(Mini Project) Rainbow Laying Silkies.

[MysteryChicken]

Calm, Friendly, Easy to Tame Temperament
More Silkie feathering including feathered feet
Broodiness
Consistent layers

Here's a picture of my current silkie/barred rock cross hen - my inspiration.
Her dad was a buff silkie so she has the red highlights characteristic of all his chicks. I took him out of the mix for this hatch to see what color combo we'd get from my splash silkie roosters instead. I especially like her face - all tiny and round and a little fluffy up top. She's certainly not a "boring all black hen" like one of my easter Eggers.

Not all silkies are easy to tame from my experience.

The tamest of them all are the SQ Silkies, those are bred specifically for being overly friendly, which actually interferes with intelligence abit. I have a rooster that bites, but doesn't attack, that's from Showstock though. Not the most well behaved, but he's not terrible.


For consistent layers, you want to lessen the broody trait alittle.

 

[Chikyboy]

On the chart it shows that if you cross a f1 OE with f1 or f2 OE, you get lots of different colors, which could save you lots of time, but you can do whatever you want, your chickens, your choice

it will also be easier to get egg colors that are harder to get with crossing

 

[Chikyboy]

Ok

 

[Chikyboy]

I only have that up for example.

I need to get another black Copper Marans, my first died of a heart attack.

I want some BCM, mainly for there egg color.

 

[Smileybans]

I never received a notification.

Yes, that is weird. Do you have parent pictures?

These are the silkies i had at the time. The buff one is a boy.

She hatched out of a silkie egg and the dominant male at the time was this guy.

 

[Smileybans]

He looks like Frizzle Cochin X Barred Rock.
I would expect the offspring(Buff in first picture) to be Black, with buff leaking. The mother had to of been Buff.

Also, the original bird is completely Buff as it appears, pure buff is Buff X Buff. Something isn't adding up.

I agree. The chick is a silkie cross. She has the dark skin and five toes but not the silkie feathering. I dont have a buff silkie hen however. Could an EE be the father? I ruled him out originally because he wasn’t in with the silkies at the time. When i set the silkie eggs, if I’m remembering right, only the Cochin was in with them. I had them separated for awhile. The Cochin was my dominant male at the time. The EE in question is the roo in my profile picture.

 

[Smileybans]

I don't know about the EE.
I did notice that you have a Buff Brahma in the mix. So, she maybe the mother, & Buff Silkie the Father.

It could be possible the EE could be the father due to the Silkie mix laying a blue egg. Unless you have a EE hen, that's Buff in color that maybe the mother.

The Brahma was quarantined at the time of hatching out this hen. I had him in with some pure Brahmas and he had some foot issues I was trying to figure out. But I also had another chick hatch that wasn’t a silkie that ended up with frizzled feathers. The barred cochin was the only frizzle I had and this frizzled chick had no barring. Was all brown. At the time I had only two RIR hens, my silkies (none are buff) and three olive eggers. I hope I’m remembering that number right. I do remember Monster, the light Brahma, was locked up for a good long while due to his foot and trying to get pure brahmas.
Here’s a picture of the other frizzle chick I figured had to be the Cochins offspring. It started out looking like an EE chick but turned out brown and frizzled. I think that means the frizzle wasn’t pure barred cochin.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Hey Mystery, have you started on this project yet?

Not yet, but may cross a Silkie, or two too some Easter Eggers. Just waiting for the thaw to begin.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

Not yet, but may cross a Silkie, or two too some Easter Eggers. Just waiting for the thaw to begin.

Ah, got it. Do you plan to finish up any projects?

 

[Adorae]

Thank you. Well said! One more question does it matter Roo or hen when crossing them back to silky or it’s just my preference…? Since I have two F1 now that are really a pretty blue color with feathered feet … I will try to bring it back silky style with one or both of the two newer batches of Silkys I’m hatching right now

It doesn’t matter which silkie, as long as it was either a pure silkie, which will give you 50% silkie feathering, or a sibling, which would give you 25% silkie feathering.