OMG insane week last week!!!!
But...
Rancher's eggs hatched!
...And they are gorgeous!!!
We need more pictures. Please? I was contacted by someone else for eggs. They might be more interested.
I was on a silkie thread that explained that the silkie originally looked like that, breeders breed for more poofy heads. They might be cuter but could they really survive in a less coddled environment? Just like the show polish with their puffy heads covering their eyes and the black Spanish with the exaggerated white ear lobes. These breeds didn't look like they do now originally, and breeding them for one aspect for show they took breeds that where hardy and good egglayers and made them not so much. All to make them 'prettier'. I have white silkie chicks, and have white jersey giants coming in a few weeks, I'll be crossing a couple to increase their size and hardiness. Then I read TSC silkies are huge, supposedly they get them from Mt. Healthy and I checked out them, they say theirs do run about twice the size of show silkies. I might not need to cross them. Then I read there is large breed silkies, they have them in Europe. I don't know how many there are in the US but I did see this pic off a ten pound hen next to a full grown RIR,I have hatchery silkies that are pretty bizarre looking.It looks like someone hacked their head feathers off with a dull knife. How strange that their chicks come out looking like this:
They were my first chicks when I got back into chicken keeping and great layers, so they have a permanent spot in the flock. I was surprised that their offspring came out with proper silkie feathering and combs. Not anywhere near the beautiful show quality I have seen, but pretty little birds with a sweet personality for my backyard flock.
My silkies dunk their heads in the water and food, and that is what they look like. All scraggily and flat. You ahve to wash them to get the "puff" back.
