Silkies-Need photos

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

I need someone to post a photo of young silkies and state whether they are roos or hens. I am trying to sex my silkies. Most of them have what I call a phylis diller hairball on top of the head . Thank you!

 

[magicpigeon]

The hairballs would be girls. I don't know if this is true for ALL silkies, but mine have a very skewed male:female hatching ratio and I get 1 roo for about every 5 hens

I think I have a pic or two of my pullets...let me find it...

 

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

Thanks magic. I hope I get the same ratio.

 

[acid_chipmunk]

How old are your silkies? Keep in mind, they are the hardest to sex and take the longest to know for sure. And, if they are just babies, they all look the same as babies.

 

[BooBear]

From left: Shrek (boy), Cinnimon (boy), Blueberry (I think is girl), Lola (girl), Rita who is walking toward others (girl)

Ok I call my babies this way from watching them interact. Boys start acting like boys when they hatch. The older they get the more their boyish ways show. The girls who may act tough at times, normally try to avoid the rooster play fights the boys like to engage in.
Shrek is the leader of this group and is very protective of the others. He will rooster kick if at me already if he thinks I am being mean to the others. Lola has had issue with pastie butt so I had to clean her up several times. Shrek would see me going for her and get in the way to rooster kick me back. His way of saying leave her alone!
Cinnimon (was going to call him Frank but it changed to Cinnimon) is the brighter marked partridge that likes to challenge and play fight with Shrek.
Lola has defended herself when Shrek is in his more fiesty moods; but she rushes like a hen intending to peck (no rooster kicking)
Rita avoids the rowdiness too. Blueberry is the baby of the bunch and the smallest who tries to avoid the boys when they are getting rowdy.

This pic below shows the size difference as Blueberry is infront of Rita. Shrek, Rita, and Lola will be 2 wks tomorrow. The lady I got Cinnimon and Blueberry from on Monday said that they were anywhere from 3 to 5 days old.

 

[IdealisticRoo]

My silkies started "cock-fighting" at 2 weeks old! That is how I discovered that I had mostly roosters! My suspicions were confirmed as time went on and now I have just 2 quiet little silkie hens.

If you just sit and watch them, they will be obvious. The hens just eat and preen, the roos run around and fight.

Also, my roos were MUCH slower to feather out. They were still balding and pin-feathered while their matching hens were fully feathered and soft.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=5150000Scroll down to the pics, #7& 8 are girls #9 & 10 were boys

 

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

Thank you so much for those pics and the gender ways. I really appreciate it. Looks like I might have a lot of girls, which is good. They are about 3 weeks old now.

 

[LilPeeps]

JustAChickenLittle&More :

Thank you so much for those pics and the gender ways. I really appreciate it. Looks like I might have a lot of girls, which is good. They are about 3 weeks old now.

Three weeks is far too young to be able to sex silkies. You will have to wait several months before you can differentiate between the sexes. The "cockfighting" seen in chicks does not indicate that the bird is a male. All chicks spar, it's not only the cockerels. In a couple months, post some pics of your birds and it should be a lot easier to sex them.​

 

[BooBear]

Yeah I about fell over when I walked into the room and saw Shrek and Cinnimon each standing as tall as possible, chest bumping, rooster kicking, pecking and they were even grabbing each other's top nots. Shrek won that bout and since then Cinnimon is a bit more cautious about how far to push Shrek. Still get the kicking and stare downs. I think they went at each other cause Cinnimon and Blueberry where just interduced into the group.

Shrek refuses to allow his leadship to be taken away. He is a serious baby roo!

 

[IdealisticRoo]

JustAChickenLittle&More :

Thank you so much for those pics and the gender ways. I really appreciate it. Looks like I might have a lot of girls, which is good. They are about 3 weeks old now.

Hope for the best and plan for the worst! I am hoping you have lots of girls, Silkie hens are so sweet and often broody! It is too early to tell for sure, I don't recommend getting rid of any based on early observations. I did, but mostly because I needed to sell some and just keep a few quiet, well-behaved chickens!​