Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[Fur-N-Fowl]

Here's two of my growouts

This one hatched on Halloween so is around 5 weeks old:

This one is around 3 weeks old:

There is others but I haven't had time to upload all the photos.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Here's two of my growouts

This one hatched on Halloween so is around 5 weeks old:

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This one is around 3 weeks old:

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There is others but I haven't had time to upload all the photos.

Pretty boys. Their stance, & faces are a giveaway.

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

Pretty boys. Their stance, & faces are a giveaway.

Stance doesn't show true for determining the sex of my birds as almost all of mine stand 'proud' with their chest out.

Such as the chick in the left of the photo here:

And right of the photo here:

Had me thinking male because of its stance and how it behaved but it turned into this:

This little 'boy' also turned out female for its new owners:

What is it about their faces that make you sex them as male?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Stance doesn't show true for determining the sex of my birds as almost all of mine stand 'proud' with their chest out.

Such as the chick in the left of the photo here:
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And right of the photo here:
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Had me thinking male because of its stance and how it behaved but it turned into this:
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This little 'boy' also turned out female for its new owners:
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What is it about their faces that make you sex them as male?

The beak straightness, & crest shape is more squared, rather then a round pompom.

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

The beak straightness, & crest shape is more squared, rather then a round pompom.

I think they're just at the age of their crest starting to grow and they still have an awful lot of filling out to do.

All my vaulted ones have grown the same way so maybe the vault is sex related then?

I'll post photos as they grow still.

 

[LynnaePB]

I think they're just at the age of their crest starting to grow and they still have an awful lot of filling out to do.

All my vaulted ones have grown the same way so maybe the vault is sex related then?

I'll post photos as they grow still.

Aww very cute grow outs!

Sexing sure can be hard, two of my brattiest/most aggressive chicks turned out female, I thought for sure they were going to be boys based off attitude and stance. They were worse than any of my boys have been as chicks.

It's been my experience that vaults seem to be sex linked somewhat depending on how much it's been bred into a line. Like when you don't have many vaulted babies in a line and you get just a few vaulted they usually are female, and if you get a lot of vaulted babies from a line than the few non vaulted are usually male. I could be completely wrong but that has held mostly true for me from multiple different breeders now.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I think they're just at the age of their crest starting to grow and they still have an awful lot of filling out to do.

All my vaulted ones have grown the same way so maybe the vault is sex related then?

I'll post photos as they grow still.

Vaults aren't sex linked, females can have them too. Sexing by beak is an accurate way of sexing silkies, & sometimes by crest shape.
Here's a beak sexing diagram from the internet.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Aww very cute grow outs!

Sexing sure can be hard, two of my brattiest/most aggressive chicks turned out female, I thought for sure they were going to be boys based off attitude and stance. They were worse than any of my boys have been as chicks.

It's been my experience that vaults seem to be sex linked somewhat depending on how much it's been bred into a line. Like when you don't have many vaulted babies in a line and you get just a few vaulted they usually are female, and if you get a lot of vaulted babies from a line than the few non vaulted are usually male. I could be completely wrong but that has held mostly true for me from multiple different breeders now.

Mine have partial vaults, I believe Poof, & her brother Buggles are the two that has the vaults. Partial meaning small.

 

[MysteryChicken]

@john_wrightson2003 Did any chicks hatch?

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

Vaults aren't sex linked, females can have them too. Sexing by beak is an accurate way of sexing silkies, & sometimes by crest shape.
Here's a beak sexing diagram from the internet.
View attachment 1974015

I tried the beak method when I first started with my Silkies but also didn't prove accurate in sexing them. I read about it a while back from the person who experimented with it but they never came to the conclusion it was accurate.

I have females with the 'male' beak and males with the 'female' beak.

My male has a fully curved 'female' beak shape.

This hen has the straight then curved tip 'male' beak shape.