SILKIE SEXING: EXPERIMENT FOR SILKIE OWNERS

[Jenski]

Sexing silkie chicks is one of the great challenges of the poultry world! (Who's hiding under all that fluff??)

Here's an old farm trick I heard about. It is for any breed, really, but silkies are the hardest to sex to why not test it on silkies? I am asking all you silkie owners out there to try this on your chicks, noting their ages and the results of the "experiment." When your chicks come of age, check your records and let us know what you find!
We can either debunk this old myth, or better yet, find a way to sex silkies at a young age!

THE EXPERIMENT:

When 1+ week old chicks are in the brooder box, wave a soft object quickly over their heads (like a hat or scarf). According to the wisdom behind this, hens should crouch down and "hide" from a threatening object and roos should stand up straighter and squawk a warning.

Please re-post to this thread if you have any results either way!

 

[magsrags]

I've also read that chapping your hands should bring on those type of results as well for young birds.

 

[mikarod]

Old Wives Tale...

 

[Jenski]

There's only one way to tell whether it's myth or fact:


DATA!!!!!!!!!!!


We need data, people! Numbers. Get out there and terrorize your chicks!

Seriously, though, I would welcome hearing anyone's experiences. Especially if there are numbers, equations, and complicated statistics.

 

[Fudgie]

Jenski, I will play on the team....I have 5 silkies and I will be happy to terrorize them for the sake of Science! Results soon...

 

[IcedMochaChick]

I have two I just tried this on, but they both just ran around

We did flip them when they were smaller and got one of each sex. That's what we think we have, one male and one female. We're total chicken newbies, so we could be way off. With only two chicks it seems pretty obvious. They look and act totally different. They even feathered out at different rates.

 

[Chickie Mamma]

Ok, I just tried this with my 3 Silkies and 1 Phoenix.... The Phoenix I know is a girl and the Silkies I believe are boys. The Silkies stood straight up and made a little noise and the Phoenix went down to the ground (head and tail down) They are 12 weeks, so I don't know if they are too old to do this to... but there's my DATA..

 

[Chickie Mamma]

Oooh, what is the "flip" method??

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Quote:
I think its when you flip the bird onto its back in your hand. if it keeps fighting its a rooster and if it stops fighting its a hen.

 

[IcedMochaChick]

Yeah, you hold the chick in you hand and turn your palm up so the chick is on it's back. Wait for it to relax. If it puts one leg down, it's a girl. If it puts both legs down, it's a boy. We just did it to see if it worked. So far, I think it did.