How tell difference between hen and rooster chicks?

[Muscovyduck96]

Hello!

I have 5 silkie chicks and are wondering on how I can find out if they are roosters or hens? They differ from being 3 weeks to 5 weeks old...
I hope the pictures are good enough too see?

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[Muscovyduck96]

Here's another picture

 

[Pork Pie]

From what I understand, it's far from easy to sex silkies - even when they are a few months old.

 

[Muscovyduck96]

From what I understand, it's far from easy to sex silkies - even when they are a few months old. 

That's what I have also been told...

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don’t have Silkies but I’ve heard the same thing. It can be hard to sex regular chicks at that age, let alone Silkies. There are some other breeds that can be challenging too.

There are many things that are clues that the chick might be male or female, sometimes even at hatch. I’ve had chicks at hatch that I was sure by posture and body conformation were male. I can’t say I’ve ever been able to tell that one was a female at hatch, but on rare occasions I can tell a male. But that is rare.

Often at about five weeks it gets easier. Comb and wattle development, posture, body composition (heavy legs normally mean male, delicate legs female, but just general body shape too), and sometimes just general looks. When they get even older you can get sharp saddle and hackle feathers on males, rounded on females. How tail feathers grow in can tell you a lot sometimes. But this is older chicks and not Silkies.

Different males and different females develop at different rates. Last year I had one that I was mistaken about at three months. I thought it was a pullet but nope, it was a cockerel, a very slow to develop cockerel. These were not Silkies but supposedly easier chickens.

Silkie feathers are weird, their skulls are different. They can just be hard. I’ll give a link that talks about the different signs that a chick might be male or female but they are often just general clues and you can often get conflicting clues. I wish you luck!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=48329