Sexing Silkies?! I need so much help and advice! TIA

[Pinedale Silkies]

I think you're just lucky.

The gender of the chick is determined before the egg is laid. It is not changed by anything you do during incubation.

The sex chromosomes in birds are backwards of what mammals have, so males have ZZ and females have ZW. This also means the mother determines the sex of each chick, since she's the one with two different chromosomes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZW_sex-determination_system



That idea has been around for thousands of years, at least since Aristotle in 350 BC:
"Long and pointed eggs are female; those that are round, or more rounded at the narrow end, are male. "
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/history_anim.6.vi.html

And some people now say the shape/gender pairing is opposite of what he said.

But as best anyone can tell by actually studying it, egg shape has nothing to do with chick gender. Certain breeds tend to lay rounder or pointier eggs, but they all produce chicks in both genders. And some individual hens lay eggs of one shape or another, but they also tend to produce chicks of both genders.

I did, however, used to have a hen that would produce almost exclusively male chicks.

 

[Pinedale Silkies]

I just got these photos!!! It’s hard to get up close with all these feathers in the way!! But I believe that they are all girls besides the youngsters I can’t tell
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I’m gonna say, at this stage at least, all girls. Maybe the last one is a cockerel, but the lack of wattles and the comb still being relatively small lead me to think it’s a girl. How old did you say they were?

 

[NatJ]

I did, however, used to have a hen that would produce almost exclusively male chicks.

I've read of a few hens that do produce chicks of mostly one gender or the other. Since the hen does determine the gender of the chicks, I can see how that might work.

And I once had a hen that produce 9 cockerels out of 11 chicks. I wanted to hatch more and see if the pattern continued, but a predator got her before I had the chance Of course, I'd really love to have a hen that produces mostly daughters!

 

[Pinedale Silkies]

I've read of a few hens that do produce chicks of mostly one gender or the other. Since the hen does determine the gender of the chicks, I can see how that might work.

And I once had a hen that produce 9 cockerels out of 11 chicks. I wanted to hatch more and see if the pattern continued, but a predator got her before I had the chance Of course, I'd really love to have a hen that produces mostly daughters!

That would be great haha. Maybe like a 30-70 odd of sons vs daughters, that way when you do want a cockerel it isn’t too hard to get.

 

[frasereve]

I’m gonna say, at this stage at least, all girls. Maybe the last one is a cockerel, but the lack of wattles and the comb still being relatively small lead me to think it’s a girl. How old did you say they were?

So the youngest 2 are 7 weeks the teens are 2 months roughly and the oldest Casper is 4 months old

 

[Pinedale Silkies]

So the youngest 2 are 7 weeks the teens are 2 months roughly and the oldest Casper is 4 months old

Ok, I’m gonna say a girl... But keep an eye on them, as you know how silkies are with liking to randomly reveal themselves as male right when you were finally certain that they’re girls haha

 

[frasereve]

Ok, I’m gonna say a girl... But keep an eye on them, as you know how silkies are with liking to randomly reveal themselves as male right when you were finally certain that they’re girls haha

Yea that’s what happened with Casper