Pullet or cockerel? (updated current pics)

[TheOddOneOut]

Thank you so much for quickly responding! It's exciting trying to figure out if it's gonna be a hen or rooster!

Yeah! Anytime.
I’m pretty confident it’s a female. But we’d love updates as she grows! Silkie mixes are so pretty.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Hello LadiesAndJane!
Still haven't found her any chicken friends but I do take her out daily (sometimes twice a day) and spend about couple hours at a time with her in the yard. She enjoys grazing through the yard for weeds (clover is her favorite) and bugs. She also enjoys dust bathing in the dirt. Since she was a rescue, I didn't have plans to get another chicken, but do you think it's absolutely necessary if we take time everyday to take her out in the yard with us?

Best for her (and you) if you can find her some friends about the same age. She is still young enough that it should be fairly easy to integrate them together. Chickens are flock creatures and no matter how much time you spend with them they will still crave other chickens for company.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Also silkies can live up to 10 years, mixes may be a few years less. A friend of mine had a silkie that lived to be 12!

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Any breed of chicken should fine. I recommend getting female friends in a similar age range (5-8 weeks, give or take.)
You could even just get her ONE little pullet friend. Plenty of people raise just two little birds. Two makes a happy pair.
If you do get another little baby/babies any time soon, (which hopefully you do) make sure it is healthy before introducing them. Check all the orifices for any symptoms of illness, and under the feathers for mites.
Also, if you plan on keeping her until she’s an adult (or her whole life! ) she’s probably gonna want to live outside. A little coop might be a good idea sometime soon, because she’s now at the age where she can live outside and will want to.

My typical beliefs are that no functioning, healthy chicken should be kept inside and/ or alone. If you have an ill or recovering bird that can’t function outdoors, in a flock, then they are fine to live inside…but the thing a healthy chicken wants is to be rollin’ in the dirt with their besties.
So if you could maybe get her a friend, I think it would make her really happy.
No pressure. If it doesn’t make sense for you to take on another bird right now, she’s okay for a while. Just something to consider.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Thank you TheOddOneOut! I will take all of that into consideration!!

I edited it to add a little more.
Whatever you decide, she seems very happy and healthy and is still one of the cutest little things I’ve seen and I’m JEALOUS. I’d love to steal her away for myself.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Never would have thought this bird was male. Young to start crowing, comb is that of a young bird. Guess you never know sometimes.