Chicken Breed Focus - Silkie

sumi · Nov 5, 2015

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.

Details:

Detail Value
Breed Purpose Ornamental
Comb Walnut
Broodiness Frequent
Climate Tolerance All Climates
Egg Productivity Medium
Egg Size Small
Egg Color Light Brown
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.

Pic by @RooptyDoo

Pic by @Brody's Broodello

Pic by @Sustained

Pic by @CrazyChookLady5

BYC Breed reviews:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/silkie

Breed Discussion Threads:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/297632/silkie-thread/0_30
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/579215/silkie-sexing/0_30
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/690632/silkie-breeding-genetics-showing/0_30

Do you own Silkies? Are you a Silkie breeder? If so, please reply to this thread with the your thoughts and experiences, including:

· What made you decide to get this breed?
· Do you own them for fun? Breeding? Some other purpose?
· What are your favorite characteristics about this breed?
· Post some pics of your birds; male/female, chicks, eggs, etc!

We have a bunch of other awesome breed-focus threads for you to enjoy. You can see all of them here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-project.975504/

JanellieFree · Nov 5, 2015

We just LOVE our Silkie! We have a very small flock of 10 chickens. There are 6 different breeds. We only have one silkie. At about 4 months or so, ours had a seisure... We weren't sure what had happened and found out that it was very common for the breed... after spending a night in the house everything seemed just fine and our Silkie re-joined the flock the next day. We weren't sure if this would affect egg-production and were curious as to what the eggs would look like... I guess we will never find out because our Silkie turned out to be a boy! We were expecting an all-hen flock, but if someone had to be a rooster, we are so happy it was the Silkie! His name is Sam LOL! He brings us so much joy! We love to watch him run and jump around! Not sure if he can't see very well or if he was somehow affected by the seizure, but he is the sweetest one of them all! He has the most amazing personality!! He follows us around and eats out of your hand and seems to know his name! he doesn't mind when you pet him and is very good about keeping the girls close to the coop! He has recently been working on his crowing and it's the most adoreable thing we have ever heard!

Some of the more expierenced chicken keepers that have never had silkies are telling us that he will get better at his crowing, but I think it's as good as it gets! Which is fine by us! It's not piercingly loud and it's not perfect, but it's perfect for us!

Sam is the best! <3

Fancychooklady · Nov 5, 2015

My favorites feathered subjects.

Jujubara · Nov 5, 2015

We own two, Fifi and Tetley. They are so cute and fun to watch. Recently, our Tetley laid her first egg, at 5 1/2 months. She lays every other day since.
Tetley:

Fifi:

Silkie eggs:

PrairieChickens · Nov 5, 2015

I got this breed because of their reputation for being extremely docile and friendly, and while none of my silkies have demonstrated that quality so far, I'm hopeful for future generations.

I've actually got the hair-brained idea to try to produce white-crested-black silkies by crossing them with one of my Polish. I don't know if it will work, but I'm going to give it a shot.

Suzierd · Nov 5, 2015

Love my Silkies!

Lady of McCamley · Nov 5, 2015

My flock depends upon my Silkies as they have been the mothers to them all (except for a few feed store birds or an occasional pullet purchased).

Mine have not been really friendly, as in lap quality, but they are very docile and can make for excellent brooders and mothers. I purposely purchased my first Silkie years ago because I wanted to be done with heat lamps and artificial house brooding (what a mess). My first Silkie Oma-San hatched many clutches for me and helped me build my flock. Sadly she was picked off by a hawk about a year ago as she was free ranging with her oversized babies (she never knew when to cut the apron strings).

I replaced her with another maternal Silkie who was a proven broody. Again not lap docile (many of your fine brooders are not as docile...they have to have some pluck to protect those babies) and added a couple of bantam Cochin to boot so that there is never need to free range for company (too many hawks here).

My broodies live the life of queens in their own designated hutch and hawk covered run, regularly going broody and hatching wonderful babies for me.

Here are some of my favorite photos of my lovely brooding queens.

She never knew when to launch them...she just kept mothering

Sylvester017 · Nov 5, 2015

PrairieChickens said:
I got this breed because of their reputation for being extremely docile and friendly, and while none of my silkies have demonstrated that quality so far, I'm hopeful for future generations.

I've actually got the hair-brained idea to try to produce white-crested-black silkies by crossing them with one of my Polish. I don't know if it will work, but I'm going to give it a shot.

With vaulted skulls on Polish used to cross-breed with Silkies to give Silkies a poofier crest, I didn't want to get any Silkies with vaulted skulls - good chance of pecking injuries on the head from other chickens and sometimes they get neurological tremors/seizures or head-shaking and can even die. Only skin and a bit of feathers covers the brain pushing against the opening in the skull exposing the brain to easy injury. One Silkie breeder that has had them for years said her vaulted skull Silkies seldom lived past 2 years. I do not have vaulted Silkies but I feel their crests are still full and fluffy without the vaulting - safer and healthier. I'm finding that the vault vs no-vault hasn't made a significant difference in the Silkie crest poofiness but then it's IMO only.

A - Is a Vaulted Skull.
B - Is a Non-vaulted Skull

THIS IS A POST FOUND ON THE BYC THREAD CALLED "VAULTED SKULLS"
I found this on Photobucket. It must be a Silkie skull since it is black. The brains are exposed and sometimes bulge from the openings. There are varying degrees of vaulting, to a huge vault to almost non-existent, to everything in between. I can sex my Silkies from the time they hatch since the pullets will have the largest vaults.

My no-vault Silkies

Partridge molting - no vault ------ Black Silkie no vault

Just sharing my concerns about the new interest for vaulted skulls when there is such a danger to the bird - often owners of newly hatched Silkies can't figure why their chick's head posture is hanging or why there is mild to violent head-shaking or why the chick is walking funny or seizing or - worse - dead. The vaulted Polish or vaulted Silkie is the reason I advise new owners to not mix these delicate gentle birds with heavier dual purpose or assertive breeds that love to assert themselves by giving a good hard peck to the head of a Polish or a Silkie. To each his own but I just wanted to share info I've accumulated through research and talking to breeders.

Fur-N-Fowl · Jul 2, 2020

Woohoo, I’ve been waiting for Silkies to be the featured breed for a while!

Most people here already know but I breed Bearded Bantam Silkies to the British standard (which aren’t as fluffy as the USA counterparts). I do keep some non-bearded but I don’t focus on breeding or showing them, at least not yet anyways.

I focus on breeding Pure White, Partridge and Gold!

I had success with showing last year from the birds I had then and I had plans to do so this year but unfortunately everything has been cancelled. So I’ve pretty much just used this year to sort out my birds, hatch some chicks and get some new blood in my line.

I’ve got more chicks on the way as well as a new cockerel to replace the last one I had.