breeding silkies

[chicken parent]

i have 3 silkie chicks that are 5.5-6 wks old. one has a distinct comb and is quite outgoing. i think he is a roo. one really has no comb and is sweet but shy particular around the other chicks. i'm pretty sure she is a hen. the third has a small but bumpy comb--not too sure. we also have 1 barred plymouth rock, 1 white australorp, 1 speckled sussex, and one ameracauna--all 6 wks old and quite definitely hens. We had hoped for all hens but are wondering if we have just one silkie roo, if he will mate with the standard size hens or just the silkie hens?

 

[Jake1297]

Chicken Parent,

I have 4 Rhode Island Reds and 4 Plymouth Rock all hens, I bought some guinea keets and in the batch ended up with a Cochin Rooster. I believe the Cochin and the Silkie are from the same gene pool. Anyway, my Cochin rooster does his thing with the hens and I have a little two week old chick that looks like him to prove it.

 

[chicken parent]

uh oh, well, since silkies take 8 months to mature, we have time to do seperate quarters :

have to wonder if the standard size hens will respond to advances when he grows up. they all get along and intermingl to some extent but also do seem to segregate standards from the silkies. we got the standards at about a day - 5 days old and the silkies at 4 weeks old.

 

[speakup4kids]

Just as a little heads up for ya, my silkie rooster had chicks hatch that he, um, fathered when he was four months old… From my serama who was almost six months. I just hatched more that he fathered out of my sizzles, cochin, silkie, and serama and he is six months now… The girls ranging anywhere from six to 8 months... I wouldn't necessarily go with the maturing at 8 months rule. Another thing I've found is that even if I didn't see it, if the hen, regardless of size was anywhere remotely close to my rooster, the eggs are fertile.