# Can anyone tell me?



## Jaime (Jul 4, 2020)

Can anyone tell if any of these are a rooster?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

What I need is a good side shot of the birds. I need to see their tails and heads. You're looking for signs of streamers off the back of the head. Tails with more structured feathers are usually male. And watch the birds walking away. If you see a weird leggy look to them those are almost always males. 

That said, I'm fairly certain the middle bird is a male. The buff might be a female but I can't see the white (?) well enough to tell.


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## Jaime (Jul 4, 2020)

Let's see about this shot


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## Jaime (Jul 4, 2020)

I dont understand the 3 posts thing. I'm lucky I got my question on her


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Blame spammers. They play all kinds of tricks trying to get their trash on the forums which then causes the forums to do things that usually make them go away. 

I'm sticking with hen for the buff, the blue/lavender/grey I feel strongly is a little boy. The little white one appears to be a girl but it's a little young to be absolutely certain. 

Oh another thing that works sometimes, boys will whine like made when they're picked up. I mean a full on whine. The girls do some chirping sounds.


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## Jaime (Jul 4, 2020)

Thank you so much! I truly appreciate!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Now you need to let me know how it turns out. 

I haven't raised Silkies in about nine years now so I'm going off memory from what I learned with mine.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

Robin is our resident silkie expert. I agree with her, the buff and white look female to me too. 

They are all beautiful though! (that's saying something coming from me, I'm not a silkie fan, to me they look like pom poms with necks)


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## Floridaladyhannah (Aug 7, 2020)

Jaime said:


> View attachment 34348
> View attachment 34350
> View attachment 34352
> Can anyone tell if any of these are a rooster?


The white and the grey are roosters. The protuberance above the beak is the tell-tale sign


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

Okay, after much research this evening, I am changing my answer lol. The white one is most likely a rooster. The buff (partridge? maybe, hard to tell) is likely a hen, the gray one is probably a rooster also but no guarantees on that. 
The research I found said that both roosters and hens have combs but that the rooster's comb is usually larger at the same age than a hen. I am assuming they are all the same age so the white one has the largest comb and most well developed shape etc. The gray one's is smaller but still more visible than the buff. The buff's feathers may be covering a slightly more developed comb but most likely it is just smaller because it is a hen. It is not uncommon for the more dominant rooster in a flock of multiple roosters to develop a larger comb signifying that he is the boss.

In silkies, the walnut comb is displayed in both genders and like every other breed, the hen's is smaller.

Here is where I got my information if you would like to read the entire article:
https://animals.mom.me/distinguish-silkie-bantam-chick-male-female-8749.html

https://chickenandchicksinfo.com/how-to-tell-male-and-female-silkies-apart/

https://silkie.org/sexing-silkie-chickens.html


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