Non-fluffy Silkies, what are they mixed with? Plus weird Silkie color

[Debbienmousey]

So I bought about 5 Silkie eggs from a guy who lives about an hour away from me, and I assumed that he kept his chickens separated(he raises many breeds, he said) by breed and color. Well I guess I should have asked, because out of 5 eggs I got 2 black, fluffy, normal looking Silkie chicks, and 2 smooth feathered black Silkies. The 2 smooth feathered Silkies are also developing other colors such as brown on their chest/back so I was wondering what they might be mixed with. They have 5 toes per foot, black skin, and I believe correct combs. Just their feathers are wrong, and I'm not sure if they have crests, but I think they might have little ones. Here are some pics

Normal Silkie


Smooth feathered black Silkie mix(?)

Brown markings on back.

Foot shot


Weird colored Silkie..Hatched blue with slight tan markings on face, progressed into tan mixed with blue all over body. I'm thinking he could be blue x partridge mix?

Tan tipped crest

I think this baby has a straight comb..

Foot shot


Another more normal looking black Silkie chick

I believe this chick may have a straight comb also..So I wouldn't want to breed it if it does, right?


The other smooth feathered Silkie mix(?)

Comb shot

She (I hope it's a she) has lighter tan markings on her shoulders, back, and chest, and is more of a blue/splash color on her back.

Feet. Not much fluff there.


Is it possible that they're mixed with Buttercups? I know this guy has Buttercups also, because I bought some of those eggs from him and they hatched. The chicks that hatched from those eggs look like purebred Buttercups though. I think the fluffy blue/tan Silkie came from my small flock of Silkies, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

 

[acid_chipmunk]

It's hard to know what they are mixed with, but the smooths are NOT purebred Silkies. And, most likely the "Silkies" with straight combs are not purebred either, or weren't somewhere back in the breeding line.

Your partridge is a blue partridge and should be very pretty when grown up.

And one last thing, the ones that are Silkie feathered are still not showable, if that is what you were planning, because of lack of middle toe feathering. It may still grow in, but is doubtful.

 

[ChickenPeep]

Im sorry, i dont really know. But id like to say that in the first pic, i thought it was standing on a grill!! Your cookin' up your pets!!

 

[Debbienmousey]

acid_chipmunk - Do Silkie feet need to be feathered on all the toes or just to the middle one? Thanks for your help

. Oh, and supposing the smooth ones are hens, do you think they might make pretty good broodies since they're mixed with Silkies?

ChickenPeep - LOL no! I could never do that to my little babies..Thanks for the idea though, next time I'll have to use the grill for pics instead!

 

[acid_chipmunk]

Quote:
Silkies need to have feathering on the outer toe and the middle toe. Feathering on all toes is just an extra benefit if you are breeding to a bird that doesn't have the middle toe feathering. Most of our birds have feathering on all 5 toes, with the 4th and 5th usually only being a few feathers.

If the smooth ones are hens, they may be good broodies, but there is no telling. I only have 1 pure bred Silkie out of around 35 that has ever gone broody. None of the rest could care. I have a Polish/Silkie mix that I am hoping will want to be broody because I think she will be so cute with little babies running around with her. In all honesty, my BLRW hen is the most broody thing I've ever seen. And she is determined to hatch air. She has been sitting and stealing eggs for about 2 months now. Too bad there is no roo in the layer pen!

 

[Debbienmousey]

Okay. So if you had a nice bird which was close to the SOP but didn't have middle toe feathering, you could try breeding it to a similarly nice bird with feathering on all or most of it's toes, and that might produce chicks with middle toe feathering? Or would you just want to retire it as a pet/find it a new home?

Yeah I know, broodies are so funny

. Breeds that aren't known for broodiness sometimes have an individual that turns out to be the broodiest! I have 4 hatchery Silkie hens and all of them wanted to hatch chicks this year. Only two hatched any, but one of the four is currently broody again.

 

[acid_chipmunk]

Quote:
As long as the rest of the bird was SOP worthy, it wouldn't hurt to try. We generally don't keep birds without middle toe feathering, because it is a DQ. It should even out though in the babies. It works the same with the crests. If you have one with a so-so crest and one with a huge crest, breeding them together would even things out in the second generation and then you can improve from there.

 

[Debbienmousey]

Alright. Thank you

 

[dorothymcd]

I'm guessing its Silkie & Polish mix but im not an expert... Any more recent pics of them? i think they are cute

 

[cgmaster]

Sorry for bringing back an old post but it is possible that they were/are smooth feathered sizzles... People started to try and make frizzled silkies but they needed the smooth ones to breed to(they bred away from silkie feathering on purpose)