Silkie thread!

[HeatherKellyB]

Yeah it just pops up sometimes. The polydactyly gene is finicky from what I hear and sometimes doesn't manifest well (resulting in 4 toes) while other times it will go overboard and add extra toes (6 or even more isn't too uncommon). There is probably more to it but that is the extent of what I know about it at this time. I've had pretty good luck with the eggs hatched from my flock but I got more 4 or 6 toed chicks from shipped hatching eggs.I've heard incubator fluctuations can affect it and I wonder if perhaps the jostling from shipping might as well. Sometimes it will pass on and a lot of breeders don't like to use them for breeding but if you plan to breed and its a nice bird otherwise I would think it would be worth seeing how the offspring turn out. Of course if it's just a pet it really doesn't matter.

My chick came from a shipped egg. The eggs were a mix of silkies with possible showgirls. I had a showgirl that started to hatch and stopped in the middle of the zip. I didn't intervene in time and lost that beautiful chick. That was difficult emotionally.

 

[LynnaePB]

My chick came from a shipped egg. The eggs were a mix of silkies with possible showgirls. I had a showgirl that started to hatch and stopped in the middle of the zip. I didn't intervene in time and lost that beautiful chick. That was difficult emotionally.

Aww I'm so sorry to hear that, I've definitely been there before, shipped eggs are hard! I was so worried about intervening when I first started hatching but now I am probably too hands on. It's really helped with the hatch rate of the shipped eggs though and taught me so much about the hatching process.

 

[Sammy1122]

Joining this.I got a Silkie bantam shim I CANNOT sex.We just refer to it as a it.It doesn’t out do itself.It bounces around the yard minding its business.The bird is about four months.

Bird also has no comb

 

[LynnaePB]

Joining this.I got a Silkie bantam shim I CANNOT sex.We just refer to it as a it.It doesn’t out do itself.It bounces around the yard minding its business.The bird is about four months.View attachment 2268595View attachment 2268596Bird also has no comb

It's looking like a little pullet to me.

 

[Sammy1122]

So glad to hear that, what exactly makes you think though?

 

[LynnaePB]

So glad to hear that, what exactly makes you think though?

A few things are making her look very pullet like.

Her crest does not look like it has any streamers. Her posture is very pullet like. Her wings are held more like a pullet/hen (lots of my cockerals as they get more mature drop their wings more so they are less horizontal than your girls). Her tail looks very pullet/hen like so far. All that plus the fact you said she isn't developing a comb strongly points towards her being a girl.

By 4 months the genders usually have become fairly obvious to me. I have heard of some cockerels being very slow to develop and looking very much like pullets for a long time though. So far (at least as far as I'm aware) that hasn't happened with any of the chicks I've hatched from other breeders or in my own flock.

 

[Mmanist]

When picking chicks, what's the best way to not pick cockerels? Aside from stance. Because when I go to the breeder, it's hard to tell stance when they are all running about trying to hide. She would probably let me watch them for a while, but I dont have that much time. I swear I got all boys out of 13 chicks and 3 4+ week olds..... I lost a few, and I sent 7 85% sure boys out the door. Kept back 3, that are 8 weeks old now, I thought was pullets, but now I'm not sure.

 

[Hinotori]

Joining this.I got a Silkie bantam shim I CANNOT sex.We just refer to it as a it.It doesn’t out do itself.It bounces around the yard minding its business.The bird is about four months.View attachment 2268595View attachment 2268596Bird also has no comb

It's a pullet. Partridge is the easiest to sex as there is a color difference between males and females once they start getting in more adult feathers.

 

[LynnaePB]

When picking chicks, what's the best way to not pick cockerels? Aside from stance. Because when I go to the breeder, it's hard to tell stance when they are all running about trying to hide. She would probably let me watch them for a while, but I dont have that much time. I swear I got all boys out of 13 chicks and 3 4+ week olds..... I lost a few, and I sent 7 85% sure boys out the door. Kept back 3, that are 8 weeks old now, I thought was pullets, but now I'm not sure.

It's definitely hard trying to skew the odds with little silkies!

I've noticed presence or absence of vaults can be helpful in guessing with young chicks I've hatched. If the line doesn't have vaults or it has an overabundance of vaults it's not very helpful though.

From what I've observed females are more likely to have vaults. I rarely get females without vaults (frustrating since I'd really like to breed away from vaults because I don't like the added vulnerability). I get an occasional male with a vault but not many.

Once I started picking the smallest chicks from bantam straight run bins at feed stores I got lucky with pullets. Twice picking out a single silkie and once picking out 2 d'uccles. It could have just been luck but all 4 turned out female.

I don't notice a big size difference in chicks I've hatched from my flock until a little later on when the pullets tend to be smaller (not always though, a couple of my biggest chicks did turn out to be girls).

Good luck, I hope you get luckier with pullets the next time you get some!

 

[Mmanist]

It's definitely hard trying to skew the odds with little silkies!

I've noticed presence or absence of vaults can be helpful in guessing with young chicks I've hatched. If the line doesn't have vaults or it has an overabundance of vaults it's not very helpful though.

From what I've observed females are more likely to have vaults. I rarely get females without vaults (frustrating since I'd really like to breed away from vaults because I don't like the added vulnerability). I get an occasional male with a vault but not many.

Once I started picking the smallest chicks from bantam straight run bins at feed stores I got lucky with pullets. Twice picking out a single silkie and once picking out 2 d'uccles. It could have just been luck but all 4 turned out female.

I don't notice a big size difference in chicks I've hatched from my flock until a little later on when the pullets tend to be smaller (not always though, a couple of my biggest chicks did turn out to be girls).

Good luck, I hope you get luckier with pullets the next time you get some!

Thats interesting with the vaults. I dont care for the vaulted skulls. Maybe why I get a lot of the boys! Then again, I think I just have a rooster magnet on me. Maybe life is telling me to add a bachelor pad!