Silkie Sexing Project 2.0

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Both to be a bit of a tease and so that you guys know I ain't slacking, it appears that either growth rate or weight can be used to determine the sex of some birds by week 5-6 of age. In my sample group, 100% of the birds that were 1 standard deviation above the average for either growth rate or weight (in my case, they were both) at week 5 and on were male, and 100% of the birds that were 1 standard deviation below the average at week 6 and on were female. For my group that would be a growth rate of 1.54-1.69 oz/wk (week 5/6) for the upper limit and 1.05-1.13 oz/wk for the lower limit; 8.60-11.02 oz for that same time period in weight for the upper limit, and 6.15-7.72 oz for the lower limit.

I've got no idea if those numbers fit for Silkies in general, but the ones I have this time around do appear to be typical of the breed. If anyone knows of a source that has that kinda info I'd be happy to nab it an roll it in to my project...but also take this info with a grain of salt; as with any thing like this there are gonna be confounding factors and you won't know what mine were until you read my write up to be able to take that into account. But man I'd be tickled pink if any of y'all with Silkie babies would be able to see if this applies to yours as well!

200.gif
 
afwifey said:
I was so excited when I found this thread! Totally geeked out!! I was sad I missed posting week by week I'm gonna post our 2 silkie babies week by week for you silkie gurus!
I won’t say what my gut says yet because I’d love to know if you all think the same!
Mocha (partridge) and Mochi (gray? What’s the right color name?) are sisters who apparently have a frizzle gene we weren’t expecting. These pics are from day 1 and 2. I will reply with each week’s pics if you want to guess along or feel free to skip to the end to guess.
Also looking into DNA testing them!
Click to expand...
So far, I'm thinking Mocha is a girl and Mochi is a boy.
 
TheAlrightyGina said:
Both to be a bit of a tease and so that you guys know I ain't slacking, it appears that either growth rate or weight can be used to determine the sex of some birds by week 5-6 of age. In my sample group, 100% of the birds that were 1 standard deviation above the average for either growth rate or weight (in my case, they were both) at week 5 and on were male, and 100% of the birds that were 1 standard deviation below the average at week 6 and on were female. For my group that would be a growth rate of 1.54-1.69 oz/wk (week 5/6) for the upper limit and 1.05-1.13 oz/wk for the lower limit; 8.60-11.02 oz for that same time period in weight for the upper limit, and 6.15-7.72 oz for the lower limit.

I've got no idea if those numbers fit for Silkies in general, but the ones I have this time around do appear to be typical of the breed. If anyone knows of a source that has that kinda info I'd be happy to nab it an roll it in to my project...but also take this info with a grain of salt; as with any thing like this there are gonna be confounding factors and you won't know what mine were until you read my write up to be able to take that into account. But man I'd be tickled pink if any of y'all with Silkie babies would be able to see if this applies to yours as well!

200.gif
Click to expand...
I've never hatched eggs. Is there much variation in the chicks size at hatching? Is there any interpretation of the sizes that could be applied without a group of other chicks to compare? (not sure how that would work, considering how many other factors could apply. but it would be interesting to see if the males grow x% and grils grow y% from week a to week b. Thus, a person could weigh/measure their birds at certain times and have an idea just from that.
 
TheAlrightyGina said:
Both to be a bit of a tease and so that you guys know I ain't slacking, it appears that either growth rate or weight can be used to determine the sex of some birds by week 5-6 of age. In my sample group, 100% of the birds that were 1 standard deviation above the average for either growth rate or weight (in my case, they were both) at week 5 and on were male, and 100% of the birds that were 1 standard deviation below the average at week 6 and on were female. For my group that would be a growth rate of 1.54-1.69 oz/wk (week 5/6) for the upper limit and 1.05-1.13 oz/wk for the lower limit; 8.60-11.02 oz for that same time period in weight for the upper limit, and 6.15-7.72 oz for the lower limit.

I've got no idea if those numbers fit for Silkies in general, but the ones I have this time around do appear to be typical of the breed. If anyone knows of a source that has that kinda info I'd be happy to nab it an roll it in to my project...but also take this info with a grain of salt; as with any thing like this there are gonna be confounding factors and you won't know what mine were until you read my write up to be able to take that into account. But man I'd be tickled pink if any of y'all with Silkie babies would be able to see if this applies to yours as well!

200.gif
Click to expand...
What were the average weights for weeks 3 & 4?
my runt outweighs her sibling now-
Week 3- 81g & 85g
Week 4- 110g & 115g
Also, week 4 pictures:
Mochi gray, Mocha brown (wheaten’ish’ bonus is a hatchery Ameraucana chick not a silkie 😂😂😂)
BE9AFB25-A586-47FA-99CA-C1720D0263D3.jpeg
731C35DB-8019-4177-AEB6-A1B06688C4C8.jpeg
8FFB5F90-89C5-4680-83ED-CCD10E2AF60C.jpeg
A5462174-9E1F-45C1-95B0-1773F487A1F0.jpeg
 
Krugerrand said:
I've never hatched eggs. Is there much variation in the chicks size at hatching? Is there any interpretation of the sizes that could be applied without a group of other chicks to compare? (not sure how that would work, considering how many other factors could apply. but it would be interesting to see if the males grow x% and grils grow y% from week a to week b. Thus, a person could weigh/measure their birds at certain times and have an idea just from that.
Click to expand...

For my sample group, their weights ranged from .75 oz - 1.13 oz on day one, but there wasn't really a difference in the sexes at that point. The male average was .90 oz, the female average was .93 oz, and the average for the entire group was .92 oz...in other words, really really close. I'm working on comparing the other measures (toe length, leg circumference, and comb width) to see if they'll be any help, but at the moment it doesn't seem like any of this data will be super useful for differentiating males and females that early.

As for the rate at which each sex grows, I could definitely give you the average from my sample groups for each sex, but trying to use it for determining sex will more than likely give you a few or several wrong answers, depending on the week. For example, the average growth rate % for the males in my sample group was 116%; using that to try to figure out who was male would give you 100% false negatives at Week 5, yet just a week later, just 10% false negatives. The average growth rate % for the females was 74%; in the same time period (Week 5 and 6), using it would have told you that all but one member of my entire sample group was female, then shifting the next week to 79% males and 21% females (when the truth is 42% male, 58% female). So probably too much variability, but I didn't think to look at it as a percentage (might be a bit redundant, but I'm having fun turning over all the rocks) so I'll investigate it too. I'll be sure to include the week to week percentages in the data tables (there's going to be so many data tables, y'all so many) as well.
 
afwifey said:
What were the average weights for weeks 3 & 4?
my runt outweighs her sibling now-
Week 3- 81g & 85g
Week 4- 110g & 115g
Also, week 4 pictures:
Mochi gray, Mocha brown (wheaten’ish’ bonus is a hatchery Ameraucana chick not a silkie 😂😂😂)
View attachment 2709738View attachment 2709739View attachment 2709740View attachment 2709741
Click to expand...

Averages for weeks 3 & 4 were males 3.25oz/4.56oz (92.14g/129.3g), females 2.91oz/4.21oz (82.5g/119.35g), with a whole group average of 3.04oz/4.33oz (86.2g/122.75g), with the standard deviation being .43oz/.65oz (12.19g/18.43g).
 
TheAlrightyGina said:
Averages for weeks 3 & 4 were males 3.25oz/4.56oz (92.14g/129.3g), females 2.91oz/4.21oz (82.5g/119.35g), with a whole group average of 3.04oz/4.33oz (86.2g/122.75g), with the standard deviation being .43oz/.65oz (12.19g/18.43g).
Click to expand...
OMGOSH! That’s awesome! I’ll track week to week and see if they continue to hold true! Thank you!
 

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