Days old Silkie Chicks

[cluckincarole]

TSC had silkies in their bantam bin. A large portion had pasty butt. My daughter and I couldn't leave them. So we came home with 10 silkies we did not need lol. They are cleaned up and doing well now it seems.

We are very new to this breed. We only bought our 1st silkie chicks on July 24th and they were 4-5 weeks old at that time. We have several other chickens and breeds...Orpingtons, d'uccle, cochin, barred rock, laced wyandotte, and easter eggers.

I have a few questions.

Can anyone tell me what possible colors the lighter ones might be? Some seem gray, some more white with yellow.

Also are these bearded or non? Or can you even tell at this point?

One has a very prominent poof already..others none and some seem to have a slight poof. Normal? Will they all end up looking fluffy on top as they age?

Also including a picture of our two originals. They belong to my daughter and were bought from a breeder. I'm guessing they are around 7 weeks now?? When we purchased she said they were around 4 weeks. She had several chicks together of all sizes.

 

[Chicalina]

adorable!!

 

[Kiraeh]

The prominent poof is a vaulted skull, which silkies can have sometimes. It may be a bit more full when it grows out, vaulted skulls are associated with better quality silkies, but it won't grow out any faster.
Yellow will grow out to white as they feather, grey will probably be blue or splash... I don't think silkies have the lavender gene.
Looks like you have buffs as well, if you had any little chipmunks they'd be partridge, my favourite colour for silkies.

 

[Chicalina]

I just thought I'd add a pic of mine too!

One is half Silkie, the other I think either full Silkie or Silkie/Polish. Your black/dark grey one looks the same as one of mine. I have no idea how they will turn out, but they are super cute!

 

[Chicalina]

Have yours all got 5 toes? Only the one at the back of the photo does in mine. Not sure how dominant the toe gene is though. The father is splash silkie to both, so the black feathers must come from the mothers maybe? No idea about genetics. Mothers could be silkie or not.

 

[cluckincarole]

Have yours all got 5 toes? Only the one at the back of the photo does in mine. Not sure how dominant the toe gene is though. The father is splash silkie to both, so the black feathers must come from the mothers maybe? No idea about genetics. Mothers could be silkie or not.

Mine all have 5 toes and black skin.

 

[cluckincarole]

The prominent poof is a vaulted skull, which silkies can have sometimes. It may be a bit more full when it grows out, vaulted skulls are associated with better quality silkies, but it won't grow out any faster.
Yellow will grow out to white as they feather, grey will probably be blue or splash... I don't think silkies have the lavender gene.
Looks like you have buffs as well, if you had any little chipmunks they'd be partridge, my favourite colour for silkies.

Thank you for your response! Very helpful!

 

[Jack1313]

They look like buff silkies! They look similar to mine! The big brown one with the fluff ball head is the cock-a-doodle! They can be harder to determine gender as they take a little longer to mature!

Here is my pair they are so neat, we just got ours recently too!

 

[cluckincarole]

Have yours all got 5 toes? Only the one at the back of the photo does in mine. Not sure how dominant the toe gene is though. The father is splash silkie to both, so the black feathers must come from the mothers maybe? No idea about genetics. Mothers could be silkie or not.

Actually I have one with only 4 toes! I went back and looked at them again and the buff with the smaller/less poofy head only has 4 toes but black skin. Strange for sure. I'm not sure if it's a silkie or crossed with one? Hopefully someone more knowledgable will respond.

 

[cluckincarole]

4 toes