Silkie Breeding

[Ivyrae]

Hi there silkie enthusiasts:

I have a pretty simple question for you -or hopefully it is! We have a flock of silkies that we keep separate from our main chicken flock. We allow them to breed when they want to and raise their lovely little babies. However, we have a super determined barred rock roo that is entirely determined to mate our silkies any chance he gets. He has found so many wild ways to break into their run or squeeze by me when I open the door. he must be in love.

of course he is too big to stay with them and we plan to keep a pure bred flock so he must stay out!

however, a silkie mama just hatched her brood and some babies are sure looking like they may be mixed. the surprise! lol.

my main question is this:
if a silkie chick has fluffy silkie feathers when they come in, is he/she for SURE a silkie?

my secondary question is this:
if a mama silkie has smooth/satin feathers, what are the chances that the babies will be smooth/satin?

ok I guess my extra question is:
is there a way to determine that a chick is mixed/not pure bred silkie or IS indeed a satin/smooth feathered silkie?

Thank you so much!

 

[cherrynberry]

Hi there silkie enthusiasts:

I have a pretty simple question for you -or hopefully it is! We have a flock of silkies that we keep separate from our main chicken flock. We allow them to breed when they want to and raise their lovely little babies. However, we have a super determined barred rock roo that is entirely determined to mate our silkies any chance he gets. He has found so many wild ways to break into their run or squeeze by me when I open the door. he must be in love.

of course he is too big to stay with them and we plan to keep a pure bred flock so he must stay out!

however, a silkie mama just hatched her brood and some babies are sure looking like they may be mixed. the surprise! lol.

my main question is this:
if a silkie chick has fluffy silkie feathers when they come in, is he/she for SURE a silkie?

my secondary question is this:
if a mama silkie has smooth/satin feathers, what are the chances that the babies will be smooth/satin?

ok I guess my extra question is:
is there a way to determine that a chick is mixed/not pure bred silkie or IS indeed a satin/smooth feathered silkie?

Thank you so much!

1.) Yes, according to your possible crosses.
2.) First of all, it won’t be a Silkie. Second, do you mean if you breed her with a purebred Silkie roo?
3.) Depends on the traits. A smooth-feathered Silkie is known as a Satin, not a Silkie. A Satin will have to have 90% of the traits of a Silkie in order to qualify. A cross will just have some sort of trait that sets it off or makes it obvious it’s not pure. Such as 4 toes, no crest, lack of feathered feet, etc.

@LadiesAndJane is our Silkie expert around here.

 

[Ivyrae]

1.) Yes, according to your possible crosses.
2.) First of all, it won’t be a Silkie. Second, do you mean if you breed her with a purebred Silkie roo?
3.) Depends on the traits. A smooth-feathered Silkie is known as a Satin, not a Silkie. A Satin will have to have 90% of the traits of a Silkie in order to qualify.

@LadiesAndJane is our Silkie expert around here.

1.) Yes, according to your possible crosses.
2.) First of all, it won’t be a Silkie. Second, do you mean if you breed her with a purebred Silkie roo?
3.) Depends on the traits. A smooth-feathered Silkie is known as a Satin, not a Silkie. A Satin will have to have 90% of the traits of a Silkie in order to qualify. A cross will just have some sort of trait that sets it off or makes it obvious it’s not pure. Such as 4 toes, no crest, etc.

@LadiesAndJane is our Silkie expert around here.

1. thank you. i'm trying to figure out which of the babies i can classify as pure silkies and I've gathered that if they show true silkie feathering then that seems like a safe bet. only 3/15 are showing satin feathers and/or were fathered by the barred rock roo.

2. thanks for the correction. my silkie roo is pure bred/show quality, just beautiful lilttle guy. my plan is to separate my satin silkie (or maybe I should get used to saying just "satin" lol with a satin rooster to keep my silkies pure.

3. and ok that makes sense. I think so far, based on that 2/3 of those chicks with the smooth feathers are for sure mixed. the other I was thinking may be a satin but I wasn't sure how the genetics worked / if a satin bred with a silkie what would determine the feathering.

thanks so much for your response!

 

[cherrynberry]

1. thank you. i'm trying to figure out which of the babies i can classify as pure silkies and I've gathered that if they show true silkie feathering then that seems like a safe bet. only 3/15 are showing satin feathers and/or were fathered by the barred rock roo.

2. thanks for the correction. my silkie roo is pure bred/show quality, just beautiful lilttle guy. my plan is to separate my satin silkie (or maybe I should get used to saying just "satin" lol with a satin rooster to keep my silkies pure.

3. and ok that makes sense. I think so far, based on that 2/3 of those chicks with the smooth feathers are for sure mixed. the other I was thinking may be a satin but I wasn't sure how the genetics worked / if a satin bred with a silkie what would determine the feathering.

thanks so much for your response!

2/3.) If you breed your Satin with your Silkie roo, you will not get any Silkies. ALL the birds in F1 will be smooth-feathered. You may see some “Silkie feathers” in the next generations if you continue to breed the offspring with a Silkie, though.

 

[Ivyrae]

2/3.) If you breed your Satin with your Silkie roo, you will not get any Silkies. ALL the birds in F1 will be smooth-feathered. You may see some “Silkie feathers” in the next generations if you continue to breed the offspring with a Silkie, though.

ok!!! really good to know, I guess we made out pretty well then as far as silkies go. will be more diligent about separation for the next clutch.

it's crazy how drawn to the silkies that barred rock is. he has a full flock of ladies to choose from but does everything he can to get in there. he's moving to a friend's farm soon.

thanks so much for the information!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Thanks for the tag @cherrynberry.
You are correct in much of what you wrote.

If you want to know if any chicks are your barred rock rooster’s babies, check the wing feathers on their wings at about 5 to 6 days of age. Photos below show the difference between a Silkie chick and a smooth feathered chick at 6 days.
If you did get a female from this crossing and bred her back to a pure Silkie, half of the resulting chicks would be smooth feathered and half would be silkie feathered.
A Satin is usually over 90% Silkie, so this is somewhere around the sixth or seventh generation of continuing to breed back the resulting chicks to a Silkie.

Silkied feathered

Smooth feathered

 

[Ivyrae]

thank you so much! that is very helpful. I'm wondering now if my satin girl produces silkie feathered chicks, since I only have her and 2 laying pure bred silkies (my other silkies are all too young to lay yet) and the chicks, besides the obvious mixes with the barred rock break in, lol, seem to all be perfectly silkie. I'll send photos just for the heck of it!

 

[Ivyrae]

 

[Ivyrae]

View attachment 3046748

This is my satin girl, Pixie. (screenshot so not best quality, sorry). the rest of my flock is pure bred silkie. this was when she was a house chicken after surviving a hawk attack!

 

[Ivyrae]