Silkie Hatch-A-Long 2015

[Tammylr]

Better pics.
Porcelain

Porcelain

Splash

Paint

Cuckoo

Blue

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Cute!

 

[Tammylr]

Better pics.
Porcelain

Porcelain

Splash

Paint

Cuckoo

Blue

Just going by beaks I think I have 2 roo (cuckoo, splash) and 4 pullets

 

[rainbowchick]

Just going by beaks I think I have 2 roo (cuckoo, splash) and 4 pullets

I'll be setting some silkie eggs on Friday.
Could you clarify what you meant by "going by the beaks"? I'd love to understand another clue for sexing silkies!

 

[Tammylr]

I'll be setting some silkie eggs on Friday.
Could you clarify what you meant by "going by the beaks"? I'd love to understand another clue for sexing silkies!

Males have a more curved beak that drops more dramatically at end, the hens looks longer and only curves down at the end,

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

In some lines, the shape of the beak (hooked on the end vs not) can be an indicator of gender. Some lines can be sexed by their comb paths (wide vs narrow- mostly works with mine). In some lines, nothing works and you have to wait for them to crow or lay an egg.
By lines I mean the person they were bred by, breeders select for different things depending on their preferences. And, with breeds like Silkies, some common traits are passed along (like the ones I mentioned for determining gender).
Those methods don't always work, but they can help with the guessing

 

[Tammylr]

I have looked at a lot of chick pictures and what they ended up being. The beak sexing is pretty accurate.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Not for me, which is why I look more at their combs. I could go out and snap a picture of a rooster with a hen shaped beak and hens with rooster shaped beaks right now (well, maybe if it wasn't dark ). I've tried the "beak shape method", and was right about 50% of the time It does work more reliably for others though, I just have more luck by looking at the widths of their combs.

 

[Tammylr]

Not for me, which is why I look more at their combs. I could go out and snap a picture of a rooster with a hen shaped beak and hens with rooster shaped beaks right now (well, maybe if it wasn't dark ). I've tried the "beak shape method", and was right about 50% of the time It does work more reliably for others though, I just have more luck by looking at the widths of their combs.

I would love to see what you mean. Anything that helps tell who is who is helpful with these little fluffers.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Okay, here goes. These aren't the best pics, but they were the best I had

That little chick in the front, whose comb you can see dead on, has a pretty wide comb path. He did end up being a little cockerel.

The chick on the left, looking at the camera, has a wide comb. Was also a cockerel. Sometimes they're not super wide but they're wider and long (go up into the crest area and sort of split it apart, like the first pic). Other times they're short and wide, like the chick in the second pic.


The top splash (whos comb you can't really see) and that splash in the back had very narrow strips for combs. They both ended up being pullets.
Now, that being said, it's not always fool proof.

According to my method, the above chick should have been a pullet look at the narrow comb. It wasn't, it was all boy. However, the giveaway on this one was the color. it's already pretty red (and it got redder, which is something I select against, so he found a new home).
I hope that makes sense.