Silkie, what breed? What sex? Is he/she really 6weeks old?

[yakitori]

I got a silkie (?) and a frizzle today, and I’m hoping to have them join my flock of 5 when they get a little bigger. the lady had a lot of silkies/show birds but I decided to pick a frizzle that didn’t look like it was doing too well, and another one who actually had feathers as I do want it to be able to roost up with the other chickens.

I think it would be too early for gender, but I’ll take whatever you guys can give me on my some what mystery purchase.

The frizzle is a ball if fluff... I hope it’ll make it, but it hasn’t moved much aside from eating a lot when I placed the food bowl infront of him/her...

 

[The Moonshiner]

"Satins" are crosses and are not silkies. If it's not silkie feathered then it isn't a silkie.
I would also guess both are silkie mixes from a sizzle project.

 

[MrFluffyandGirls]

Silkies can come in frizzle. It's just a feather type. But there is no way in the world I could tell you if yours is a male or female but I can say it looks like a dust bunny has rolled up next to your food bowl! Ha,ha!
The white one does look mixed to me also. kinda looking pullet like. Can you take a picture of it standing on a surface?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

So frizzle and smooth (satin) are both variations of silkie mixes that were bred at some point to a bantam cochin. Cochins and polish can be frizzles as well. It is the feather type.
Some breeders continue to breed back the satin to a silkie for many generations. The idea is to maintain the other silkie qualities, but retain the smooth or frizzled feathers. Depending on how many generations there have been since the original cross, the birds can be over 90% silkie, but not 100% because of the feathering.
They are both pretty birds you have!

 

[yakitori]

No it’s opposite your satin (smooth) has a Cochin somewhere in the background most likely.

Oh! derp, I can't read
Her feathers are suppppper soft, I would want to hug her all day, unlike my guinea fowls. Hugging guineas makes me feel like I'm hugging a bunch of straw. I love them regardless!

 

[LynnaePB]

Thank you

The lady said 6 weeks and I thought they were small! I guess I was comparing them to my normal sized chickens, lol!

I’m learning so much from you guys! This is great.

So question: How do you generally tell if a silkie is a roo?

I might be wrong they very well still could be 6 weeks. I was just comparing them to my nearly 6 week old silkie chicks and they look quite a bit bigger.

As far as how to tell the gender my first hints are usually the comb followed by whether they grow streamers or not (streamers are longer feathers that grow out of the back of the crest). Often they have a bit of a glint/gleam to them in certain light. They will be noticeably longer than the other crest feathers once they are grown in. Streamers just starting and crests coming in more can sometimes look similar.

Crest shape is helpful in lines where the crests are not too small. Females tend to have nice round crests and males more of a swept back look. The crest shape and streamers don't really develop until a little later on. In my silkie chicks I've noticed streamers coming in around 10-12 weeks usually. Some lines mature more slowly or more quickly though.

Combs that are large/bigger on young chicks usually point to males. Some males will not develop much of a comb till later on but there are plenty of early developing males. I've had male chicks as young as 3 weeks start getting their combs, usually by the 10-12 week mark when I start looking for streamers the combs give me a fairly good indication of gender as well.

Your little paint girl has such a very flat comb and the crest is more reminiscent of a pullets.

Stance and attitude/behavior can be good supporting factors in determining gender. However I have had my share of very cockerel like pullets who sparred a lot with the other chicks, charged my hands, and had a very upright/erect stance. I've also had plenty of little cockerels who were timid and non aggressive and generally held themselves more like a pullet. My pullets tend to be smaller though I've also had some very large girls and some very small boys.

The streamers/absence of streamers, crest shape, and comb combined haven't steered me wrong yet when determining gender in my own silkie chicks. Sometimes silkies will trick even very experienced breeders though.

Here are a couple pictures I took of my silkies in the past to try to help others with examples of pullets vs cockerels.

This one is a pullet at 10 weeks, note the very round crest.

Here is her comb, it is fairly flat.

Here is her brother at 10 weeks also. Note the swept back crest and I've circled the streamers he has started to grow in.

Here is his comb, you can see it has already started to develop

And a few more examples of more obvious streamers.

This is a cockerel that was around 11 weeks, he has obvious streamers (sorry it's a little blurry)

And here is a 6 month old cockerels streamers that I've circled.

 

[yakitori]

I'm so glad the pictures helped!

Silkies should have dark combs so usually looking for red won't be helpful. Pure silkies can have pigment issues though. Certain color varieties are more likely to have lighter pigment. I breed paints and they are more prone to pigment issues. My whites that hatch from paint parents sometimes have red combs. A lot of silkie mixes are also more likely to have lighter pigment but light pigment doesn't necessarily mean the bird is mixed.

Can you believe was still up at 1:15am researching Silkies, lol x_o

The good news is, dustmop chick was in good spirits this morning and very active!

They don’t drink much water, I wonder if that’s normal?

Can you take a picture of it standing on a surface?

Here are some better photos! I did my best for dust mop...
Her crest probably is very inacurrate since I chopped off a bunch of head feathers yesterday

 

[HappyClucker7]

They both appear to be silkie mixes.

 

[Oncoming Storm]

Oooh, I'll take a photo tomorrow morning! I've put them to bed (dark room) for the day and don't want to bother them too much on their first day home.



....sizzle? I presume this has nothing to do with bbq right?


wow, that's a lot to wrap my head around
so bantam cochins were originally silkies?

I love the white one! The lady also had the fully fluffy silkies, but they seemed like cockerels, - slightly red comb (or where the comb should be) - so I passed on those. Plus this white one was so calm and sat in my hands that I had to take him/her home.

Sizzle is a frizzled silkie just with a shorter name.
And lol I messed up. I know Cochins aren’t the only variety of frizzle. I misspoke XD.

 

[yakitori]

Msn, I accidentally ran across this post. Just seeing these silkies .. almost...makes me want to hatch them again. Special circumstances made me stop. I love the little stinkers, and I hatched some cute frizzles too. Let's see if I can find a couple of silkie photos. I love them! Post more photos...lol...of any and all.View attachment 2344791View attachment 2344792View attachment 2344793View attachment 2344795View attachment 2344796View attachment 2344800View attachment 2344801Then there's the showgirls. This is a youngin..he grew into a big beautiful rooster. ...Well that was fun going through a few photos. I miss them View attachment 2344802

wow! they’re gorgeous. I didn’t understand the silkie hype until I got these two myself, they have such great temperaments! Im seriously considering making them house chickens. I caught myself researching chicken diapers last night, someone send help