silkie sexing

[ozu]

I don't know it was "boy-stuff." The little bird was on the ground and I was feeling the space between the pelvic bones and the belly (trying to get an idea of which black Silkie was laying) when it started to quiver and out popped some warm wet stuff. It could very well have been poop, but I only noticed clear fluid, which went off my hand onto the ground. It might have been a coincidence that the bird had to go at the same time I was checking that area.

So, the ones that act like cats in heat if you scratch their backs are definitely pullets? The wings scrunched up and a bit out is pullet mating behavior?

I'll be very relieved if that is the case--I've slaughtered four of five known cockerels and hated doing it, but what do you do with a bunch of cockerels with testosterone poisoning? Those hatchery Silkie cockerels were not very nice and were bitey little things! It was still very, very hard to do after lovingly raising them from day-old chicks. I did not waste any of the meat and made soup out of the bones.

They are really pretty poor quality hatchery chicks. Some of the cockerels had big reddish-burgundy rose combs and large waddles. The little birds that are left--that I believe to be pullets--have much smaller combs than any of the cockerels had. Here is a picture of the comb of the one with the long feathers in the tail. All the others have the same comb. When I went to pick her up, she did that crouching down, wings out and bottom up behavior that I hope is exclusively pullet/hen behavior.

I'm really enjoying the Silkies the way they toddle around.

Hmm. That makes me wonder. But the only time my chickens ever popped out some clear liquid was when one was laying a shell-less egg that broke a little inside her (I got real worried but she was okay).

Yeah, I'd think so. All my older, egg-laying pullets do the crouching thing. I call them the egg squats and I call the chickens "my horny girls" haha! Because they do it a lot. My one roo (that I don't know what do do with sigh) only crouches down and stomps his feet (minus the wing stretching and neck extending) when I come near because I'm the "dominant roo" so I think that it's just his submissive behavior. He doesn't act like he wants a little "fun" though haha.

I got really lucky with one of my hatchery roos. He's real nice *crosses fingers*... they're younger than yours I think. He's a really nice lookin' guy too. The other one has a big.. v-shaped/mixed with a walnut... weird lookin' comb and he's got REALLY pale skin and his comb is really red and so is his waddles. No beard either. So he doesn't look much like a silkie.

But yeah, my roos are really obvious, my one hatchery girl is actually real similar to that one there. She's 18 weeks I think? And her comb finally started getting a bit bigger up- it was completely flat before. So I figure pullet, despite those tail feathers!


Yeah, I'm loving my silkies too! So much! I want to get more.. have a silkie-only flock!

 

[ozu]

Slaughter him. Rehoming a cockerel with testosterone poisoning is rehoming him to someone else's pot unless he is a particularly special show specimen--you might as well enjoy the very healthy meat you've so lovingly raised. The meat is really funny looking but I buried it in a curry. I got two meals out of each cockerel for my husband and myself--curry on one day and soup on another. I skinned them since I was going to use the meat boneless anyway. There is a support group on BackYard (Chicken Processing Day Support Group~HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!) for people like me who have never done anything like that before. Sadly, for every pullet that is hatched there is also a cockerel. They do not always make good pets, can be very rough on the hens and are very noisy.

Yeah, that's my issue, I think his aggression comes out even more when he's around hens... so that's why I don't feel comfortable rehoming him. But none of us feel comfortable killing him... And my parents won't eat him because of his skin color (he is light though- more blue than black). And I'd rather do it... so I could perform taxidermy on him. I'd like to put use to ALL of him if he's gotta go to the rooster afterlife or whatever. But it's harder than the meat chickens we had because we never... expected we'd have to do this.. y'know?

(Apparently for every pullet in the silkie world, there's two roosters in my case haha.)

And yeah. My other, awesome roo, is actually a lot more noisy than Albedo. But they do crow back and forth.

 

[undine]

Yeah, that's my issue, I think his aggression comes out even more when he's around hens... so that's why I don't feel comfortable rehoming him. But none of us feel comfortable killing him... And my parents won't eat him because of his skin color (he is light though- more blue than black). And I'd rather do it... so I could perform taxidermy on him. I'd like to put use to ALL of him if he's gotta go to the rooster afterlife or whatever. But it's harder than the meat chickens we had because we never... expected we'd have to do this.. y'know?

(Apparently for every pullet in the silkie world, there's two roosters in my case haha.)

And yeah. My other, awesome roo, is actually a lot more noisy than Albedo. But they do crow back and forth.

That blue black colored meat is a delicacy in asia lol

 

[jajeanpierre]

Hmm. That makes me wonder. But the only time my chickens ever popped out some clear liquid was when one was laying a shell-less egg that broke a little inside her (I got real worried but she was okay).

A birds' poop is made up of white urates, (usually) brown feces and clear urine. This clear fluid seemed kind of slimy, but I may be misremembering. I have parrots and have had more than my share of bird poop deposited on my shoulder and never has the clear part been slimy. Maybe it was an shell-less egg.

 

[jajeanpierre]

That blue black colored meat is a delicacy in asia lol

I've seen pictures of Silkie meat that had a jet black skin. I just skinned mine rather than dealing with such dark skin. If anyone wants to see what it looks like, I have pictures I sent to that BYC group I mentioned earlier to help get us softies through the whole slaughtering process. I don't begrudge housing extra totally useless chickens, but roosters can be so problematic, even small roosters.

The meat had a thin jet black layer of black color where it rested against the black bones. The meat was greyish colored raw as well. Cooked, the black was still there, but the grey wasn't noticeable. I hid it in a curry, but even in a curry, the wonderful buttery flavor came through. Nothing at all like the tasteless garbage in the grocery stores. After tasting my chickens that were almost 6 months old rather than than the 6-week old Frankenbirds at the grocery store, I'm trying to wrap my mind around actually raising heritage meat birds rather than just slaughtering the cockerels that need to find a new home.

Any Oriental restaurant would be really happy to get your excess Silkie cockerels. I just couldn't bear to let someone else slaughter them because it is something that can be botched really badly. I've lovingly raised these babies, so I'll lovingly help them out of this world and give them as humane and stress free a death as possible, even if it really upsets me.

 

[ozu]

That blue black colored meat is a delicacy in asia lol

That's what I've heard!

A birds' poop is made up of white urates, (usually) brown feces and clear urine. This clear fluid seemed kind of slimy, but I may be misremembering. I have parrots and have had more than my share of bird poop deposited on my shoulder and never has the clear part been slimy. Maybe it was an shell-less egg.

Hmmm. Well, slimy is definitely how I'd describe the egg white that came out of Olive's cloaca! So weird. Are... chickens' uh, boy-stuff (for some reason I don't feel comfortable calling a birds' stuff.. the actual word haha!) even clear? Like, what color is even supposed to be?

I've seen pictures of Silkie meat that had a jet black skin. I just skinned mine rather than dealing with such dark skin. If anyone wants to see what it looks like, I have pictures I sent to that BYC group I mentioned earlier to help get us softies through the whole slaughtering process. I don't begrudge housing extra totally useless chickens, but roosters can be so problematic, even small roosters.

The meat had a thin jet black layer of black color where it rested against the black bones. The meat was greyish colored raw as well. Cooked, the black was still there, but the grey wasn't noticeable. I hid it in a curry, but even in a curry, the wonderful buttery flavor came through. Nothing at all like the tasteless garbage in the grocery stores. After tasting my chickens that were almost 6 months old rather than than the 6-week old Frankenbirds at the grocery store, I'm trying to wrap my mind around actually raising heritage meat birds rather than just slaughtering the cockerels that need to find a new home.

Any Oriental restaurant would be really happy to get your excess Silkie cockerels. I just couldn't bear to let someone else slaughter them because it is something that can be botched really badly. I've lovingly raised these babies, so I'll lovingly help them out of this world and give them as humane and stress free a death as possible, even if it really upsets me.

Yeah, I've seen all sorts of pictures of silkie meat. Yeah, if it comes down to eating Albedo, I'd skin him. But deciding on the best way to dispatch him is hard. I'm quite interested in what yours specifically looked like! Not sure what page it's on though- in that thread there are 215 pages! Wow! Yeah. Albedo is... seriously an inconvenience. We're housing and feeding an extra chicken that isn't even friendly. It'd be one thing if he remained my pet... but he's not very pet-quality anymore.

Hmm. Frankly, I'm wondering what his would look like. His skin really is light. It's not pink, it's like blue and gray. I figure the meat might be a more normal shade?





We actually had the meat chickens- we got them processed a bit late though. They were.. okay. I mean I thought they were pretty good, just not anything really special. I'd still like to raise meat chickens, it's nice knowing where your food comes from. It's always easier when you know that is their purpose too.

You're making silkie meat sound really yummy..

And that's why I don't want to take him back to the farm or to someone else, in case they'd end up eating him. I told my mom it's a likely scenario and she doesn't seem to understand that I'd much rather eat him, than have someone else eat him.

 

[undine]

I've seen pictures of Silkie meat that had a jet black skin. I just skinned mine rather than dealing with such dark skin. If anyone wants to see what it looks like, I have pictures I sent to that BYC group I mentioned earlier to help get us softies through the whole slaughtering process. I don't begrudge housing extra totally useless chickens, but roosters can be so problematic, even small roosters.

The meat had a thin jet black layer of black color where it rested against the black bones. The meat was greyish colored raw as well. Cooked, the black was still there, but the grey wasn't noticeable. I hid it in a curry, but even in a curry, the wonderful buttery flavor came through. Nothing at all like the tasteless garbage in the grocery stores. After tasting my chickens that were almost 6 months old rather than than the 6-week old Frankenbirds at the grocery store, I'm trying to wrap my mind around actually raising heritage meat birds rather than just slaughtering the cockerels that need to find a new home.

Any Oriental restaurant would be really happy to get your excess Silkie cockerels. I just couldn't bear to let someone else slaughter them because it is something that can be botched really badly. I've lovingly raised these babies, so I'll lovingly help them out of this world and give them as humane and stress free a death as possible, even if it really upsets me.

Totally agree with you. Although i still wouldnt want to butcher my own PET nor give them away and have the other people butcher them in whatever way possible. Saddens me how roosters arent allowed in the city, but its totally reasonable because they COOOOO and theyre loud... Ohhhhh that emotional baggage... what to do. what to dooooo =(!!

 

[ozu]

Totally agree with you. Although i still wouldnt want to butcher my own PET nor give them away and have the other people butcher them in whatever way possible. Saddens me how roosters arent allowed in the city, but its totally reasonable because they COOOOO and theyre loud... Ohhhhh that emotional baggage... what to do. what to dooooo =(!!

Yeah, that's what this dilemma is all about! I don't even know how I would dispatch him. And I know I would regret it, despite even if I know it is best in the long-run.. later on. I cried so hard just taking my two past roosters (a Barred Rock and a Rhode Island Red) back.. I just.. don't think his personality is going to change. This is really hard! It's a lot easier if you know from the get-go that that is their purpose. If not, y'get attached and then it's hard to rehome, cull, etc.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Hmm. Frankly, I'm wondering what his would look like. His skin really is light. It's not pink, it's like blue and gray. I figure the meat might be a more normal shade?





We actually had the meat chickens- we got them processed a bit late though. They were.. okay. I mean I thought they were pretty good, just not anything really special. I'd still like to raise meat chickens, it's nice knowing where your food comes from. It's always easier when you know that is their purpose too.

You're making silkie meat sound really yummy..

And that's why I don't want to take him back to the farm or to someone else, in case they'd end up eating him. I told my mom it's a likely scenario and she doesn't seem to understand that I'd much rather eat him, than have someone else eat him.

Some of my hatchery Silkies had skin colors like yours. The meat was still dark and very unusual looking. If you want, I'll post a picture of the three carcasses I processed last week, but some on this list might be really offended.

The reality is that if it's a cockerel, it is almost guaranteed to be destined as a meal for something. I just feel a bit responsible for making sure it has a wonderful life and its one bad day was really just a bad minute or two. I had gone as far as checking that I could hire someone to process the cockerels BEFORE I bought them, but only after I had bought them all, the feed store owner told me that they only did 4H Club kids' chickens. I don't think I would have bought them if I had thought I would have to kill them.

I had backyard chicken keepers suggest I just let them out to take their chances with hawks and foxes. I couldn't think of anything crueler than to let a hawk or fox kill something I cared about rather than growing the backbone to do it kindly.

I wonder if your meat chickens weren't the Cornish crosses that were slaughtered at a young age. The Cornish crosses are really freaky birds and their meat is not nice at all. They grow muscle too fast for their bones and organs and often die of heart failure at 6 weeks or so of age. Heritage breeds are much older when they are slaughtered and much more flavorful. I was shocked at how much better the Silkie meat tasted than the bland, store-bought mush. I hate the way factory farming handles animals, which was part of my motivation to get chickens in the first place. I just never thought I would have the spine to be able to process them. That BYC thread is a good one to help you through it.

 

[undine]

Yeah, that's what this dilemma is all about! I don't even know how I would dispatch him. And I know I would regret it, despite even if I know it is best in the long-run.. later on. I cried so hard just taking my two past roosters (a Barred Rock and a Rhode Island Red) back.. I just.. don't think his personality is going to change. This is really hard! It's a lot easier if you know from the get-go that that is their purpose. If not, y'get attached and then it's hard to rehome, cull, etc.

Yeaaaa...I mean is there still a possibility that my silkie could still be a pulllet? LOL omg the in-denial just wont go away lol