Sexing Silkies as Chicks?

[citychickinthecountry]

Is there any way to tell the difference between hens and roos (Silkies) when they are chicks? I just received 3 silkies and I know that one is a roo and the other 2 are hens...I don't know which is the roo but it would be nice to know as soon as possible (so I don't give a hen a male's name and vice versa).

Are there any key signs with Silkies (beak color, etc.)? (I'm still a newbie at this stuff so forgive my ignorance.)

I've got a White Silkie, a Black Silkie, and the third Silkie I can't make out what type it is...it's got what almost looks like leopard print on this head.

I also received 8 other assorted Bantam hens...I know they're all hens...unless the order got messed up.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Unfortunately, no. It will probably be at least 3 months, possibly more, before you can make a good guess. Now hatchery birds may be able to be sexed a bit earlier. Good luck...and post their pics in the next month or two and let us all take a guess!!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Why do you say that you know one is a boy? Unless they did a DNA test, you cannot vent sex bantams without injury.

 

[citychickinthecountry]

I got them from My Pet Chicken and they guarantee 90% sexing accuracy.

 

[mom2jedi]

Quote:
There have been a couple threads about getting sexed bantams from MPC. Don't be surprised if they end up being more than 10% wrong. General consensus is that sexing bantams is extremely risky for the chick which is why most hatcheries don't do it.

Here's one of the threads I could find.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=282337&p=1

It kinda got snarky towards the end but there were some good replies the first couple of pages.

 

[citychickinthecountry]

Thanks for the link to that thread. I bought 5 chicks from MPC last May (ordered hens)...one passed away at about 4 days...the other 4 were all hens. I was so worried that I would end up with a rooster.

This time around, a friend ordered me 10 chicks. Supposedly one is a rooster (one of the three silkies) and the rest are hens. We'll see what happens. It like having kids, you should be happy with what you get no matter what...as long as they are healthy.

 

[stumble_n_mumble]

i have been right on 6 of my bantams 5 being silkies with this method. everyone can say im wrong but i don't care what anyone says. i use the wing feather method. fan out the wing and look for the feather that are not jagged and are all the same length. that would be your boy. if they are jagged its a hen. i have been 100 percent with it...

 

[citychickinthecountry]

I take it that you've used this method once they get all their adult feathers, right? I guess that's about 3 or 4 weeks? It's worth a try just to see if it works.

 

[poultryhaven]

The silkie chick that has the leopard dessign on it is probably a Partridge Silkie

 

[citychickinthecountry]

Partridge, huh? That's what I guessed. Yay!

So you're in Ocala...I grew up there. Small world.