Giant Silkie Project.

[Lauravonsmurf]

Those will look interesting. Any coloration in particular you want for your experimental breed types?

Well we are sort of deciding on what to do... but the EEs we have carry the blue feather genes plus other colors. The Marans are blue... the silkies are buff, white, black and blue... we have Ancona molted birds too, Ayam Cemani, as well and gold, silver and white Bantam Phoenix,... plus Sultans, Barnvelder, Some sex links, a white leghorn... and bantam D’Uccles... so the crazy color combinations and genetic potential are plentiful.

We are discussing cross breeding the Silkies with CX, Brahman, some of the EEs, and Marans... The EE/Brahman mixes are impressive birds that I have seen. Probably will put Maran roo over Silkie, EE, CX and Brahman... and Biggest Silkie roo over EE, Brahman, CX, largest laying hens, and then try to select biggest pullets from each crossing to keep and then back breed to biggest Silkie roo... then select biggest Silkie and satin feathered birds and back to largest flock birds... then back breed to largest Silkie feathered birds... Lets terrify the neighbors with fluffy chickens

I also have two Oriental Games which might be able to add serious leg height... so maybe fuzzy wuzzy Silkie chipmunk faced feathered legged Godzilla monster chickens... muwahhaha of all sorts of crazy coloring.

The only gene we are missing for monster bird is the Naked Neck gene.

Giant Show Girls... ... now that would be cool. Guess I know what I need to order next for the “meat bird” project.

The Phoenix are bantams so the EE longtails will be Bantam project

Maran, Ayam, Swedish, D’Uccle, Silkie and Phoenix are for sure going to go towards SOP goals for showing or Preservation breeding too.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I've been wondering how the silkies do for cold tolerance, esp the smaller ones. I hatched out some little ones this spring and now I'm hoping they won't be miserable this winter. I'll probably build them their own little coop once they're a bit more grown up, in the fenced part of the the back yard. I'm thinking of them more as pets. Right now they're with some of my layers and all the other chicks & juveniles in a summer tractor coop, free-ranging.

Also, are silkies harder to hatch? The breeder I bought from sent me 12+4 eggs from maybe 175 miles away. The package was a bit dented in on one side. The eggs didn't look bad and were well-packed--but only 5 hatched & 4 survived. (I had to cull one b/c his little foot looked like it was on backwards and he couldn't get around at all.) In the same incubator load, I hatched 11 of 14 Lt Brahma & Brahma Phoenix cross eggs that came from clear across the country. Do silkie eggs maybe need special conditions to hatch well?

Silkies are actually really cold, & heat hardy. Our temps sometimes get below zero during the winters, & occasionally 100s in the summer.

Silkies are easy to hatch, & don't require any special hatching conditions. But they do better being incubated at 97.5°F - 98.5°F, with 35% - 45% humidity. Lockdown humidity at about 55% - 65%.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Well we are sort of deciding on what to do... but the EEs we have carry the blue feather genes plus other colors. The Marans are blue... the silkies are buff, white, black and blue... we have Ancona molted birds too, Ayam Cemani, as well and gold, silver and white Bantam Phoenix,... plus Sultans, Barnvelder, Some sex links, a white leghorn... and bantam D’Uccles... so the crazy color combinations and genetic potential are plentiful.

We are discussing cross breeding the Silkies with CX, Brahman, some of the EEs, and Marans... The EE/Brahman mixes are impressive birds that I have seen. Probably will put Maran roo over Silkie, EE, CX and Brahman... and Biggest Silkie roo over EE, Brahman, CX, largest laying hens, and then try to select biggest pullets from each crossing to keep and then back breed to biggest Silkie roo... then select biggest Silkie and satin feathered birds and back to largest flock birds... then back breed to largest Silkie feathered birds... Lets terrify the neighbors with fluffy chickens

I also have two Oriental Games which might be able to add serious leg height... so maybe fuzzy wuzzy Silkie chipmunk faced feathered legged Godzilla monster chickens... muwahhaha of all sorts of crazy coloring.

The only gene we are missing for monster bird is the Naked Neck gene.

Giant Show Girls... ... now that would be cool. Guess I know what I need to order next for the “meat bird” project.

The Phoenix are bantams so the EE longtails will be Bantam project

Maran, Ayam, Swedish, D’Uccle, Silkie and Phoenix are for sure going to go towards SOP goals for showing or Preservation breeding too.

You have a lot to work with. The fuzzy Godzilla chickens sound funny, & interesting.

 

[CindyinSD]

Silkies are actually really cold, & heat hardy. Our temps sometimes get below zero during the winters, & occasionally 100s in the summer.

Silkies are easy to hatch, & don't require any special hatching conditions. But they do better being incubated at 97.5°F - 98.5°F, with 35% - 45% humidity. Lockdown humidity at about 55% - 65%.

I thought it would get colder than us, there where you are... we are sometimes 20-30° below at night in winter. It doesn't happen every year, but more and more often of late, and when it does, it stays and recurs through the winter. That seems awfully cold for chickens, but they (the standard sizes) did all right. This will be my first winter with bantams, though.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I thought it would get colder than us, there where you are... we are sometimes 20-30° below at night in winter. It doesn't happen every year, but more and more often of late, and when it does, it stays and recurs through the winter. That seems awfully cold for chickens, but they (the standard sizes) did all right. This will be my first winter with bantams, though.

The silkies should be fine with those winter temps.
Two years ago the coldest temperature we had during the winter was -20°F.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

I showed hubby pictures of Show Girls... he is on board to breed for Giant Show Girls.

Muwahhaha

So we are in for breeding Giant Silkies... We will be starting with Brahman and Broilers crossed to biggest Silkies as soon as everything is old enough to breed.

Our goal but huge.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I showed hubby pictures of Show Girls... he is on board to breed for Giant Show Girls.

Muwahhaha

So we are in for breeding Giant Silkies... We will be starting with Brahman and Broilers crossed to biggest Silkies as soon as everything is old enough to breed.

Our goal but huge.

View attachment 2195122

Those will look funky.
Name yours the funky chicken.
Are you sure you want to use broilers?

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

We have decided to call the meat bird project: Project Gojira...
We are figuring the F1 Crosses will be this...

Various Silkie Bantam Rooster (AI) over Light Brahman Hens
Various Silkie Bantam Rooster (AI) over Sex Link, CX, random layer breeds (May include Marans) and EEs
Splash French Maran over Silkie Hens
Oriental Stag over Silkie Hens

As soon as we can get additional Brahman (Buff and Dark), additional broiler strains and Naked Neck pullets to the project we will.

We will keep biggest pullets by weight, height, and general solid body. Then breed back to only biggest Silkie roosters. This should create some Silkie feathered chicks F2. Only Silkie F2 chicks will be considered for breeding including roosters now... we can back breed if needed to F1 or foundation birds if needed. As well we can begin crossing lines at the F3 stage.

Anyway that’s the basic plan.

I will post pictures of parent stock chicks soon over here https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/project-gojira-a-giant-silkie-naked-neck-project.1387024/

We will also be breeding toward regular Giant Silkies too so... this should be fun.

 

[MysteryChicken]

We have decided to call the meat bird project: Project Gojira...
We are figuring the F1 Crosses will be this...

Various Silkie Bantam Rooster (AI) over Light Brahman Hens
Various Silkie Bantam Rooster (AI) over Sex Link, CX, random layer breeds (May include Marans) and EEs
Splash French Maran over Silkie Hens
Oriental Stag over Silkie Hens

As soon as we can get additional Brahman (Buff and Dark), additional broiler strains and Naked Neck pullets to the project we will.

We will keep biggest pullets by weight, height, and general solid body. Then breed back to only biggest Silkie roosters. This should create some Silkie feathered chicks F2. Only Silkie F2 chicks will be considered for breeding including roosters now... we can back breed if needed to F1 or foundation birds if needed. As well we can begin crossing lines at the F3 stage.

Anyway that’s the basic plan.

So you're using Artificial Insemination instead of natural breeding? How many years will you think this project will take you to complete?

So you want Giant Fuzzy Meatballs?
Will love to see how your birds turn out.

My Giant Silkies will have themselves a good Meaty Build, Good Egg Production, Broodiness, & Attractive Silkie Features.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Well we will try natural crossing of course but AI maybe necessary for some crosses... really depends on size differences of parent stock and temperament of birds too.

This girl here we plan to breed. However she attacks roosters not hens just roosters and has broken the necks of 4 in the past. Therefore we house her separate. She is an example of why we might AI.

We are raising chicks now so got a bit before we can pair birds... but the Maran rooster chick is nice sized and should develop into a large boy, he is a beast compared to other Maran chicks. The Brahman pullets are little monsters already... the Silkies that are most mature so far are all a bit large looking to me for bantams. The CX are developing nicely, good solid legs so far and active.

We will need to get Naked Necks to add the gene to the project. So first we will focus on Giant Silkies. I will see about finding either hatching eggs for Naked Necks or just wait till next year and order a few NN chicks along with some extra foundation stock in other breeds.

So pretty sure it will take a few years at least... maybe 5 or more but why not. We were already going to cross breed the CX and Brahmans for meat with other roosters.