I have a "mystery" chicken and am also trying to determine breeds of silkies, a cochin bantam and a brahma bantam.

[JJandtheBoys]

Hello! Can anyone assist with identifying a chicken breed and gender and also the genders of the following bantams? I'd be so grateful! Below, there are photos of 5 individual birds.

The first bird (named Blueberry) was sold to us by Ideal Poultry as a red one-day old silkie. We knew this wasn't correct, even then, but we were stuck. Any ideas what this bird might be? It seems to be a bantam. 9.5 weeks old. Her tail feathers seem to have some iridescent green in them.

This is our cochin bantam named Scoot. 9.5 weeks old. Can anyone tell the gender on this one? (2 photos)

Here is our bantam brahma named The Colonel. Any ideas on gender? 9.5 weeks old. (4 photos)

The next two babies are 7.5 week old silkies named Sparkle (Black Silkie) and Ruby (Blue Silkie). No clue what gender they are - ideas?

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Blueberry is male, 100%

 

[JacinLarkwell]

The first on is a Dark Cornish. The second is a Black Cochin. The third is a Light Brahma. The fourth is a black silkie. The last is a Penciled Silkie. We're did you get the penciled silkie?

IDEAL sells them as Grey/Gray silkies

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

Hello! Not entirely sure on Blueberries breed but the feathering looks to be that of a cockerel :'( I'll check ideal poultry's website in a bit. Not entirely sure on Scoot the blue cochin, although Colonel looks to be a female to me ^^

If you can get some more pics of sparkle and ruby's combs that would be great! Although they're still really young!! Altho, Ruby isn't blue, they look to be partridge of some sort, could be silver partridge, maybe blue partridge, not entirely certain (little rusty on the weird silkie color varieties)

 

[JedJackson]

I think Blueberry may be a hatchery grade dark Cornish bantam.

Scoot and Colonel both look like pullets.

The silkies will take longer-- I suspect the black is a cockerel, the gray is a pullet, but it is too early to be sure.

And yes, Blueberry is a definite cockerel.

 

[JJandtheBoys]

Yes! My first thought was Cornish bantam!
He‘s a he and may be the only one but silkies are hard to tell even when they get older! Colonel is soooooo cute! I want to pick her up and cuddle her!

The Colonel is a little doll! She was seriously the CUTEST chick I have ever, EVER seen. Scoot isn't far behind though. Great temperament.

 

[Quaicken108]

The Colonel is a little doll! She was seriously the CUTEST chick I have ever, EVER seen. Scoot isn't far behind though. Great temperament.

P.S. I also really love their names!

 

[Egg Snatcher]

I got the penciled silkie (who we thought was a BLUE silkie) from Chickenville USA in Terrell, TX. They get most/all of their birds from Ideal Poultry, so I suspect she came from Ideal. I've ordered directly from Ideal twice, and out of 20 birds, three were dead within 24 hours, one was an Easter-Egger male (when I ordered a female), and one was the wrong bread (hence, the random cornish instead of a red silkie). I know Ideal is supposed to be really reputable, but out of 20 birds, 5 of ours were... wrong. Poor odds. Conversely, Chickenville doesn't sell day-olds. Theirs are a few days to a few months old. They only sell REALLY healthy birds and make a gender guarantee on non-bantams. BUT - they do not ship. You have to drive to get there.

Thanks. Just wondering if you got them form a feed store.

 

[JJandtheBoys]

Blueberry is male, 100%

Thank you! I thought so. Was hoping not, though.

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

Can you help educate me on this a bit? Others are saying the Cochin is a female. What characteristics would indicate male vs. female? Same question for the black silkie? I can tell by the saddle feathers that the cornish is definitely a boy. Thanks, in advance, for your thoughts!

Redness and size of the comb and wattles, thats the main one people use. I'm a little unsure about your little blue cochin cause some ladies can develop a comb sooner than others, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if it turned out to be a cockerel :'( and some people are calling them black, although the lighter coloured body with the feather lacing is something that blues tend to have, I've never seen lacing or the lighter body colour on blacks : D I could be wrong, although I'd love to see photos of your little cochin in a few weeks/months <3