Silkie chick question

[wyndski]

I know they are hard to tell the pullets from roo's. My question is when do they start to get their combs? I have a white silkie chick who is about 9 weeks old. I got it from the feed store, so probably from a hatchery and not the greatest quality. Anyway it still doesn't have a raised comb at all, not even a bump. It has the most crazy top hair, like a white "Buckwheat"

. Sometimes it seems like a roo and sometimes it seems like a pullet.

I am trying to get new pictures. I am wondering when they normally start getting combs? I saw on another thread where someone had 6 week old silkie chicks and they had combs started already.

 

[Chickie Mamma]

Hello, pics would help, but I was able to tell my hatchery silkies at about 6-7 weeks old. My Partridge roo had a large, raised, bumpy comb. He was larger than the others too. I have 2 others from the same shipment and still don't know. If its smooth and flat, it may be a girl. Try to post some pics of the comb and there are many on here that are really good at guessing..

 

[wyndski]

Ok, here is a few pictures- no bumps, no lumps, just flat. I just thought that even if it was a pullet that it would get some comb.

 

[jimnjay]

Actually for a hatchery chick, your white non bearded Silkie is not bad at all. Looks like a pullet to me. You can somtimes see a wider comb on the boys. They will also develop any sort of bumb by nine weeks. Often it still remains hard to tell the difference. I am really not great at sexing Silkies. I have 3 that I think a pullets but I am still not sure.

 

[Chickie Mamma]

Looks like a girl to me

 

[wyndski]

Well that would thrill me if it is a pullet.

As you can tell from the first picture, my other chick is a roo.

I keep checking all the time if the silkie has started growing anything. The other chick grew into his roo suit fast.

 

[teeny]

It is a pullet. I have a Black Silkie Hen and she has no comb or waddles, yours doesn't have waddles already under the chin . I also have a Game Hen / Silkie mix and no comb or waddles . In fact they are not quite a year old and both went broody and stuck nine eggs under both, hope they do well so far so good it's been a week now. BEST OF LUCK!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

It is much, much too early to tell whether this chick is a boy or girl.

Silkes have a walnut comb, and they are usually bred to have smaller combs. Don't expect to see a single comb like your cockerel has. Your silkie has a walnut comb that will develop as s/he does.

Bearded silkies have at most very small wattles; yours looks to be partially bearded, so some wattles may be expected. Also, the genes for silkie combs, as well as those for muff & beard reduce the size of wattles.

 

[wyndski]

I do know it will have a walnut comb and that it may be too young to be totally sure if it is a pullet or roo. I just thought that at 9 weeks that it would have a bump or something on the top. The other thread someone had with the 6 weekers had good size bumps on top. I will just keep watching for any comb growth. Then will

and pray it is a pullet till it either crows or lays a egg.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Most of my girls have very small combs. My roos' combs are probably average. I don't breed for a small male comb--it affects virility. But by the same tiken I wouldn't want a male bird whose comb is so large he can't see around it--I've sen a bird DQed for that. All in all I'll take a larger but more correctly shaped comb over one that is smaller, but poorly shaped.