Quote: I go by the older breed standards to define what a silkie is, as people have mixed and matched (and mismatched) until what you say of silkies is unfortunately the truth in many places; however it's not how the original silkie is, neither the bantams nor the larger ones, and I try to adhere to those standards rather than the new ones. In their country of origin they were originally used as utility birds, though some were more for show; I don't go by the American or Australian standards for them as they obtained silkies comparatively recently and have all stripes of mixes passing as silkies, not to mention many sickly purebred strains that do the breed injustice. The bantams are the most common ones but the large ones have been around for long enough and are also true silkies too. I'm not a fan of commercial hatcheries to be honest, and I would not consider a show stock breeder as anyone likely to give me more than a good looking but useless bird. Enthusiasts who maintain the utility and functional aspects are those whose birds I would buy.
I'm not talking about any mix breeds when I just say 'silkie' and true, like you say, a lot of people mix them up terribly. The black flesh was believed to be medicinal and in my opinion it is; it's easy to have a yardstick to measure by when you've got some family members as severely ill as some of mine. We eat the black-flesh /bone /skin /organ ones too and those make the best stews and roasts, extremely gelatinous and beautifully flavoured with no shortage of meat. They may be more 'medicinal' simply via being more nutritional, I don't know, but food is meant to be one of the most important 'medicines' we consume, and it has been proven so to my family. Getting chickens was a life saving choice for some of my family. We don't have any silkies left as I want to breed birds that can freerange in the rain and cope with misted in mornings better but I wouldn't say no to getting more; mixed bred silkie genes are all through the current flock, as I was working to get that very gelatinous, fine textured, great flavoured meat from the silkies into the mixed layer and heritage breed mongrels. Success! For now at least.
In my experience the small ones, if true silkies, have a good amount of flesh, and they are among the toughest of bantams. I have noticed a lot of weedy things being sold as purebred silkies. They probably are purebred but they're not a good strain, they're probably show-only which I never touch. A truly good silkie can't really cope with rainy weather as well as some other breeds but its immune system is quite hardy and their mixed breed offspring just do not seem to ever get sick. Frizzles are another I don't like; mostly the frizzle gene is attached to a weakened pulmonary system, somehow. They're cute, but hardiness and capacity are important traits I breed for.
EDIT: I guess it's like some people eating quail; I think, what a lot of effort for so small a meal! But then again I eat silkies and they're worth it...
They never have trouble fleshing out and pack some serious nutrience in, surpassing some of the larger breeds for taste and texture. Some of the larger breeds have inferior digestive systems not to mention often don't forage as well. Also a lot of silkie eggs have the same sized yolk as a production layer's egg... So those avoiding egg whites in their diet should get a flock of silkies, lol. They have their uses, as long as you don't buy show stock... No fan of those, they're such delicate featherweights, at least the ones I've had and gotten rid of almost as quickly as they arrived...
