Silkie crossed with an egg laying breed?

[VinnyVincent]

I have had barnyard mix egg laying hens for several years now. Our neighbor has a silkie rooster he wants to get rid of. We have been thinking about getting a rooster to breed with the hens anyways. Any idea what the offspring might be like? What I want to avoid is offspring that rarely lay eggs, like the silkie. Does anyone have experience, or other info?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I have had barnyard mix egg laying hens for several years now. Our neighbor has a silkie rooster he wants to get rid of. We have been thinking about getting a rooster to breed with the hens anyways. Any idea what the offspring might be like? What I want to avoid is offspring that rarely lay eggs, like the silkie. Does anyone have experience, or other info?

My Silkie hybrids from a Silkie rooster and standard hens have actually been very good layers. They seem to inherit their mothers egg laying ability. Most Silkie crosses will have crests, sometimes beards, feathered feet and often five toes. They will have smooth feathers though as the Silkie feathering is a recessive trait.
Photos of some of the crosses I have or have had in the past.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Oh and also in my experience Silkies are better layers than their reputation. They will usually lay though around 15 eggs before going broody. One of mine though lays about 40 eggs before she does.

 

[VinnyVincent]

Whoa that is so cool! I like how they have regular feathers, but with crests, and even the black skin!


Thank you so much for sharing, I think we may go through with it. He has a really cute white silkie rooster. He already seems to get along with our hens through our shared fence.


This would really be perfect for us because she wants a silkie, but I wanted something more practical like a rooster to breed more egg layers. It's really nice to hear that they are good layers. Do you have any photos of their eggs? Are they like a cross between the small silkie eggs and the bigger laying hen ones?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

The eggs and the birds are generally a bit bigger than Silkies. My Silkies eggs normally weigh about 40 g and the hybrids are about 50 g so I would call them medium sized. Compare this to my Leghorn whose eggs are about 60 g and my BCM whose eggs are over 70 g.

 

[InterestingChickens]

If you do decide to go ahead with it and your hens haven't had direct contact with your neighbour's rooster already, I would suggest to quarantine him for one month, at least 100 feet away from your hens (if possible). This gives you time to look for any diseases he may harbour. When doing routine maintenance, always do your hens first. Good biosecurity measures can go along way to protect you (from experiencing the upset of a disease outbreak) and your birds.

 

[3KillerBs]

If you're intending to breed over multiple generations and you're interested in eggs then adding a heavy dose of poor-layer genetics is a bad idea -- especially if you'll hatch repeatedly with him fathering chicks with his daughters, who will end up 3/4 Silkie.

The rooster is half the flock.