lavender silkies

[knightie]

How old do they have to be before you can tell (without vent sexing 'cause I sooo don't know what I'm looking at THERE yet!) I just got a Lavender silkie from ideal (shipped the 7th got him/her this morning) And I know ideal isn't the best for quality birds... but it was the only place I could buy less than 25 birds.... and had Cayuga ducks... so I got the number I wanted <sexed... 3 girls one boy> and I was just sort of the minimum cost so I added the lavender silkie... 'cause it looked cool and figured this was the cheapest way to try it)

So how old be fore I could post a pic that you guys could help me figure the sex on?

Thanks!
Knightie
East Texas

KF Agility (and now ducks and chicks too)

 

[1Chick Magnet]

silkies are very hard to sex. as they grow, the males will get streamers growing backwards from the head. the comb of the roo usually gets bigger than the hen.
unfortunately on silkies I usually say wait till it crows or lays on egg.
post a picture when it is a few monts old and we will take a guess.
I kept 1 hen from the ideal order in 09. I still have her. right now she is raising some chicks that I ordered from ideal. she is a great mom and has raised many chicks for me.

 

[knightie]

This may be a weird question... but I think my silkie is a roo and this is the reason (feel free to tell me I'm nuts) I received a few "males included for warmth" in an order and they're the little silkie is the same age as the other boys. I noticed today what feels like the beginnings of spurs on the mystery chicks... and so when I had the silkie up I felt his legs and found the same thing on him. THey are almost 3 weeks... I didn't think of feeling the pullets legs... I have some one week old <almost> pullets and haven't done the leg check yet.... anyone ever try this on chicks as a way to sex them before?

 

[jossanne]

This isn't an accurate way to sex chicks, sorry. Even female chicks have spur bumps. I actually have several hens with 2-3" long spurs. My little roosters who are just over a year old are finally getting their spurs, so your little roos won't be showing any signs of spur development at this point - at least not enough to differentiate them from the pullets. Your little silkie will most likely be very difficult to sex for a while, but it should make for some fun guessing and changing your mind over the next few months...