OddballHens
In the Brooder
Hey! So I've only been hatching and rearing my little flock for a couple of years now but I am so baffled by my Silkies. They make up the main bulk of my hens at the moment as I wanted to have broodies before delving into other breeds and I just. I'm not really convinced that they have staple colours at this point honestly! 
Anyway, I just wanted to post a few of my oddities and see what y'all thought! No pics right now as I'm useless and decided to make this thread in the middle of the night but I'll get a photoshoot done tomorrow. Also I just inspected one of my newer chicks and it's a real strange one!
So my last hatch of the year ended with eight lil silks of varrying colours; blacks, golds, a partridge, a white and an odd lil smudgy guy that I'm hoping will come in blue or splash. I lost my only splash hen a couple months back and I miss her a lot but splash seems to be difficult to breed. Now those guys aren't too strange apart from that one kinda pale grey one.
The strange chick is the one I got from elsewhere, my mentor I guess? He breeds brilliant show quality birds which he shows often, focusing on Columbians, Barred Rocks, Buffs and Partridges. He's been helping me out since day one and teaching me loads but he doesn't own or breed silks or well. He didn't. Until I gifted him with a few to say thanks, since he expressed interest in the bigger US varients, double bearded. It turns out they aren't for him though as he prefers smooth feathered breeds although he has been using them to make silkie mixes for broodies. ANYWAY, he has a trio of what are sort of black silkies? I say sort of because both hens and the cockrel have started to grow in this white edging to their feathers. They almost look frosted, it's wild. He wasn't trying to breed them but one hen managed to hatch a single egg under his nose, which was hilarious when I went in and found the little thing just standing around the cockrel. So after my eggs hatched he passed it on to me.
Now this chick was black. And then it's belly got lighter and its head went kinda grey, looked like killer whale markings. The clutch are just starting to grow in their wing feathers (they're comin up on two weeks old) so I was looking at them tonight and noticed this chicks feathers were growing in black and white. Okay, weird considering the parents are black. Well, black enough but not too weird. And then I checked out their feet to be sure they had all their toes and they are genuinely piebald! Like, black and pale skin tone in blotches all over the legs and feet. I have never seen this before, all of my silks have the dark grey skin that's expected. They look so cool though! It reminds me of a piebald snake or something.
Anyone ever seen or heard of this before? Like, these guys aren't mixes and I've seen the pied chicks parents, I even raised the cockrel. They do have that weird frosting/white ticking but they are very firmly black and their skin is the normal colour for silks. They aren't even blue! It's so strange, I'll take some pics of the lil guy tomorrow and upload them since I've only just noticed the skin thing tonight.
Thoughts? Please share your own odd coloured chickens if you'd like! I live for these weirdos.
Anyway, I just wanted to post a few of my oddities and see what y'all thought! No pics right now as I'm useless and decided to make this thread in the middle of the night but I'll get a photoshoot done tomorrow. Also I just inspected one of my newer chicks and it's a real strange one!
So my last hatch of the year ended with eight lil silks of varrying colours; blacks, golds, a partridge, a white and an odd lil smudgy guy that I'm hoping will come in blue or splash. I lost my only splash hen a couple months back and I miss her a lot but splash seems to be difficult to breed. Now those guys aren't too strange apart from that one kinda pale grey one.
The strange chick is the one I got from elsewhere, my mentor I guess? He breeds brilliant show quality birds which he shows often, focusing on Columbians, Barred Rocks, Buffs and Partridges. He's been helping me out since day one and teaching me loads but he doesn't own or breed silks or well. He didn't. Until I gifted him with a few to say thanks, since he expressed interest in the bigger US varients, double bearded. It turns out they aren't for him though as he prefers smooth feathered breeds although he has been using them to make silkie mixes for broodies. ANYWAY, he has a trio of what are sort of black silkies? I say sort of because both hens and the cockrel have started to grow in this white edging to their feathers. They almost look frosted, it's wild. He wasn't trying to breed them but one hen managed to hatch a single egg under his nose, which was hilarious when I went in and found the little thing just standing around the cockrel. So after my eggs hatched he passed it on to me.
Now this chick was black. And then it's belly got lighter and its head went kinda grey, looked like killer whale markings. The clutch are just starting to grow in their wing feathers (they're comin up on two weeks old) so I was looking at them tonight and noticed this chicks feathers were growing in black and white. Okay, weird considering the parents are black. Well, black enough but not too weird. And then I checked out their feet to be sure they had all their toes and they are genuinely piebald! Like, black and pale skin tone in blotches all over the legs and feet. I have never seen this before, all of my silks have the dark grey skin that's expected. They look so cool though! It reminds me of a piebald snake or something.
Anyone ever seen or heard of this before? Like, these guys aren't mixes and I've seen the pied chicks parents, I even raised the cockrel. They do have that weird frosting/white ticking but they are very firmly black and their skin is the normal colour for silks. They aren't even blue! It's so strange, I'll take some pics of the lil guy tomorrow and upload them since I've only just noticed the skin thing tonight.
Thoughts? Please share your own odd coloured chickens if you'd like! I live for these weirdos.
