Silkies 9 weeks old,boy girl?
Are we boys or girls?
girl or boy
boy or girl
Is this silkie considered blue?He is black with gray underneath
Methods of chick sexing
The two main methods of sexing chicks: feather sexing and vent sexing.
Feather Sexing
Feather sexing isn't hard, but it requires that the chickens be bred to show their sex in differences in the feathers as chicks. Male chickens in these breeds have longer wing pinfeathers than the females do, which makes them relatively easy to tell apart. Most chickens do not have these traits bred into them, and the chicks are identical to all but the skilled eye of the pro- chicken sexer.
Accurate Sexing Methods (Chickens)
Sex-Link Color
: A sex-linked chicken is one who's gender can be easily determined at hatching due to males and females being different colors. Without any genetic mutations, we can expect the following to be true:
Barred hen + non-barred rooster = Barred males and Non-Barred females
Gold hen + silver rooster = Silver males and Gold females
Barred rock hen + Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire Red rooster = Black with white spot on head male and solid black female (this is a Black Sex Link or Black Star)
Those are just a few examples of the various sex-linked combinations.
Vent Sexing
Vent sexing is performed by examining a day old chick's vent for the presence, or lack of, the formation of a male sex organ. The chick is held upside down to perform the examination. "Experts" are 95%+ accurate at this method. "Non professionals," after being taught the basics of vent sexing, can easily achieve an accuracy of 60-70%.
Watch them grow
The easiest but longest way to tell sex is to simply watch your chickens grow. In males, look for a larger comb, shinier, more pointed tail feathers (unless the breed is "hen feathered") and crowing. Females generally have smaller combs, tail feathers that are more rounded on the ends and, of course, they lay eggs.
The last two pictures look like roos. The first picture it is hard to tell on the white one, the other looks more henish. Is the second and last picture the same Silkie or two different ones? Watch for red wattles and combs. The roos get bigger combs and redder earlier, the hens will stay more dark. Also, the males tend to stand up taller than the females even at a young age.
Blue Silkies are a gray color and yes, that last picture does look like a blue. We had a black Silkie and it was darker, our Blues are more gray in color and do have darker feathers on top.
You have some pretty ones Green.
Thanks
Green, the only way I could tell when my Silkies were growing was to wait until one layed an egg, or crowed *g*. It's obvious once the roos get their combs fully, but until then, I was never sure.
Silkies are about the hardest to sex and people sell them as straight run only. I don't even know of a hatchery that will sell sexed Silkies just for that reason
Silkies are the hardest to sex. You never really know till they lay or crow.. LOL I'm a poet!!
The "fast back" hairdo on the boys is the only thing besides the comb that I know of for
Silkies as far as an indication on gender..
I am NOT good with guessing silkies.. I still like to try, but this time is a gamble!
In the first pic, the white one looks like a roo to me. Not 100%.. in fact only about 60% sure on this one.. LOL
Second pic, that is a lot of comb combined with a bit of wattles,combined with the hairdo, I guess roo.
Third pic? That is a lot of red on that comb.. this one is a cross.. Even with the red color, there is not much goin on with the wattles.. I can't guess.. the red says roo, but the hairdo says pullet, so who knows?
I know its very hard to guess with silkies.I have six of them 3 whites,one gray and two blacks or blues.I want to sell them but really want to keep the pullits so I guess I`ll have to keep them a little longer.I really like that little gray one in the first pic.hope its a girl Thanks everyone for your guesses.
The little gray one in the first picture reminds me of one we have, its a Blue beardless. When it was a baby we thought it would be a roo, turned out to be a hen, its the only beardless one we have.
Is that one younger? Looks like it is.. That is the "fast back" hairdo, but it's young, so it's hard to tell.
I had a buff silkie "Chuckie" (Haystack's nightmare chicken) and it took like forever to find out it was a he... I have a thread on it somewhere.. and as much as I like to guess gender, he was the hardest.. although I named him the day he hatched.. and I was right.. but still, it was up in the air for the longest time!
No they are all the same age and from the same hatch and from my girls and guys.He does look like a rooster and he is very small,I think I will keep him or her.
Has anyone had a silkie that looks like this?I wonder what it will look like as an adult
Okay, out of my five, one was very small. She was the only she....
These are its siblings of the gray and white baby minus one,there are eight of them,this picture was taken the 8th of this month.So as not to confuse anyone this is a second batch of chicks born three weeks ago.
This message was edited Jun 22, 2011 2:10 PM
awwww Green they are so adorable.
Nice top knots! LOL Really, silkie chicks look so cute!!!
I'm asking the same question when it comes to my red american silkies. They are so funny to watch and so friendly...
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They are so cute!I guess with mine,swept back a little spikey boy and more rounded and standing up girl,but its only a guess,now that being said my guess is the poofy one is a girl and the other a boy.I can`t really see there faces very good
These silkies are so funny, I go out to visit them and they come running, they get right up to me and when they see my legs they act like what is this strange thing and scatter...They are just to goofy not to love. Mine will all be gone the 20th of next month along with three new pens I just built and one old pen I used. Then I will be chickenless except for seven layers I keep for our own eggs...my wife is wondering how I will fair, we'll see,...Hay
Hay those are beautiful, love the color.
Looks like you have a pair there Hay!! They are darling!