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Silkie

The silkie chicken was developed in the southeast asian countries or china.It was valued as a medicinal food item because of its black skin and bones
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General Information

Breed Purpose
Ornamental
Comb
Walnut
Broodiness
Frequent
Climate Tolerance
All Climates
Egg Productivity
Medium
Egg Size
Medium
Egg Color
Light Brown/ white
Breed Temperament
Friendly, Easily handled, Calm, Bears confinement well, Quiet, Docile
Breed Colors/Varieties
Grey, Blue, Splash, Partridge, Buff, Black, White are the standard colors with many off standard & derivative colors in existance today.
Breed Size
Bantam
APA/ABA Class
Feather Legged
Color
Grey, Blue, Splash, Partridge, Buff, Black, White are the standard colors with many off standard & derivative colors in existance today
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The Silkie breed was developed in the southeast Asian countries or China. It's named for its atypically fluffy plumage, which is said to feel like silk. The breed has several other unusual qualities, such as black skin and bones, blue earlobes, and five toes on each foot, whereas most other chickens only have four. They are often exhibited in poultry shows and come in various colors. It was valued as a medicinal food item in Asia, because of its black skin and bones, and was thought to be particularly good to reinforce body immunity and protect from emaciation and feebleness. It also is reported to treat diabetes, anemia, female reproductive functioning and postpartum disorders. Marco Polo gave the first accounts of Silkie chickens in the late 13th century. As trade route between East and West were established, the Silkie was brought to Europe. Records have shown that in the Netherlands, they were sold as the product of crossing a rabbit and a chicken!

Nowadays the breed is very popular for the purpose of pet chickens as well as exhibition. They are not good layers, averaging 3 eggs per week, but are known and valued for their exceptional broodiness and are often used for hatching eggs from other breeds. They are also considered very good pet chickens, especially for children and are known for their friendliness and docile temperaments.

The breed was officially recognized in North America by acceptance into the Standard of Perfection in the first year of publication which was 1874.

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Silkie juvenile

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Silkie chick

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Silkie rooster

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Silkie hen

For more information on Silkies and their owners' and breeders' experiences with them, see our breed discussion here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-silkie.1048544/
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Latest reviews

ella2025
so cute and fluffy
Pros: Roosters are friendly!!
Fluffy and cute
very laid back
Love the crest and beard!
Cons: I don't like that they're usually sold as straight run, with sexed females being very expensive
My hen with a big crest and beard can't see, at all. Sometimes gets picked on. When i have treats she wobbles over and circles around, not being able to get to the treats because she can't see properly.
I love this breed, I just wish they were more often sold as sexed females.
Purchase Price
6$ but straight run
Purchase Date
april 2
Fluffy_Moth_With_Silkies
Nicest, cutest, and fluffiest babies ever.
Pros: Amazing pets, great hatchers, sweet, can be kept in a smaller space.
Cons: Low egg production and eggs are small. Also take up to a year of age to start laying.
I have a few and I love them to death. Got to say that they're my fav breed. They take a long, long time to lay though.
Addicted To Chickens
Pros: Super sweet
fluffy
Delighting to the eye
Cons: Can get picked on easily
Broody
I have one of my own and she is super sweet I would highly recommend one if your looking to naturally hatch out some eggs.
Read more…

Comments

Dee Dee 2
Thanks for the great article. I know you said they don't do well with lg. birds ~but ~I have 1 Australorp, 2 feed store reds and a R.C.R.I.R roo who is quite the gentleman. Thank heaven for sweet roos ! If the Silkies had there own house (I have 2 coops) do you think the Silkies could fit in ? They sound like a breed I would really like to have. But then almost every breed I read about I would like to have. Thats the problem with being a chicken addict. (ˆvˆ) 1/2 day the girls are in the chicken yard, 1/2 day they free range. None of them are nasty or aggressive.
 
Sylvester017
To DeeDee2 - I too wanted every chicken breed I read about. However I started with 2 Silkies as just "pets" then adopted a Leghorn and Marans and then added a couple Ameraucanas and wanted to add a Dominique. Well, I should've heeded the warnings about mixing Silkies with aggressive or LF breeds because I learned the hard way. I don't have a big enough yard to have a flock of Silkies mixed with more assertive layers or dual purpose LF. The Marans grew too large and 6 months later started pulling out the crest of one Silkie (poor thing we thought she was just moulting but she was plucked BALD!) and then the Marans viciously clawed/attacked the younger Silkie - we had to rehome the Marans. A 2-lb Silkie doesn't have a chance against a 7-lb Marans that decides to go ballistic all of a sudden! Then we had 2 lovely egg-laying Leghorns. One was with us for 3 years and gentle with the Silkies and then SHE suddenly went into obnoxious behavior chasing her flockmates away from the nestboxes, feed, waterer, and dust-bath areas. She was re-homed next. Then the other younger Leg turned one year old and started to chase and pluck the crests of the Silkies and completely pulled out the beard/muffs to the skin of my gentle Ameraucana. This Leg had to be re-homed. You see we had the LF for quite a while around the Silkies but the urge to get assertive is a chicken thing and LF will have the destructive advantage to suddenly go ballistic on smaller gentle breeds like Silkies or non-combative breeds like Ameraucana, Polish, Faverolles, Breda, EEs, etc. My cuerrent policy is not to mix anything over 5-lb breeds with Silkies and only non-combative gentle breeds like Ameraucana, EEs, Araucana, Polish, Breda, Faverolles, Sultans, etc. I have had Dominique and they are a smaller gentler LF that I would consider to mix with other gentle breeds but Mediterranean class chickens are a definite no-no with gentle breeds. Lorps, Orps, Red or Black Sexlinks, and RIRs I consider too large in my gentle mixed backyard flock. Lorps and Orps can get up to 7-lb. In a pecking order battle who do you think will get injured - the 7-lb LF or the 2-lb Silkie? And when hens get older pecking order status becomes a must to battle for. All chickens squabble for pecking order status but unfortunately great injury may occur if 2-lb birds are mixed with 7-lb birds when battles arise.
 
1zooman12
Turns out that these Silkies are instinctively the best moms. They are living incubators without the use of electricity, humidity control and manual egg turning. They do it all! The only problem is they can only incubate 8 or 9 large eggs tops. To simultaneously incubate more eggs one simply "cranks up" another hen or as many as you want/need to achieve your goal. My experience with them is all positive. A body can even induce them to go broody at will! Turns out that the pressure of a threshold number of eggs against their breast will "turn them on". Putting 8 "starter eggs" in a nest box and giving them quiet isolation away from flock disturbance and they are broody within 72 hours. I've had them broody in as little as 24 hours! Once broody, after a day or two to ensure that they are in broody behavior I take away the starter eggs and introduce the more precious eggs I want hatched. These characters seem to live for motherhood!
As an experiment, I once gave a silkie who lived in our front yard a pair of goose eggs. That little trooper incubated them, hatched them and reared them without a hitch. Now geese do not brood their hatchlings to the degree that a silkie does. Mother goose broods only if there is a persistent rain and/or cold snap whereas a broody silkie will brood anything that moves! But the baby geese nonetheless like the mothering/brooding attention and take to it readily. After our goslings were about 10 or 12 days old, I came out of the house one evening and found mother silkie brooding her babies for the night as usual in the front yard. The funniest thing was that the babies had gotten so big that there the hen was with a baby under each wing with her feet dangling below in the air! Now that friends, is dedication!!!!
 
Donna J
I enjoyed reading this. I have 3 black Silkies , 2 Buffs and 2 that are called Splash. ( They are black and white like a Dalmatian). I love them and can hardly wait till they start laying
 
FeatheryFeet
Thanks! Their eggs are really good if you are wanting to eat them. If it's the right time, they lay quite a few eggs
 
ChickyGirl12
Do they get along with other chickens and other chickens get along with them? I have got a mix of BR RIR and BSL and I was wanting to get a couple silkies but will the other chickens accept them?
 
FeatheryFeet
Silkies got along fine with new comers, I am not sure if your chickens will get along with the silkies, they can be very shy and they sometimes let other chickens pick on them. If your chickens are rather friendly then maybe it might work. Ior if one of your chickens is broody, you can raise up silkies with her.
 
RezChamp
I've never had problems with Mereks. Lucky?
Had lotsa Silkies though. Gooooooooood broody hens. Even brooded pheasant and turkey eggs as well as eggs from the rest of the chickens.
Pretty little birds. Don't have any left just now(dogs) but getting a few this fall.
I really hope to get muffed blue.
 
Chickie Mama
The roosters are noisy. The only reason he is still with us is because I like the Silky hens and he keeps them safe. Haven't lost a single silky to a fox. The Silky hens are very docile and fantastic hatchers and mothers.
 
CoopChick719
My RIR's pulled out all my Silkies' headfeathers. Love my 2 sweet Silkie girls! They are 2 of my first girls! I rehomed the RIR's. They were teaching the others bad habits like pulling feathers out of the Silkies. All is peaceful in the flock now! Namaste!
 
chicknmania
Izzy Lou our buff silkie is almost 7 years old and still going broody. She's the best mama we have. She's so gentle and sweet, and she trusts us. She allows us to handle her with no problem at all, and furthermore, she's passed on to her latest chick those same nice qualities.
 
roosterlover897
i don't know about about you but that bird looks like the kind you would raise for the looks and not for food source or eggs I don't know about them but thats what i would do if i got one just as a pet. p.s soooo adorable
 
chickenboy190
Yeah from what I know Silkies are more for show/ pets then anything. I have 2 of my own SIlkies and they are for pets. Was going to show them but then got Polish
 
Trefoil
I don't think her size will be a problem. What are you feeding her> If you go to your state forum or the breeds under silkie, they will probably be able to answer all your questions better. I agree with your review on silkies, mine aren't exceptionally small, but good bantam size.
 
Kadu
My silkie is the same size!! oh she's tiny and adorable. We got her with a bunch of guineas, so initially she thought guineas were her family and kept her distance from the hens and the rooster. lol it was funny. and then we got another one just like her, so now she's got a companion ;D They do lay very tiny eggs btw, don't expect RIR eggs from them =D
oh and one more thing. My sno would NOT move when I leave her on the table. She goes in to a panic state and will just turn around and wonder what goes on around the house. =D They're adorable!
 
coop410silkies
I currently have 10 silkies - 4 cocks and 6 hens - and have given away/sold maybe three times that many in the 18 months I've had the original 6 babies. The 3 girls did not start laying until they were 8 or 9 months old, and when one went broody, they all quit laying. The two white hens brood the same nest together (but for some reason have had bad luck hatching), and the roosters are quite protective about the nest. They are a tightly knit family, and they are not cuddly with people. The two white Roos are people aggressive and fight a lot. But they are easy to keep and don't seem to need much special care. They have small ?walnut combs that don't get frost bitten, and the birds seem very cold hardy and vigorous. Because they can't fly, I keep them in an uncovered pen with short fencing. My Silkie hens are not exceptionally broody, and they are very good layers, most of the time, of medium sized eggs. I would give them a Five if the white cocks weren't so ornery. My Silkis are so different, I don't even think of them as chickens anymore.
 

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Category
Chicken Breeds
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Reviews
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