silkie sexing

[chuckachucka]

Thanks for the reply Faraday40. Nope, I have seen 'her' start the fights with the little cockerel who seems to just want to mind his own business. I know that chickens have their little squabbles over pecking order but it has suddenly gone from the odd peck and a bit of chasing away to full on fights this week. The Pekin cockerel was all neck ruffled and kicking and the silkie was ripping out his feathers! Also the silkie is generally very unfriendly. Very skittish and will have a good vicious peck at my hand when cornered. She was raised by a very protective broody hen and I think we didn't give her enough human contact when she was a baby, but the aggression toward the other chickens worries me.

 

[roorooyew]

ok....i was recently given a pair of silkies. ive known the couple quite some time. each are about 2 years old but the male only within the last 8 months got his walnut. Here is my delima....he does not crow, sits on eggs and in 2 years they have never had a fertile egg. is it possible roo was a hen first, (doesnt lay as far as i know) or is this roo gender disphoric?

 

[roorooyew]

Can anyone help with above post?

 

[Faraday40]

I have no idea. Silkies are hard enough to sex as it is. A non-crowing rooster sounds like a great pet, but I'm guessing you want him to fertilize some eggs as well.

 

[Eeyorewwjd]

I have 2 buff silkies that are 8 weeks old. I was wondering if any of you more experienced chicken folks could help me guess what we got.

 

[chuckachucka]

@Eeyorewwjd My guess would be one male and one female. The female is the one with the darker skin on the face. The other one, with lighter akin, seems to be showing the first hints of wattles developing.

 

[Eeyorewwjd]

Thanks chuckachucka! From what I hear silkies are a difficult breed to determine gender. We shall wait and see....

 

[silkieobsessed3]

That was what I was hoping! The only reason I got a silkie was for broodiness.... If little southern belle is a boy, that kind of defeats the purpose!

I had a silkie roo who knew the water was too high for the baby chicks an d would dribble water down his throat so the babies could drink it off his stomach.. if that's not taking care of babies, I don't know what is

 

[NW Chickadee]

Hi friends! Sooo.....I've got a Major challenge (maybe?). I've got 5 - 4wk old Silkies. Anyone think they can give it a guess or shall I wait a few weeks or even MONTHS!

 

[silkieobsessed3]

Hey guys, so I have 6, 7 week old silkies. I know it is probably way too early to know for sure but I thought taking guesses would be fun and see if y'all agree with what I think. This post will be pic heavy as I tried to get all angles of each one. I have 2 buff, 2 black and 2 white. I really think I got lucky and have just one boy, the buff #2. what may look like streamers is just their crest being sticky with yogurt (their favorite treat). All of them have not developed any streamers yet (they are only 7 weeks old though) but i started to see streamers in my other Silkie roo at around 10 wks old so I hopefully would be able to know what those look like. Let me know what y'all think. Also I would possibly like to start breeding these. Do y'all silkie experts think these are a good starting stock to breed with? I got them from a breeder and have looked at what other silkies look like at 7 weeks old and I feel mine are developing a good crest, all but one has good middle toe feathering, all have good leg and feet feathering and all have good spacing between their 5 toes. Any thoughts are appreciated! I won't take any offense if yell tell me they don't look that good haha. They are still my babies and I love them all the same. Cheers!