Category: New Silkies
How to Perform a DNA test on your Silkie Chick and Determine its Sex.
Silkie chicks are known to be very difficult to sex at a young age. An Avian DNA sex test is a scientific way to determine the gender of your baby chick before you become too emotionally attached to it knowing that if it is a rooster you will not be able to keep it depending on where you live.
Many people live in cities and towns with ordinances that prohibit roosters. Their crowing makes them unpopular with city officials. It would be wonderful to know the sex of your silkie chicks within the first week of life. You could, of course, wait until it crows or lays an egg but with silkie chicks that can take many months.
Many people try and sex silkie chicks based on feather sexing, appearance or behavior. None of these methods are always reliable. Feather sexing is something genetically bred into a breed of chicken. It has to do with the length of wing feathers. Not all chicken breeds can be feather sexed. However, some believe that early feathering of the wings and tail are an indication of a female. Because silkie’s feathers are fluffy and not hooked together, it makes this kind of feather sexing especially difficult.
Luckily, determining the sex of your chick through DNA sexing is highly accurate. They claim that the reliability of the laboratory protocol is 99.9%. Many companies offer this type of DNA test and a quick online search can provide you with some reputable companies.
The first company I looked at was PollyGene through Amazon. They specialize in parrots and other home birds that can be very difficult to sex. Many of these birds are very expensive so it makes sense to spend the money in order to find out the gender. I did not see chickens listed so I wrote a question to them about whether or not they could sex baby chicks. The answer that came back was no, which kind of surprised me. I went on to look at some other companies. IQ Bird Testing specifically states that they do silkie chick sexing. They charge $11.99 per bird and you get the results back in about a week and a half. I also had a customer who tested five newborn silkie chicks that she had purchased from us and had very good things to say about the IQ Bird Testing company.
DNA bird gender determination can be performed with blood samples, feather samples and eggshell samples. Laboratory analysis will test for the Z chromosome or W chromosome in birds to determine their sex. Males will have only Z chromosomes and females will have ZW chromosome pairs. It is the females, not the males who determine the sex of the embryo.
The collection of samples is very easy to do. After placing an order with a company online, they will send you a downloadable and printable Sample Form. Print out the form as you will need it when you are collecting samples. An incorrect collection of samples may cause delay in your bird’s results or even affect the outcome due to sample DNA cross- contamination. Always be very careful in following directions exactly.
Before beginning blood collection, wash your hands thoroughly. Use a pair of clean nail clippers sanitized with alcohol. Clip the tip of any toe nail approximately 2/3 of the distance from the root of the nail. Blood will flow from the nail. Place the circle of the submission form underneath it until it absorbs a few drops. Do not touch the blood at any time as this can contaminate your sample. Allow the blood to dry completely before folding the submission form. Check that your bird is not bleeding anymore and apply an anticoagulant onto the area. The blood sample has a higher chance of finding good quality DNA than feathers or eggshell.
For feather collecting, you want to move aside the surface feathers from the lower chest area and find the smaller ones that are underneath. Pluck at least five of these smaller feathers making sure that they come with a visible quill. You could use tweezers to do the plucking. If the quill comes with some blood, allow the feathers to air dry for one hour. Never touch the quills of the feathers with your hands. Never pluck the wings. Any feathers that are molted or shed naturally can not be used for DNA testing. Tape the feathers onto the submission form and make sure the tape does not reach the quills.
The last way is to use eggshells. After the chick has hatched from the egg, place the shell sideways and allow the inner membrane to dry a minimum of 24 hours. Do not touch the inside of the eggshell. Make sure that you have the right eggshell. Use the one the chick actually hatched from. Once it dries, place the entire eggshell into a plastic bag. Pierce the bag with a needle several times to allow air flow through the bag.
Lastly, mail your form with the sample collections to the company. They will ask you the species name which in the case of chickens would be Gallus Gallus. If you are doing several different birds you will need a way to identify each bird. Colored rubber bands that are quite small work well with tiny chicks. Place a different color on the leg of each chick and then use that color for identification on your form.
In a week or so the company will send its results back to you. There will be a separate certificate for each bird tested. They will let you know if it is male or female. Of the five birds that my customer tested, three came back male and two came back female. Since the male/female ratio for chickens is 50/50 this is pretty typical. The picture at the top shows the three chicks that came back as male. Would you be able to tell that just by looking at them? I recommend DNA testing for people that can’t stand the heart break of parting with one of their pets. If you do the testing early, it is worth the cost in the long run.
For tips and tricks for raising outstanding silkies check out our Chicken Learning Center at VJPPoultry.com . VJP Poultry is an NPIP and state inspected hatchery located 30 miles north of St. Paul. We hatch out silkies all year long so we always have stock available. Like us on Facebook to get weekly updates on what we currently have for sale.
Victoria J. Peterson
Silkies For Sale – 6/22/18
Silkies For Sale – 6/17/18
Can Dogs and Silkie Chickens Coexist?
Dogs and chickens have not always had the most loving of relationships. Dogs tend to see chickens as prey. The prey drive is an instinctual behavior that all carnivores have. It is stronger in some breeds of dogs than others. Silkies, due to their subdued nature, are not very good at protecting themselves or knowing how to react when danger, in the form of a dog, is near.
Canines tend to stalk, chase and capture their prey. Man has used this prey drive to his advantage to create breeds of dogs that can do work for him. Herding dogs are great stalkers. They round up animals and keep them from escaping. Hounds are good at chasing and can follow the scent of prey for many miles. Terriers are experts at capturing and killing.
Observe your dog or another’s around chickens. Does it stare intensely at them while ignoring you or their owner? Does it refuse to move, its body tense and motionless? Are they lunging at the birds, using rigid movements or crouching? Are their lips twitching and pupils dilated? These are all signs of a dog with a high prey drive. Remember that prey drive is not the same thing as aggression in dogs.
High prey drive is best managed with plenty of exercise. The more time you can spend with your dog engaging in dog sports or walks, the more they can burn off the excess energy. You can not extinguish prey drive all together, but you can manage it and teach your dog what is acceptable and what isn’t.
First of all, your dog must look to you as pack leader and respect you. Training is important. It would be wonderful if you could start with a puppy and train it properly, but the reality is that most people have adult dogs or rescue dogs that possibly were never worked with when young. If the dog does not have general obedience training or general manners, this will be a big problem when you introduce them to chickens.
If you are thinking about getting chickens, contact a professional obedience trainer for your family dog. Clicker training is one of the most successful methods of training. Use a 6 foot leash to work with the dog on the commands of sit-stay and down-stay.
Choke chain type of collars or prong collars work well in obedience training. They are used so that the dog can not slip out for corrections or for getting the dog’s attention. Muzzles are used for introducing dogs to animals or people when prey drive or aggression is an issue.
Use treat bags for easy access to treats. Always chose a high quality treat that your dog is seriously interested in performing for.
Begin your training near the chickens. Start around ten feet away. Work on commands such as “leave it” and “Focus”. Then slowly begin to train closer. If he is distracted by the chickens, then move farther away and begin again.
Introduce him to a chicken using the leash and muzzle. Enter the chicken pen and practice obedience commands. If your dog attempts to harm your bird, start back and training near the chickens from outside of the pen.
Allow off leash if he has been successful with the leash and muzzle. Practices commands. If he ignores you, then leash him up again and continue training. If you are not seeing results with training and exercise, try an E-collar. This can often be used for breaking bad habits.
Unfortunately, some dogs will never be able to be trusted with chickens. Some breeds are harder to be around chickens successfully than others. Greyhounds, Weimaraner , Jack Russell terrier and Siberian Huskies have very high prey drives.
Our son came home after college and brought his Siberian Husky to live at our house. We built what we thought was a strong, sturdy dog house and dog run. The first time he saw my silkies out free ranging, he chewed and tore through the fencing and killed 3 birds before we were able to catch and stop him. Now the dog is on a cable lead inside of the reinforced run. He is always attached to a lead or a leash whenever he is outside. I also worked on increasing the strength of the doors on the coop and making sure that my birds weren’t free ranging when the dog was out of the run.
Chickens are pretty much uniform in how they react to predators. The rooster gives the alarm cry and tries to protect the hens as they scurry for cover. Silkies have the disadvantage of having large crests which can block their eyesight. Keep their feathers above and below their eyes trimmed. They also are unable to fly and cannot go up into trees to escape. You may only want to allow them to free range when you are there to watch over them
There are some good dog breeds for guarding chickens. The Pyrenean Mountain dog or the Pyrenean Mastiff are good for this. The Akbash and the Komondor are also good with guarding chickens. Any herding dog is a good choice.
Remember, even an overly playful dog can inflect a fatal wound to a chicken. Do not leave them alone together until you are sure that the dog can be trusted.
Dogs and chickens should have separate feeding and watering stations to reduce the spread of germs from one animal to another. One of the top concerns of bird to dog transfer is salmonella. This can be transmitted to the dog through chicken feces.
Coccidiosis is present in both animals but it is species specific. That means that it cannot be passed back and forth between the two animals. It is a separate disease.
Neighborhood dogs can cause accidents to happen. A dog can slip its collar and suddenly it is in your yard. Don’t take any chances. Make your coop as secure as possible. It should be like Fort Knox to keep all predators out. For more information on chicken predators check out How to protect your chickens from Predators.
For tips and tricks for raising outstanding silkies check out our Chicken Learning Center at VJPPoultry.com . VJP Poultry is an NPIP and state inspected hatchery located 30 miles north of St. Paul. We hatch out silkies all year long so we always have stock available. Like us on Facebook to get weekly updates on what we currently have for sale.
Victoria J. Peterson
VJP Poultry 