# Silkie



## awinchell (May 10, 2014)

Here is one of my non bearded black silkies. It's about 3 months old. I have 5 silkies and I struggle with identifying their sex. Is this one male or female








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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Need to see it up and moving around. If it has a leggy look when its walking away from you that is usually a male. Its about the right age to be all legs.

Like those wings.


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## awinchell (May 10, 2014)

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## awinchell (May 10, 2014)

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## awinchell (May 10, 2014)

There are two more pics of my black silkie... Male? Female?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Probably, maybe male. See the streamers on the back of the head? Most of the time that says male but that isn't infallible either. And the wattles are little large for a female.


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## back2simplelife (Jul 6, 2013)

agree.. some little streamers starting there. it also seems to have a more upright stand than the pullet. Is this one a little larger?


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## awinchell (May 10, 2014)

Next to each other they are almost the same ("male" is closer to the camera) but when I pick them up there is a body mass difference between the two. The "male"is a bit heftier.

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## back2simplelife (Jul 6, 2013)

Our first go with silkies... we bought 3 as therapy birds for our autistic son. Well, found a gal who was selling 3 roos out of her show stock. We showed up and she gave us the other two "roos" so it would have buddies. We had planned on putting ONE with our bantam mutts but after seeing them, didn't think it would be a good fit. These were 4 months at the time. I didn't know anything at all about silkies so I believed her. 2 started crowing, one did not. Two grew, one did not. Then, one laid an egg at 7 months! hahaaa I have learned so much since then but my first hint was the weight and size. As I was watching all 3, waiting for the last to crow, I noticed the big two had these pointy type feathers on their heads that I now know as streamers. I also noticing they were developing hackle feathers where the small one wasn't. They all got along wonderfully so that was never a sign and of course mating didn't start for a LONG time.. the two roos would call the other to food/treats though. So many signs were there but I had no idea.. lol Now, if we could just figure out how to sex these wonderful birds as younger chicks!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Weight and size should not be a firm criteria for deciding sex until they have grown quite a bit. I've got a female out there that is heavier than two of my males. And they are over five years old. Height at maturity is a good indicator but by then you've seen all the other signs to tell sex, most of the time. 

I have one female that I couldn't tell until she finally laid an egg at 8 months. That's after raising them for years with them as my single focus.


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