I'm a bit of a, well, fuzzy feather fanatic as my title aptly states, so I take note any time I see pictures or mention of breeds in silkied varieties.
My Green Queen Bantam has a Crest and silkied feathers/clean legs. She is some proprietary mix from Meyer's Hatchery (that should lay green eggs).Aha, my specialty!
I am at this time aware of six breeds that come in a silkied variety, have clean legs, and don't have a crest. Those are Serama, Ameraucana, Japanese, Phoenix, Svart Hona, and Hedemora (though I have heard of some light leg feathering occuring on some of them). The easiest of those to find are probably the silkied Serama or Hedemora, though often chicks and hatching eggs of those breeds are sold as a mix of silkied and smooth so you end up gambling on whether you even get silkied individuals. Those other breeds are unfortunately very difficult to find in silkied, at least in the United States.
I don't know of any clean-legged and crested breeds that come in silkied, but it is entirely possible that I just haven't come across them in my searching as I've never been much for the crested breeds in general. A lot of hatchery Silkies end up with very little to no leg feathering, without crests, or with neither trait, so there's potential there to work from if you can't find any other silkied breed. That's another gamble as to whether you'd end up with Silkies like that, however, depending on the hatchery you order through.
Making silkied varieties of other breeds can be tricky because you're battling against the recessiveness of the gene as well as the undesired traits from whichever silkied breed you use to introduce that gene, but it certainly is possible with a lot of work! I love silkied feathering, though, so I definitely think that it would be worth the work!
She's so cute!! I want her!
Now I wish I had grabbed some of them when I got chicks from them this year!
I was going to get some silkied cochins and my mom said I had to get rid of some chickens before I do that. Oh well. At least I have silkies and cochins.I had no idea their Green Queens could also be silkied!
And if you breed those crosses together or back to their Silkie parent, you could end up with some pretty cute silkied birds that way as well. Although, I suppose if you can't get silkied Cochins without thinning your flock that you aren't able to hatch much, either, huh?
She can keep me from ordering because she is the one that pays but she can't keep me from hatchingRats, that stinks! I hope you can get your hands on some of them some day!
At least with Silkies and Cochins, you can make some pretty cute crosses.
Regina is very intelligent and unique but a bit of a rebel (that does not like human interaction). If I catch her she is very calm though! Hope she lays green eggsShe's so cute!! I want her!
