Unpopular Opinion: Satin Silkies Are Ugly

[nuthatched]

That's one of the wonderful things about chickens - there's something for everyone. Don't like satins? Don't keep 'em. It's easy enough to rehome or process them. Although, I don't care much for silkie meat, and the color is just unappetizing to me. Personally, I think all of the silkies are adorable. When they get to scratching in the leaves or hustling across the yard they make me laugh.

You mean, you don't like nuggets that look like lash?

 

[nuthatched]

Since the gene for silkied feathering is recessive, if a bird has silkied feathering, they must be pure for the silkied gene. Thus, breeding a Silkie to a Silkie will always get you more Silkies, never Satins, and so every Satin must have an outcross to a smooth-feathered breed somewhere in its background. Most commonly, Cochin bantams and Polish are used for this, though it seems like I more frequently see the Polish outcrosses referred to as 'Polkies' these days and the Cochin outcrosses as 'Satins'.

Polikies
Ok, thank you for explaining that to me. I used to say they were mixes and a few genetic people would say they're pure.
I don't know what to think now.
Doesn't matter, I don't want any, anyway.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Polikies
Ok, thank you for explaining that to me. I used to say they were mixes and a few genetic people would say they're pure.
I don't know what to think now.
Doesn't matter, I don't want any, anyway.

I think once they have everything silkies have (comb, polydactylism, crest, feathered legs, black skin, all that will breed true) besides the silkied feathers, most consider them pure again

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I guess it depends entirely on your definition. Technically speaking, most of what we know of as pure breeds today resulted from crossing other breeds together to collect the desired traits into a line of birds. Many breeders working with established breeds also outcross to add vigor or other desired traits to a line, breeding the resulting offspring back to the starting breed to add back the appropriate traits of that breed. So where is the line on pure breed and mixed breed? Since chickens have no system of pedigreeing to trace family history like many other animals do, basically we only look at how the bird looks, not what its background is, to determine if it's a specific breed or not. I would guess those calling Satins a pure breed are, as Jacin points out, going off of that they have all the desired traits for a Satin and not that they're necessarily pure as in never outcrossed to anything.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Crested birds are ugly....

 

[Whittni]

How do you feel about Spitzhauben crests?

I like both the stains and the smaller crests, but if you knew me, it wouldn't be a surprise at all. The small creats are pretty nice if you have birds out of a pen

I actually like Spitzhaben crests, they look stylized and correct. Whereas a Swedish usually gets their single comb crinkled due to their partial crest.