What gender - 4 month old silkies

[kelseyk]

Wow - those are really nice starter Silkies, especially from a feed store!
I wouldn't worry too much about registering your fluffs properly by gender, though. Most 4H registrars know that, not only are Silkies hard to sex in the beginning (when you have to register waaaaaaay early!) but that the kids are still learning.
Our County Fair lets kids with mis-gendered chickens switch classes on check-in. This year, a couple didn't find out until mid-show. The judge actually handed a "pullet" back to "her" young owner and announced, "Congratulations! It's a BOY!" The young lady took it well. Once we realized she wasn't upset, we all LOST it!

Thank you! I did tell the Extension office that we were unsure and they said it was easily changeable that day, so you are probably right that it won't be a big deal. This is only our 2nd year showing chickens - we took an Australorpe pullet, a Wyandotte pullet, and our Wyandotte rooster which were all much easier to sex. The kids thought they were a little too big to handle well, which is why I decided to get the Silkies. I also felt bad for the ones we took last year as they free range and went from that to a small pen. The silkies free range, but only go about 5 feet from the coop door....so won't be quite as bad of a transition.

I am almost 100% sure on the black one which is my daughter's, who is 4-H age (11). The white one which I am more unsure about is my son's, who is only a Clover Kid - so definitely not as big of a deal their where they just show all chickens at once.

 

[MROO]

being bearded they will have either extremely small wattles or none at all. You can really see them on beardless.

Educate me, please, as I'm fairly new to Silkies. Do beardless Silkies have larger wattles than the bearded ones, or are they just covered up by the beard? My two roos have minimal beards - Herman has more of a floofy goatee and a massive comb (with wattles to match.) Ralphie, named after the hapless student on The Magic Schoolbus cartoons who always got the short end of the adventures, has a decent beard coming in, a minimal comb, but very noticeable wattles. The ladies have virtually no comb or wattles at 5 mos. Most of my fluffies (I have five) are hatchery babies, with only one pullet lucking into any real quality - but they are all so very sweet that they make up for it. We got them for their broodiness - and because they're just so dog-gone pretty! But I still want to learn more about them.

 

[AlleysChicks]

Educate me, please, as I'm fairly new to Silkies. Do beardless Silkies have larger wattles than the bearded ones, or are they just covered up by the beard? My two roos have minimal beards - Herman has more of a floofy goatee and a massive comb (with wattles to match.) Ralphie, named after the hapless student on The Magic Schoolbus cartoons who always got the short end of the adventures, has a decent beard coming in, a minimal comb, but very noticeable wattles. The ladies have virtually no comb or wattles at 5 mos. Most of my fluffies (I have five) are hatchery babies, with only one pullet lucking into any real quality - but they are all so very sweet that they make up for it. We got them for their broodiness - and because they're just so dog-gone pretty! But I still want to learn more about them.

if they are bearded the wattles won’t be as big as nonbearded. It’s because of the beard. let me see if I have pics. I have all bearded of various fullness.

 

[AlleysChicks]

Here is a beardless pullet. She was young so didn’t have wattle development yet. My friend has her now. She has pretty good size wattles now.

Here is Rudy my bearded hen. Because of her full beard she doesn’t have wattles at all. Btw she did her own hair lol

This is crunchy my roo. He is bearded but he does have very small wattles.

This is a pretty good pic to show the various fullness of beards.

This is a silkie pullet, she has a beard but it’s not very full. she doesn’t had wattles.

This is one of my 8 week old growouts. I wish I would have kept her. She actually got fuller. She had a nice heavy beard.

 

[MROO]

Thanks! It's dark, right now and my biddies are all asleep, but I'll go back out in the morning and do some comparisons, myself. Now I know why Silkie showing is so competitive. There's a whole lot more to them than a bundle of pretty fluff. I think I'll stick to my little Nankins for the show stock!