Silkie Cross Thread!! PICS!!

[free burd]

He is from a silver spangled Hamburg hen and a blue or black silkie roo. The parents get along just fine and are very friendly. We've hatched a few of these this year and are very pleased with them. They're only four months old now and we're anxious to see how they mature. They are good flyers and can be a little hard to catch at times, but once you do catch them they are very sweet.

Hello lisaequine,

good description - and a really smart cross.
(i'm a little surprised their personalities matched up so easily)

i considered the hamburg for all of its self-reliant traits but they
are SO feral i would need acreage to handle them and i understand
they still get themselves killed by ranging so far from home.
since i have only town lots i visualized the silkie cross many many times
to calm them down. and a black skinned hamburg would be - as you know -
striking + the burg's green feathers... wow.

your picture is excellent and it's just what i expected...

this is the rest of what i expected....
small egg/excellent lay rate - especially winter. winter hardy/cushion comb.
likely to feed themselves foraging 3 seasons per year. eat very little the rest of the year.
all the efficiency and ruggedness of the hamburg and some of the calm/sweet nature of the silkie.
+ lay longevity for many years.

i wonder if they will be good/devoted brooders.

if they work out well for you i hope you will consider breeding them on for generations
IMHO the hamburg needed this blood a long time ago.

have you given your new 'breed' a name?

robert braun [email protected]

looked at the picture again - THE BLUE EAR too WOW.
really beautiful.

 

[lisaequine1]

Hello lisaequine,

good description - and a really smart cross.
(i'm a little surprised their personalities matched up so easily)

i considered the hamburg for all of its self-reliant traits but they
are SO feral i would need acreage to handle them and i understand
they still get themselves killed by ranging so far from home.
since i have only town lots i visualized the silkie cross many many times
to calm them down. and a black skinned hamburg would be - as you know -
striking + the burg's green feathers... wow.

your picture is excellent and it's just what i expected...

this is the rest of what i expected....
small egg/excellent lay rate - especially winter. winter hardy/cushion comb.
likely to feed themselves foraging 3 seasons per year. eat very little the rest of the year.
all the efficiency and ruggedness of the hamburg and some of the calm/sweet nature of the silkie.
+ lay longevity for many years.

i wonder if they will be good/devoted brooders.

if they work out well for you i hope you will consider breeding them on for generations
IMHO the hamburg needed this blood a long time ago.

have you given your new 'breed' a name?

robert braun [email protected]

looked at the picture again - THE BLUE EAR too WOW.
really beautiful.

Hi free burd,

Thank you for your comments. Our three hamburgs are over a year old now and so far we haven't lost any (knock on wood), they do fly out of the run every day, but never leave home. We have 11 acres though, so I can see where smaller lots could be an issue. They are very friendly girls and easy to catch, but my kids have been carrying them around since day one. They are excellent layers of small eggs and the mother of the guy in the picture is even a good brooder, something that is apparently very rare in hamburgs. I am expecting that these crosses will also be excellent brooders. They are all also great foragers.

I'm posting some more pix for you to see of the others that we hatched. We've been calling them "silburgs."

This is our pretty boy and his sister. She's not as flashy of course, but still is really cute and sooo soft.


I believe this one is also a pullet, a gray version.


We think this one is going to be a roo, he is starting to show some white tips on his feathers.


as a chick....

 

[flower]

A question for those who have had silkie/hamburg crosses grow to maturity, what is the quality of egg production ? And answers from any silkie crosses on egg production would be appreciated.

 

[lisaequine1]

A question for those who have had silkie/hamburg crosses grow to maturity, what is the quality of egg production ? And answers from any silkie crosses on egg production would be appreciated.

Not sure yet, mine just layed her first egg yesterday. She's just under five months old.

 

[free burd]

Hi free burd,

Thank you for your comments. Our three hamburgs are over a year old now and so far we haven't lost any (knock on wood), they do fly out of the run every day, but never leave home. We have 11 acres though, so I can see where smaller lots could be an issue. They are very friendly girls and easy to catch, but my kids have been carrying them around since day one. They are excellent layers of small eggs and the mother of the guy in the picture is even a good brooder, something that is apparently very rare in hamburgs. I am expecting that these crosses will also be excellent brooders. They are all also great foragers.

I'm posting some more pix for you to see of the others that we hatched. We've been calling them "silburgs."

This is our pretty boy and his sister. She's not as flashy of course, but still is really cute and sooo soft.


I believe this one is also a pullet, a gray version.


We think this one is going to be a roo, he is starting to show some white tips on his feathers.


as a chick....

Hello lisaequine and family,
prompted by your post i have been reading more first hand accounts
on hamburgs - (i do more reading on this forum than writing) and i
have come across few if any examples of the superb job your kids
have done of raising hamburgs - their example brings me great hope
of being able to have them one day.
somewhere along in my early study of chickens i thought to myself
every batch of chicks should have children to handle them every day.
your hamburgs are the strongest example of that i could have ever come across.
plus you have a good brooder !!! they must feel very secure in their environment.
what an impressive thing to read about the hamburgs (and their people!).
i would have only expected such an account with the silburgs.

i hope it turns out to be a valuable cross for your family.
it's well deserved.
i am grateful to you for being able to see it.
the females black skin and green feathers - it's just what i visualized.
those birds have an attractive form/conformation don't they...

endlessly impressed,
robert braun [email protected]
and by the way, thank you for not calling a gray bird 'blue' (!)

 

[Georgia Boy 1970]

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New additions to my flock,silkie mixes.

 

[Georgia Boy 1970]

​

A few more of my silkie mixes.

 

[JaimeLynn20]

Just hatched yesterday. It is a EE roo with a White Silkie Hen cross.

 

[ihavechickens2]

I have this silkie mixhen that had chicks with my black silkie roo



mom^



dad^









some of the chicks^
does anyone now if the chicks will stay black?

 

[JaimeLynn20]

1 day old Silkie/EE mix (Mom was pure white silkie)

Here He/She is at 1 month old (I am thinking he is a Roo)
sibling at 3 days old.

Second one at a month old

2 days old

This is the 3rd one from my first hatch.

I am thinking 2 and 3 are girls and the first is a Roo, but I am new at this. I guess I will have to just wait and see.