silkie sexing

[highcountrybell]

if you have silkie chicks that need to be sexed place pics here. chicks need to be at least 4 weeks old. pics need to be from the sides of the head and full body, front veiw of the head, and any other pics you want to provide please. here are some tips i found online about sexing silkie chicks as well


Look at the feathers on the chick's head. Males tend to have feathers that stand upright and curve towards the back, while the female head feathers tend to form in a rounded feather puff.

Look at the comb when it develops within two to three weeks of the chick's birth. a male will have a larger comb than a female.

Males are significantly larger than females, and this can be obvious a few days after hatching. This isn't considered a certain method of sexing though because you may just have a large female or a small male. It's also a poor method if you are trying to compare chicks from two different genetic lines.

Listen for crowing. The chicks will start losing the fluffly baby feathers around four of five months. At that time a male silkie will start attempting to crow.

Look at the saddle feathers just before the tail and the hackle feathers on the neck. These feathers will be long and sharp on a male and gently rounded on a female.

its my first time with silkies , I only have 3 and their about 4 weeks now. ive been so anxious to know what they are .....and fitting your good description I think I have 1 female and 2 roos. thanks for the good info.

 

[CierraandDaniel]

Not sure what your little one is, but it looks a lot like mine. This is Miajie. This one is the same age and from the same Assorted Bantam bin as the previous blue cockerel I posted earlier. Judging by their still total fluffy chick downiness when I got them I think they're probably the same age, about six weeks this past Monday or Tuesday. This chick is literally half the size of the blue cockerel and was even when we bought them. It's so very timid and fragile and dainty. I'm leaning towards pullet just going off of personality and movement and the way she carries herself. But her crest has me a bit confused. I don't see or feel any signs of those streamers like the big blue has. Nor does this chick have any noticeable wattles. It also has a very tiny flat comb ridge compared to the big blue one. This one was beardless and has very light foot feathering. It is, however, now getting little tufts reminiscent of EE ear tufts as it's feathering out. So... what does everyone think? Very tiny late developing cockerel or pullet? Or do I have to just wait for an egg or a crow? Also, on a slightly different subject... is it normal for Silkies to have a few much stiffer, almost regular flight feathers on their wings? Because all three of these that I bought at TSC have them. Are they maybe actually mixes? Or is this just a sign of a pet quality bird? This little one also has nearly normal shaped but just very soft feathers coming in on the front of her crest instead of the usual silkie fluff. Is that how the fluff grows in and then just continues to get longer and go in their faces? Or, again, are the more "normal" shaped feathers just a sign of a pet quality bird? Thanks again! ^_^

Hello! Im not the thread starter but, I have quite a few silkies...the feathers your talking about are normal. they tend to fluff out more as they get older. I dont think yours look mixed, they look like silkies to me : ).

 

[jamieb227]

3-4 month old silkie pullet or cockerel?

 

[Fancychooklady]

3-4 month old silkie pullet or cockerel?

If it's 4 months old, despite the shape of its crest if it were a roo it would have more prominent comb and waddles. I'd say pullet.

 

[Aerielle]

Let the guessing game begin! This buff silkie I got last November and I've changed my mind several times whether its a male or female. The hard tail feathers made me think boy, then I heard it sing like a hen taking a dust bath. The wattles seem large to me but this was a hatchery chick that had neuro issues. Overall size is quite small, I have a 3 month old silkie cockerel who is bigger. No crowing or eggs yet. Since she is "slow" she is my lowest ranking bird. Did help be a nanny to another hen with chicks. So everyday I change my mind!

UPDATE: it's a hen! My rooster finally mounted her this week and she just laid an egg.

 

[ashtree]

UPDATE: it's a hen! My rooster finally mounted her this week and she just laid an egg.

glad I was wrong! Ive stopped trying to guess on the beardless! I just can't get them right!

 

[Aerielle]

Don't worry, it took an egg and my rooster to finally believe it! The red comb really threw me off but it's a poor quality hatchery silkie (sorry don't let her hear me!) and e en for non bearded the wattles seem really big to me still. Go figure! I have 5 more that I'm guessing on, which I think 4 are Roos :/

 

[ashtree]

Don't worry, it took an egg and my rooster to finally believe it! The red comb really threw me off but it's a poor quality hatchery silkie (sorry don't let her hear me!) and e en for non bearded the wattles seem really big to me still. Go figure! I have 5 more that I'm guessing on, which I think 4 are Roos

I think 3 of my 4 are roos! I went ahead and rehomed the obvious 2 (because I live in city) but I'm really hoping the last two are hens. One has a pretty large comb and crest but stays low to the ground and has showed zero behavioral signs of being a rooster. Fingers crossed! The other is obviously a pullet!

 

[nuggetomletegg]

Lots of lovely silkies

Here are my two

The smaller one nugget, ( camera shy ) was originally the bigger one, but has been poorly with crook neck, and took ALOT of fixing.

The larger one, Egg, seems to be shooting up! I'm guessing too because he already has a attitude, and he is messy

 

[hxgumdrop]

Lots of lovely silkies

Here are my two















The smaller one nugget, ( camera shy ) was originally the bigger one, but has been poorly with crook neck, and took ALOT of fixing.

The larger one, Egg, seems to be shooting up! I'm guessing too because he already has a attitude, and he is messy

They look just like mine did...big is definitely a roo and little one looks like a hen to me