silkie sexing

[morganrae3]

The first buff silkie is definitely a rooster the comb is a dead giveaway, and for the second silkie I would say a pullet, her crest is very feminine and I don't see anything else that would indicate a rooster on her. 

Thank you! I'm hoping your right

 

[Tncowgirl1903]

Hen or roo? Think it's around 3 months old not 100% sure

 

[Tncowgirl1903]

Hen or roo?

 

[ozu]

Side picture of the first one would be good. Or standing. I'd say pullet at that age.
Second I would think pullet too because of the crest but I could be wrong. I'm 50/50 on that one to be honest.
I'm still a tad new at silkie sexing...

 

[jajeanpierre]

I bought a group of Silkies chicks from a big hatchery. They are now 6 months old. I thought I had separated the cockerels from the pullets, but now I'm not so sure. My "pullets" look nothing like the cockerels that were so obviously cockerels, who at four or five months had big spiky top knots with long streamers, long spiky hackle feathers and big combs and some with waddles. All but one of those cockerels has been sent to freezer camp.

My group of "pullets" were smaller, had much rounder top knots and short hackle feathers. However, at least a couple of them are starting to make me think they might be cockerels, especially after today when I was checking their pelvis conformation to see which were laying and one seemed to ejaculate in my hand.

I've noticed some of them will crouch down and raise their wings, stamp and quiver if anything approaches them from above. I assumed this is sexual behavior of pullets. Would a cockerel do that?

I'm really, really new to chickens. These are my oldest chickens. Here are some really bad-quality pictures. Thoughts would be really appreciated.


As soon as I looked at this picture, I thought cockerel. How can I be sure? No one in the pullet pen crows that I know of. There are some crowing free-range Ameraucanas beside them, so I might not notice.



Can a pullet have such long tail feathers a the bird above?



Here are the two birds together. Again, sorry for the poor quality pictures. Both seem to be developing slightly longer hackle feathers at the shoulders, but the cockerels I slaughtered were so obviously cockerels with long spiky top knots and hackles, I'm not sure. The pullet that is laying also has slightly longer shoulder hackles.



Here's another I thought was a pullet, but it is starting to get a slightly spiky top knot. They are just growing some new feathers, so maybe it is just an optical illusion.


Here's another.

I would appreciate your thoughts. I'm not enjoying culling the cockerels, but they are not going to waste and are very, very tasty. Thanks for any help.

 

[Tncowgirl1903]

Side picture of the first one would be good. Or standing. I'd say pullet at that age.
Second I would think pullet too because of the crest but I could be wrong. I'm 50/50 on that one to be honest. 
I'm still a tad new at silkie sexing...

Here is another picture of this one that might help

 

[ozu]

Here is another picture of this one that might help

My assumption would be that this silkie is a pullet because of her age. The only thing about her that worries me is the long feathers in the tail and possible crest. But her comb is very small at this age, where my silkie roos' combs are like this:



And my pullets of similar age are like this:

 

[undine]

Here is my 5 week old silkie! These pictures are really bad since theyre not profile shots and what not. Although here's a gist of my silkie Evee. Ill post more pictures tmrow morning since she's asleep right now

 

[suebee]

Here is my 5 week old silkie! These pictures are really bad since theyre not profile shots and what not. Although here's a gist of my silkie Evee. Ill post more pictures tmrow morning since she's asleep right now

You've got yourself a roo.

 

[undine]

You've got yourself a roo.

REALLY???????????????? wow that is so friggen sad... lol =( He who i thought was a SHE is so sweet T_T he and that easter egger are best friieeendssss and i cant keep roosters in the city sigh...sadness