pure silkie or mutt?

[muddy75]

so I had 15 silkie chicks shipped from hatchery late summer. they are now right at 16 weeks. 1 has set himself apart as the dominant cockerel and i’ve named him Big Red. He started crowing around 14 weeks. He has large walnut comb and big wattles. I have a few other cockerels in the batch but one of them confuses me a bit because while it otherwise looks like a silkie, he has a single black comb. I finally got a couple new pics today....would appreciate any input as I understand walnut comb is dominant for silkie breed.

 

[FishMtFarm]

Sometimes with lesser quality birds, you will get a single comb. Doesn’t necessarily make them mutts, just not selectively bred.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

The black one is a pure Silkie just not breeder quality.

 

[muddy75]

Sometimes with lesser quality birds, you will get a single comb. Doesn’t necessarily make them mutts, just not selectively bred.

thank you for your reply! I am fairly new to all my chicken breeds and I truly value your feedback! While right now breeding pure silkies is not in my overall plan, I am planning to cull some of the extra boys especially the lower quality before spring. I was able to re-home a few of the girls pretty easily, but seems everyone has enough or too may cockerels when it comes to silkies.

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

If you ordered from a hatchery, they are pure. Alot of the time, hatchery stock is poor quality. It's not uncommon to find single combs in Silkies.

 

[Alexandra33]

You have pure Silkies, just hatchery grade. Several of mine sport modified single combs, true singles, and peas.

~Alex

 

[Gray Farms]

Sometimes with lesser quality birds, you will get a single comb. Doesn’t necessarily make them mutts, just not selectively bred.

Couldn't agree more. Hatchery birds are rarely bred to standard. So getting incorrect traits is very common.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Incorrect or not, they're cute!