lookng for a silkie expert

[Country Living Farm]

Ok, I am getting some Silkies. Now I know thee are different types and I was wondering if someone could ell me the difference.

 

[LilPeeps]

For the three types I'm assuming you're referring to bearded, non bearded and showgirl?

Beardeds are the most popular. They have a beard of feathers under the beak. The wattles of the males are small, with a natural absence preferred. The females generally have extremely small to no wattles at all.

Non beardeds are gaining popularity, and are the type you will get most commonly from hatcheries. Their wattles are significantly larger than that of a bearded. The males will often get wattles as seen on most other beardless birds. The females can also get large wattles, often times larger than those found on bearded males. Usually the crests, and type in general, aren't as good as beardeds as they're not as popular with breeders, although there are some stunning exceptions.

Showgirls are basically silkies with naked necks. They are not a recognized variety as of yet but can be shown as AOV silkies. They were originally bred with turkens with the intent of creating a bird with the same type and in the same varieties as a silkie, with the obvious difference of the lack of feathers on the neck. They can have "bowties", which are a small clump of feathers on the neck somewhat above the crop. These birds are usually heterozygous for the naked neck gene. There are also clean neck silkies, with no feathers on the neck whatsoever. These birds are usually homozygous for the naked neck gene.

Another "type" of silkie is a sizzle. A sizzle is a bird with frizzled, non silkied feathers otherwise conforming to the silkie standard, with the same faults and DQs. They are also unrecognized but can be shown under AOV. Some throwbacks from sizzle projects are frizzled silkies. Frizzled silkies are sizzles, but with silkie feathering as opposed to unsilkied feathering. Normal silkies and unsilkied, unfrizzled silkies can also be produced in sizzle breeding projects.


Bearded:

Non bearded:

Showgirl:

Sizzle (pic is of one of Jaynie, jimnjay's females):

Frizzled silkie:

Frizzled showgirl:

 

[racuda]

That was an excellent explanation. I must say that the last pic is one of the...um...least attractive chickens I've ever seen.