Silkie Question

[mayberrygirl]

I was told by a friend that silkies have to have dark purple skin & earlobes to be pure bread, but watching Martha Stewart's chicken show a while back... she had a show silkie on the had turquoise earlobes, black skin & a blueish beak. What is right? I am getting silkie eggs to hatch & bread them.

 

[ChickyLaura]

? I thought it was good for Silkies to have turquoise earlobes. I don't think I've seen a Silkie with purple skin, other than a maroon walnut comb. I also thought they were supposed to have black skin.

I have Silkies, but they're all pet quality. They are the sweetest birds, though!

 

[muddyhorse]

yes they have turquoise ear lobes. dark-black skin. I don't have any side shots to post right now of ear lobes this cockerel has a dark comb

this birds comb is way to red, but he is cuckoo and it is hard to get the comb dark

this cuckoo has mottled skin getting closer to dark skin

 

[Freckle Face Farm]

Those silkies on Martha were hattrick silkies..

 

[Silkiefan]

my pet quality girls have small dark purple walnut combs, bright neon turquoise ears, black skin and black beaks... I got mine from a feed store and for PQ, I think they're quite exquisite! ----- but of course, I'm a biased mom!

 

[mayberrygirl]

I guess I need to learn the difference between regular & hattrick?? I just thought they were Japanese?? Is hattrick the same as Japanese? Oye-vay... lots more to learn.

 

[Teresaann24]

silkies have black skin not dark purple.

 

[Elite Silkies]

Here's an okay shot of the earlobe color.

 

[La_TomboyGirl]

Hattrick is the name of 2 breeding partners who sell some really beautiful birds. I believe it's actually 2 sisters who each live in different states & have their own "projects" that they work on, producing different colors, etc. They are really nice & super fluffy birdies! I'm a newbie to Silkies as well, but can tell you that some of the main traits to look for are Black skin (or as close as possible to black, like a dark charcoal color), black beaks, large black eyes, 5 toes, dark (not red - like black or a dark "mulberry" colored) comb - it looks like a little round knob sort of, & of course, the soft non-barbed feathers. There's a lot of leeway in there for DQ's but that's the basics. If you are going to pick Silkie chicks out of the bantam assortments @ the feed stores/TSC's, just look for the chicks with the black skin, beaks, legs, & 5 toes. The chipmunk striped are partridge, the pale yellow/almost white are white, the darker yellow/golden are buff, the black/greyish ones could be black or blue. Look @ this thread for more detailed desirable traits:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=4008112#p4008112

Hope this helps!

 

[mayberrygirl]

It does help, all have! Thanks! I have silkie eggs coming from here and some from MPC, can't wait!!