can someone please tell me what breed this is?

[donrae]

What do you mean by the mix part?

It is a pure silkie from a hatchery.  The comb and general appearence is result of free breeding, little or no selection at all.

Well, for some reason when I first looked at the pics I thought the bird was not silkie feathered. He's sure silkied, isn't he?

 

[Kev]

Well, for some reason when I first looked at the pics I thought the bird was not silkie feathered. He's sure silkied, isn't he?

Ah okay, was noticing a whole lot of simple 'mixed breed' answers in quite a lot of threads and was wondering what was up with that, especially for example 'game mix' for birds that look pure game to me. Do they mean game mixed with other breeds or something more akin to mixed-color games or...?

 

[Michael OShay]

Yeah it's a rooster for sure. Fully mature, about a year or older.

However I disagree with the others about it being a cross or mixed breed. I see lots of silkies just like him from hatcheries.

With due respect, I've ordered Silkies on several occasions from a couple of hatcheries and never gotten any that were that poor of quality. No legit breeder would ever try and sell that one as a pure Silkie.

 

[Kev]

With due respect, I've ordered Silkies on several occasions from a couple of hatcheries and never gotten any that were that poor of quality. No legit breeder would ever try and sell that one as a pure Silkie.

With the same due respect- I have, and have seen it from others who ordered from hatcheries. And at auctions or swap meets. Exactly like this bird. Also birds with clear skin have popped up either direct from the hatcheries or from hatchery stock birds.

I'm not sure why this is such a surprise- hatcheries after all can be great examples of non-selected group breeding. Witness Polish with poor crests, LACED wyandottes with spangling or are so dark they are almost black and their type can be similarly as bad- flat backed, long, narrow, spiky and high rose combs and so on.

And never mind the whole araucana, ameraucana, easter egger honkn' huge mess. No legit breeder would do that but................

 

[donrae]

Or the horrible barring on barred birds......

With the game birds, it's because I don't know enough about them to specify type. I can usually tell it's some type of game, and sometimes color, but it seems to me the game bird folks have so many different varieties/types and I am not educated on them. Plus, most folks looking for "what breed is this" also don't know the difference either, so I guess it's just my lazy way to give them a quick answer. I figure if they're serious about their bird they can do more research or ask the game bird folks lol.

 

[Michael OShay]

With the same due respect- I have, and have seen it from others who ordered from hatcheries. And at auctions or swap meets. Exactly like this bird. Also birds with clear skin have popped up either direct from the hatcheries or from hatchery stock birds.

I'm not sure why this is such a surprise- hatcheries after all can be great examples of non-selected group breeding. Witness Polish with poor crests, LACED wyandottes with spangling or are so dark they are almost black and their type can be similarly as bad- flat backed, long, narrow, spiky and high rose combs and so on.

And never mind the whole araucana, ameraucana, easter egger honkn' huge mess. No legit breeder would do that but................

This bird is a good example of why there are breeding standards. I think this is probably one of those issues that comes down to a matter of semantics and the answer to how far does a breed have to get away from those breeding standards before it is no longer close enough to be considered that breed anymore? )

 

[Wyandottes7]

This bird is a good example of why there are breeding stardards. I think this is probably one of those issues that comes down to a matter of semantics and the answer to how far does a breed have to get away from those breeding standard before it is no longer close enough to be considered that breed anymore. )

x2

I would call this bird a Silkie mix because it isn't a very good example of the breed. To me, to be a "breed" a bird has to have certain characteristics of the breed and look somewhat like the APA standards for the breed. While this birds looks more like the Silkie breed it is supposed to represent than some birds do, I'm still inclined to call it a mix.This is for the same reason, for example, that I consider hatchery "Rhode Island Reds" to be Production Reds; they're nowhere close to looking like true, heritage Rhode Island Reds so in my opinion, can't really be called RIR. Many hatcheries breed birds so poorly (focusing on production and not nessecarily physical characteristics) and mix in other breeds that the end result turns out looking almost nothing like a purebred.

 

[Michael OShay]

x2

I would call this bird a Silkie mix because it isn't a very good example of the breed. To me, to be a "breed" a bird has to have certain characteristics of the breed and look somewhat like the APA standards for the breed. While this birds looks more like the Silkie breed it is supposed to represent than some birds do, I'm still inclined to call it a mix.This is for the same reason, for example, that I consider hatchery "Rhode Island Reds" to be Production Reds; they're nowhere close to looking like true, heritage Rhode Island Reds so in my opinion, can't really be called RIR. Many hatcheries breed birds so poorly (focusing on production and not nessecarily physical characteristics) and mix in other breeds that the end result turns out looking almost nothing like a purebred.

Hatchery grade RIRs vs. Production Reds is another matter of semantics and in my personal opinion is often a judgement call. Sometimes there is enough different between a hatchery's RIRs (which are closer to APA standards though still short) and their Production Reds (considerably off APA standards) that I will grant them the label RIR. In other cases, there is essentially no difference between a hatchery's RIRs and Production Reds (both are considerably off APA standards) so I cannot label their marketed RIRs as RIRs. The problem is that the line between the two will vary from person to person (which is what's happening here with packmule's rooster). Again, this is a good example of why breeding organizations have established standards for these birds.