Black Silkies are not typically always jet-black, but this is the most desired shade for breeders. They have a pleasant and calm temperament, unlike larger chicken breeds that can be rather unfriendly and aggressive. It affects the joints, wings, and legs of Silkie chickens. ABOUT AND CONTACT US- webmaster@clucking.netWE ARE A PARTICIPANT IN THE AMAZON SERVICES LLC ASSOCIATES PROGRAM, AN AFFILIATE ADVERTISING PROGRAM DESIGNED TO PROVIDE A MEANS FOR US TO EARN FEES BY LINKING TO AMAZON AND AFFILIATED SITES.PRIVACY POLICY - THIS WEBSITES MAKES USE OF ANALYTICS, ADVERTISINGAND AFFILIATE PROGRAMS WHICH USE COOKIES. Some breeders describe them simply as darker buff variations, although there are breeders specially working on developing red Silkies in Australia. The standards of perfection call for all Silkiesto have a small walnut-shaped comb, dark wattles, and turquoise-blue earlobes. It is difficult to breed the black out of buffs, so only buff varieties should be bred together to achieve the breed standard. The difference between the two is the presence of an additional layer of feathers below their beaks. Male have two Z sex chromosomes and the female has one Z and one W sex chromosome. Silkie chickens are some of the hardiest and most resilient domestic birds. Nicole is the proud mom of 3 rescue fur babies, Baby, a Burmese cat; Rosa, a New Zealand Huntaway; and Mac, a Lab/Mastiff. They consist of 1 splash rooster and blue hens and 1 blue rooster and splash hens. Bedding makes it easier to clean up the coop since you will only remove the bedding once it wears out and then replace it with new bedding. Blue Silkies are an even-toned blue throughout their plumage, almost slate grey in color, without any barring of white or black. Female - short, broad from shoulders to cushion, quite rounded its entire length, rising gradually from middle of back towards tail. When we think of pears, we immediately Silkie chickens come in two distinct varieties, namely non-bearded and bearded Silkies. Colors, Size, and Appearance of Silkie Chicken, 2. Furthermore, Silkie chicken eggs are delicious and taste awesome like the eggs from other larger chicken breeds. The life expectancy will be more if they live in a suitable environment with nutritious food. Fowl Pox also makes young Silkies experience stunted growth. But theyre great brooders or great for showing as well. Large Hybrid Chickens, Blog Learn more. Silkies have multiple recognized color varieties: Partridge, Red, Splash, Self-blue, Black, Blue, Buff, White, and then all the colors above, though variants do not extend for showcasing.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'chickenjournal_com-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_8',165,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-chickenjournal_com-large-leaderboard-2-0'); Throughout the United Kingdom, there are 5 standardized shades. Hens weigh between 1 and 1.4 kg. A post shared by Blacksmith Farm (@blacksmithfarm). Feeding your Silkies with a good diet is crucial to keeping happy and healthy Silkies. Paint Silkies are essentially black Silkies that carry one dominant white gene, resulting in a truly unique-looking bird with dalmatian-like spots. Buffs is one of my favourite coloured Silkie varieties. Featured Image Credit: Olga Salt, Shutterstock, 13 Types of Angelfish for Freshwater Aquariums (With Pictures), Goldfish Aquaponics 101: Feeding, Stocking, & Care Guide, How Do Cats Show Affection? Bearded Silkies have an extra muff of feathers under the beak area that covers the earlobes. Hey, I'm James, a hardworking homesteader for more than 30 years. Free-range Silkie chickens have access to protein from bugs, although you can sprinkle some fish meal on your yard for the chickens to pick them up while they are roaming outdoors. Back: Male - short, broad from shoulders to saddle, quite rounded its entire length rising gradually from middle of the back towards tail. Help! Oval-shaped turquoise silica with blue earlobes or dark color wattles. Silkie hens are renowned for their clucky curiosity and their mothering instincts, often going broody even if they are not sitting on eggs. Primaries: medium length, well shredded, tapering convexly to stern, tips concealed by saddle feathers. Bearded and non-bearded in each of white, black, blue, splash, buff, partridge, grey and self-blue. There is no barring gene on the W chromosome so females can have only one. Below: A Cuckoo Silkie. Standard fowl-Large Fowl Silkies weigh 1.8 kilograms (4lbs) for males and 1.36 kilograms (3lbs) and for hens. Silkie chicken is available in both standard and bantam (small) variants: Thats not the case all over the globe; only certain places get the bantam. Silkie chickens are simple for pets to maintain. Other variants: red, cuckoo, lavender, and porcelain. They are however resilient and robust when being handled by children, they do go very broody and will often sit on an empty clutch so if youre looking for a prolific layer the Silkie is perhaps not for you, they will give you 4-5 small white eggs a week through the summer months, they do not lay in the winter. JavaScript is disabled. White Silkies are notoriously slow-growing due to this unique recessive gene. Egg Facts: Egg Laying: Good (3/wk) Egg Color: Cream or Tinted Egg Size: Small. Why do Chickens Abandon their Chicks Too Early? The health problem is a common health issue in the Silkies due to a group of viruses known as Orthomyxoviruses. When a barred male, (B, B) is crossed with a non-barred female, (b+, _), all the chicks will be barred. Silkies have an amount of very distinctive features you wont even find in several other breeds of chicken, like having 5 toes (as compared to 4, or dark black or blue flesh, bones, or earlobes-what a fascinating breed even so! We will describe so much about caring for silkie chickens here. Always ask a veterinarian for help regarding your birds. Silkies originated in the Far East, where they are still kept (and eaten) today. It may not display this or other websites correctly. This disease can spread rapidly among your Silkie chickens, and it helps to isolate the sick birds before the contagious illness extends to the healthy birds. Female - same as male except no spur. Besides entertainment or affection, Silkies can offer tangible advantages to their owners, making it even more rewarding to keep Silkies as pets. I've raised chickens and ducks for eggs and meat for many years. Alternatively, you can raise Silkie chickens for either eggs or meat. Most importantly, Silkies need a secure coop that is free from predators. The silkies are quite popular these days as pets; however, they wouldnt lay many eggs. Silkie hens love to go broody. Meaning that depending of how it is bred, you can tell males from females. The original Silkies were white only, but through meticulous and vigilant breeding by some dedicated fanciers the colors are becoming much better in quality than they were. I have only ever seen them in white. They compete in the Featherleg Bantam class at poultry shows. Adult birds weigh between 1 to 2 lbs. This usually means that it requires inbreeding to correctly propagate, resulting in birds with poor feather quality and overall weak genetics. Silkies can live long, provided you keep your birds healthy and clean. Splash has been recognised for silkies by both the ABA & APA for. WebThe Silkie (also known as the Silky or Chinese silk chicken) is a breed of chicken named for its atypically fluffy plumage, which is said to feel like silk and satin. I am Bijaya Kumar and I have been raising chickens for the last 10 years. Such a mash will provide your Silkies with a complete diet which will be crucial for their growth. Eggs production in Silkies can also stop during winter due to cold. Silkies suffering from this chronic disease experience loss of appetite, grow ruffled feathers, have swollen combs and swollen purple wattle. Hocks: covered with soft and silky feathers curving inwards about the hocks.Shanks: rather short, stout in bone, well feathered on the outer sides with silky plumage, the upper part growing out from thigh plumage and continuing into foot feathering. Red Silkies are a rare variation and not recognized. Use the search! PetKeen.com does not intend to provide veterinary advice. My main goal is focusing on the male rather than the female and hope to achieve a smaller com, nice short back, tight wings and medium crestBlack Silkies colour genetics - eb/eb S or s+ (or both in males) Pg/Pg Ml/Ml and other melanisersOR - E/E S or s+ and other melanisersOR - ER/ER S or s+ and other melanisers. Account Login Since their introduction you can now find 4 types of Silkies including Showgirls and Sizzles. This combination will result in blue or splash offspringSilkie chickens blue breeding chart:Blue X Blue = 50% Blue, 25% Black , 25% SplashBlue X Splash = 50% Blue , 50% SplashBlue X Black = 50% Blue, 50% BlackBlack X Black = 100% BlackSplash X Black = 100% BlueSplash X Splash = 100% Splash. It is in the last few years that I have developed an appreciation for them and the challenge in breeding them.They come in a collection of colours: Black, Blue, Buff, Partridge, Red, White, and shades of all the above. The primary feathering is like a frequent chickens bottom. Of all the ornamental chicken breeds, the Silkie Bantam is one of the most popular and beloved, and certainly one of the most entertaining to watch. They also are separated according to color. All Rights Reserved. Rest of the description same as the male. They can lay between 100 and 120 eggs annually. STANDARD eWh/eWh Pg/pg+ or pg+/pg+ Mh/Mh Db/Db and recessive blackI believe there are some people working on red Silkies in Australia. The ears should be small and neat, and preference is normally given to turquoise blue ear lobes, although mulberry lobes are permitted. Sickles, lesser sickles, and coverts - abundant, soft, well curved, without hard quills, concealing main tail feathers. Yes, Silkie chickens are pretty easy to care for. In 1598, Ulisse Aldrovandi, the writer and naturalist at Bologna College, authored the comprehensive treatise on chickens that are still being read or praised today. These chickens have fluffy plumage, making them look lovely. Their skin is also blue-colored. That's why the male cuckoo is so important. If perfected, they make for one of the most beautiful Silkie variations. Their crests are larger and the feathering down the legs is more abundant than seen previously. Furthermore, corn has excess calories, which makes Silkies, especially inactive Silkie chickens, obese. The head of this breed is crested, looking a little like such a pom pom. The average lifespan of a Silkie chicken is around 7-9 years. Such birds plumage is hairlike, considered being actual mammalian fur. Learn Poultry Chickens Chicken Breeds Silkie Chickens Breed Profile & Facts. Silkie chickens generate free-range eggs to appreciate themselves and sell to their holders, including a natural form with pest control to make pets enjoyable, affordable, and easy to care for. They can grow between 8 and 14 inches tall. Silkies make good mothers. There are 10 colours available but not all are recognised and can be shown. They compete in the Featherleg Bantam class at poultry shows. All Silkie varieties have bluish or black skin. Silkies are among the few other breeds of chickens that possess five toes instead of the usual four. Chicken Accessories Shop Unlike chickens, Silkie chickens are highly susceptible to Mareks disease. Consider providing your Silkies chickens with layer crumbles instead of pellets, which are too large for the Silkies to swallow without choking. Can't you tell why? A post shared by Jersey Silkie (@lavernscreativeideas). Many breeders of quail or pheasant who prefer to hatch naturally as opposed to an incubator will keep a flock of Silkie hens for this purpose. We've seen other splashes win at shows. Silkies are definitely one of the most unique and unusual chicken breeds, and in addition to their unique coloring, they have an extra fifth toe and blue earlobes! This disease affects all types of birds, including Silkie chickens. When you have in your flock a range of chicken breeds, you have to pay a few other extra attentions and make sure bullying does not really happen. Female: medium size, soft and full, globular, upright, well balanced. Silkies are definitely one of the most unique and unusual chicken breeds, and in addition to their unique coloring, they have an extra fifth toe and blue earlobes! From each side of the shaft comes the web which are tiny strands that are held together by small hooks or barbicels on the ends of the strands which gives the feather their typical appearance. Silkies ~ Colors and Gender Guide {May need tweaks}. The chronic disease affects nearly half of the Silkies across the globe. Lavender Silkie colour genetics - eb/eb s+ or S (rooster can be S/s+) Pg/Pg Ml/Ml lav/lav and recessive blackI think it also depends which colour you use to get the lavender, for example birds that have been bred to black birds will be split for E or ER depending upon the genetics of the black bird. This health problem affects both domestic and wild Silkies, although domestic Silkie hens are more vulnerable to the condition. Grey Silkies are more silver than grey, with a sheen over their plumage when viewed in sunlight. Silkies are among the few other breeds of chickens that possess five toes instead of the usual four. WebPosts about silkie recognized variety standard written by vjppoultry The pure white Silkie is one of the most common Silkie variations available, and like all Silkies, they have a black face and skin. Their tendencies towards broodiness or setting are unsurpassed and Silkie hens will hatch and raise most any kind of poultry or game fowl. They start laying at the age of 7-8 months and stop laying eggs after 2-3 years. The wings are a slightly darker shade of grey, and their undercoat is a smoky grey that is lighter than the overall top shade. Copyright 2023 - LearnPoultry. Didn't find what you need? Terms and Conditions. Face: Surface smooth, skin fine and soft in texture. They also make excellent mothers, so if youre looking for a few chicks to hatch, then youll get one. Many breeders of quail or pheasant who prefer to hatch naturally as opposed to an incubator will keep a flock of Silkie hens for this purpose. It is a sex-indicating trait. A Canadian expat, Nicole now lives on a lush forest property with her Kiwi husband and new baby daughter in New Zealand. Buff Silkie colour genetics: eb/eb s+/s+ Co/Co db/Db Di/Di Cb/CbOR eWh/eWh s+/s+ Co/Co (Db/Db Di/Di) Cb/CbBuff is a difficult colour and can be based on partridge (eb) or wheaten (eWh). Cushion: Rising from back at base of cape, very broad and round, plumage abundant. In many cases even the males can possess some of the maternal instincts and can be very gentle towards the chicks, calling them over when he finds a tasty tidbit and as soon as the chicks are old enough to venture any distance away from Mom, they will be seen running around with Dad just as often. In the female Silkie, the comb should be tiny and hidden by the crest (although the comb should not split the crest). Silkies are not an overly hardy breed, although suited to our British climate they prefer to stay dry and warm, as their soft feathers are not waterproof and take a long time to dry, Silkies do not like to be too cold or have their house in a draft. Protein is vital for Silkie chickens, particularly laying Silkies. The joints, wings, and coverts - abundant, soft, well curved, without hard quills concealing! The Far East, where they are not typically always jet-black, but this is most! 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