- May 3, 2013
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We accidentally got Giant Silkies from our local Tractor Supply Feed store this Spring. We called the store, they said, call the hatchery... Apparently one strain of Mt. Healthy Hatchery Silkies "runs large."
Here is a photo of the Silkie rooster - 3 1/2 months old - next to an 8 month old Rhode Island Red pullet (and a 5 gallon Superbowl feeder up on concrete blocks). The Rhode Island Red pullet is a standard large chicken, no bantam. Decidedly neither is he a bantam - yet as a Silkie technically he shows in the bantam class?! I suppose he'd DQ on size?
We took them for pre-fair pullorum testing and the tester said that's not a Silkie - or, he's a "Giant" Silkie. I'd never heard of a Giant Silkie before and am looking for more information on that... He dwarfed a 3 year old Silkie hen somebody brought to the testing... However, I was assured by Mt. Healthy that this is a pure Silkie. He has Silkie type, coloring, feathering, five toes, etc. Just unexpectedly large size. The hatchery said ours wasn't the first phone call they'd gotten from customers who purchased these chicks when they were cute little fluffy things expecting significantly smaller birds...
We're showing him at the Monmouth County Fair (NJ) July 23-27, 2014 if anybody wants to see him in person. We use the broody Silkies to hatch Welsh Harlequin ducks, so if one of the Silkie chicks proves to be a hen we're going to see if she's a good broody or not, and find out how many ducks she can hatch!
So anyway, there are giant Silkies out there. If you want to keep your Silkies pure maybe get a massive Silkie rooster and go from there! We've given two away already...
Here is a photo of the Silkie rooster - 3 1/2 months old - next to an 8 month old Rhode Island Red pullet (and a 5 gallon Superbowl feeder up on concrete blocks). The Rhode Island Red pullet is a standard large chicken, no bantam. Decidedly neither is he a bantam - yet as a Silkie technically he shows in the bantam class?! I suppose he'd DQ on size?
We took them for pre-fair pullorum testing and the tester said that's not a Silkie - or, he's a "Giant" Silkie. I'd never heard of a Giant Silkie before and am looking for more information on that... He dwarfed a 3 year old Silkie hen somebody brought to the testing... However, I was assured by Mt. Healthy that this is a pure Silkie. He has Silkie type, coloring, feathering, five toes, etc. Just unexpectedly large size. The hatchery said ours wasn't the first phone call they'd gotten from customers who purchased these chicks when they were cute little fluffy things expecting significantly smaller birds...
We're showing him at the Monmouth County Fair (NJ) July 23-27, 2014 if anybody wants to see him in person. We use the broody Silkies to hatch Welsh Harlequin ducks, so if one of the Silkie chicks proves to be a hen we're going to see if she's a good broody or not, and find out how many ducks she can hatch!
So anyway, there are giant Silkies out there. If you want to keep your Silkies pure maybe get a massive Silkie rooster and go from there! We've given two away already...
