Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[Fur-N-Fowl]

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.

Thankyou!

Silkies are such a pain to sex

Usually at around 11-12 weeks I can be 99% sure on their sex but I've tried all the suggested sexing methods and not one has worked for my birds.

I'm happy to wait though

 

[MysteryChicken]

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.

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

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

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Weird, my silkies have the distinct beak characteristics. My females have the curve, & my males have the straighter beaks. Must be a purity thing upon silkie types in different countries.

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

Weird, my silkies have the distinct beak characteristics. My females have the curve, & my males have the straighter beaks. Must be a purity thing upon silkie types in different countries.

That's what I've put it down too as well. Silkies to the British standard have much shorter crests that curve back into a neat pompom rather than poof outwards. Some have long beaks, others very short.

Not all do though, each is different. Which makes things difficult

 

[MysteryChicken]

That's what I've put it down too as well. Silkies to the British standard have much shorter crests that curve back into a neat pompom rather than poof outwards. Some have long beaks, others very short.

Not all do though, each is different. Which makes things difficult

We think alike. I've noticed the standard/LF silkies show this feature more then the bantam variety.

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

We think alike. I've noticed the standard/LF silkies show this feature more then the bantam variety.

We do

Mine are all bantam. I've had a couple of LF silkies in the past but they weren't exactly show worthy

This is one of them...

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

Oh no guys...

We've got a Christmas Day hatch on its way

 

[MysteryChicken]

We do

Mine are all bantam. I've had a couple of LF silkies in the past but they weren't exactly show worthy

This is one of them...

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I see the curved beak on that girl.
My fluffy, the broiler silkie hen.

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

I see the curved beak on that girl.
My fluffy, the broiler silkie hen.View attachment 1974120

Yes she's one of the LF ones I had so most likely it is more accurate in that size for some reason!

Oh gosh I love her outfit!

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

I got a shock today...

I went to check in my coop for eggs as normal, only to find a (smaller than I usually get) small egg that had little streaks of blood on. The kind that a brand new layer would pass as their first egg.

Only I was confused because well...I don't have any silkies that are due to lay. At least I thought...

Porridge has started laying!

She's only 20 weeks old and I've never personally had a Silkie start laying at that age!

She still sounds like a chick herself, her voice hasn't even matured

However, it's definitely 100% her laying because her pelvic bones are three finger spacing apart.

 

[PioneerChicks]

I got a shock today...

I went to check in my coop for eggs as normal, only to find a (smaller than I usually get) small egg that had little streaks of blood on. The kind that a brand new layer would pass as their first egg.

Only I was confused because well...I don't have any silkies that are due to lay. At least I thought...

Porridge has started laying!

She's only 20 weeks old and I've never personally had a Silkie start laying at that age!

She still sounds like a chick herself, her voice hasn't even matured

However, it's definitely 100% her laying because her pelvic bones are three finger spacing apart.

View attachment 1974523
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Yay!

When can I consider it safe to start hatching my newly-laying silkie's eggs? As in, when are they considered not pullet eggs? I want to hatch some eggs in about Jan or Feb.

Whoever started the rumor that silkies are bad layers was WRONG!!! My silkies are laying more eggs than my Americaunas and Polish, and the Americaunas had a head start!