[janity u]

hello there. anyone who can please give any advice on the sexing of a silkie?  i have had a lovely little silkie for a few months now, one of our first lot of hens, we got 4. i am now dreading the prospect that i may in fact have a cock.  Firstly there is the crowing. which in a terraced house is a bit of a concern (and i have been in full panic at dawn bringing her indoors to crow away.)  i read some old posts on here and was consoling myself with the fact she had been ill, had been moved to a coop on her own, although now better has been mixing with the other chickens again, and am finally thinking of putting her in with them overnight again now that she has been standing up for herself against bullying. (actually keeps going for the one that was continually picking on her) am proud of her for that, but, looked up on the internet the difference between males and females, tho only found information through pictures.  She actually looks more like a cock than a hen...... i have only noticed the difference with the large 'growth' ? (please someone tell me what it's called) on her forehead. do females have these too? i am really hoping so as she is my favourite little hen and so gorgeous. I am dreading not being able to keep her as she might annoy the neighbours (though i will not give up easily) i have also excused her for not laying eggs due to her illness, which was a sinus infection. i would really appreciate anyones advice, or even solutions should i find out she is a he. (though i do know in my heart of hearts if she is a he that nature tells him to crow. suppose i'm hoping someone will tell me they stop if the neighbours complain to the council)

[GrannieAnnie]

Hi Janity, Silkies are notoriously difficult to sex I'm afraid.  My chicks are 10 weeks old now and I still don't know which is which!

The 'growth' on the top of their head is the comb and the bits dangling under their chin are the wattles, but neither will be very pronounced yet.

Hens can crow, but do you have a photo you can put on here?  It's difficult to tell from a description.

You can't really stop a cockerel from crowing, although a couple of people do use a cat box to let them sleep in at night as they have more trouble crowing if they can't stand up tall, but during the day you've got no chance I'm afraid!

[janity u]

thank you. i have just taken a pic and i will try to upload it onto the pc. would really appreciate you having a look, x

[janity u]

and how on earth does one put on a photo, lol. cant find anywhere to upload one on this site. which will probably explain why i would not know a hen from a cock....

[GrannieAnnie]

This may help, its easy once you know how!  And if I can do it, anyone can!  

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=19476.0

[themagicaltoad1]

Alternatively....Save your photo from the camera as you would normally. Click on it to open it then click on the icon at the bottom of the photo that opens it for editing. At the top of the screen click on "image" and where it says skew/stretch reduce the size from 100% to about 35% then save it, when you save it rename it so you don't confuse it with the original. Then when you do a post on the forum click on the "additions" and "browse" until you find your new photo. it will appear small on the page until someone clicks on it then it will enlarge. Hope this helps.

I'm still waiting to find out for sure what sex my 10 wk old chicks are too.

[janity u]

hello, thank you both for your suggestions, i tried both ways and still could not figure out how to do it.  I'll blame the computer and not my lack of computer skills.

I contacted the breeder and emailed her a picture and it turns out babs definatley is a bob.  She is at this present time crowing away in my kitchen. In an ideal world i could laugh at the situation and keep her in a coop on her own away from the other girls, but what i thought was pecking order fighting over the other hen (delia) who had bullied her now seems like harassment. (that and now the dog a few doors up barking away to her crowing ) we have come to the conclusion that the best thing is to give her back to the breeder before the neighbours really start to get annoyed. Such a shame and 'she' will be missed. (though i doubt delia shares that thought)