, feet, atc. Having hard feathers instead of "silkie" feathers, and so on.

 

[chickendreams24]

Silkies have not been bred as a large fowl in the United States but I've seen a few people on BYC who are working on it.

That being said I've also seen a couple hatcheries that offer larger silkies for use as meat, strictly white ones, although they still wouldn't be large enough to qualify as a large fowl I don't believe.

Raised together my experience has always been that silkies will generally do fine in a mixed flock with large fowl birds especially docile breeds. I wouldn't put only one silkie in the flock but especially considering you can't keep roosters I think your silkies would be just fine. Do you have mature birds already that you're trying to add to??

If you do and they haven't been raised with silkies that could be a problem because they won't be used to it they may attack the different birds.

Now about this legbar do you happen to have a picture of it's back and head markings before it began to feather in?

Do you know what hatchery these chicks came from?
I admit I haven't look this year so may be wrong but I think last time I looked most hatcheries were only selling legbars straight run meaning unsexed and those that did sell sexed pullets charged quite a bit more that 18$ a chick. Are you certain you got a sexed pullet legbar?

 

[cyndiandthan]

Silkies have not been bred as a large fowl in the United States but I've seen a few people on BYC who are working on it.

That being said I've also seen a couple hatcheries that offer larger silkies for use as meat, strictly white ones, although they still wouldn't be large enough to qualify as a large fowl I don't believe.

Raised together my experience has always been that silkies will generally do fine in a mixed flock with large fowl birds especially docile breeds. I wouldn't put only one silkie in the flock but especially considering you can't keep roosters I think your silkies would be just fine. Do you have mature birds already that you're trying to add to??

If you do and they haven't been raised with silkies that could be a problem because they won't be used to it they may attack the different birds.

Now about this legbar do you happen to have a picture of it's back and head markings before it began to feather in?

Do you know what hatchery these chicks came from?
I admit I haven't look this year so may be wrong but I think last time I looked most hatcheries were only selling legbars straight run meaning unsexed and those that did sell sexed pullets charged quite a bit more that 18$ a chick. Are you certain you got a sexed pullet legbar?

We are down to 3 mature birds...a Blue copper Maran, and 2 EE... so we will be adding on, to the existing with both full size birds and a couple silkies pending gender. The plan has always been to add a smaller henhouse onto our existing coop that would be great for silkies and also good for when we have chicks two small to go into the big house. Just want a couple of silly silkies to add to the fun as pets. I do worry for them though especially with our existing mature EE who can be at times "difficult and spastic ".

Also to add we have introduced new birds to our existing flock before and it wasn't too bad our most aggressive bird is the one we most recently lost, but in general I worry bantams wouldn't do well unless they were raised together with the birds we have now.

Now for the legbar......backstory... we have a small family owned feed store in NC that we always get chicks from...its a love/hate for me. I swore I wouldn't get chicks from them after the last time...b/c we thought we had a sick bird...(it wasn't). also they are best option for us locally and have really improved their business in last year and half so back we went... We were told, the leg bars were hatchery legbars and all were being sold pullets not straight run. Which is funny b/c I did gamble on straight runs in silkies and the barnie...but never did I think the legbar wouldn't be a pullet it has been the sweetest most calm thing. Now im convinced I got some mix that looked like a female but is indeed a male...there is just no way with that comb and waddle that its a hen...NO WAY. Also the point in adding it to our flock was for the blue egg and if auto sexing failed b/c of not being pure I doubt the egg color I am desiring would be anything more than I already have from my EEs.

 

[cyndiandthan]

Just took these those waddles huge! And he was all posting up when i went in to grab the silkies totally a rooster!