Today I decided to gather up my three silkies and bring them up to the house for a photo shoot. I wanted to post some pictures on BackyardChickens.com and ask the expert’s opinion of their gender. In October I bought the silkies from a company called MyPetChicken.com and they were supposed to all be pullets (females, for you city folks). In recent weeks I have begun to suspect that at least one of them may actually be a rooster. Silkies are notorious for being hard to sex until they crow or lay an egg. I am way too impatient for that. I also need to keep the number of roosters here to a minimum, lest I incur the wrath of my neighbors. At this time I have the Icelandic roosters and plan to keep those for breeding purposes.
Sadly, if any of these little Muppets are boys, they have to move to somebody else’s house, maybe a nice place in the country. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Catching them to take pictures is difficult enough. My secret to catching a chicken is to corner it, because outrunning it isn’t an option at my age. I trick them into going into the chicken yard then trap them in the corner with the door. I got very lucky today and was able to scoop the three of them up at once. I would like to say that the photo shoot went as well as the capture but unfortunately, it did not.
First of all, silkies are not photogenic. (please excuse the muddy feet)
Secondly, they are easily distracted.
They chat amongst themselves.
They fall asleep standing up.
Eventually I was able to get enough shots of them to post my question on BYC.
Who do you think I think is a rooster?
Who do you think is a rooster?
Blue Mama?
Dolly?
Or The Divine Miss M?
To find out what the experts think go HERE.
Silly chickens!
Nancy (Drumstick Diva) says
I think the white is a pullet – I’m not used to seeing beardless silkies so it’s harder to guess. The other two have crests that go backward a bit, so I’m guessing they are boys. Don’t hate me if I am right!
Arwen says
I am really enjoying your site. 🙂 I hope you keep posting. Did any of these turn out to be roosters?
YOU know Who says
Welcome back!!