Silkie & RIR mix

[kasey08]

anyone have any pics of a RIR and silkie mix?

 

[jarcoo0153]

No, but I bet it is an interesting looking mix though! You are making me curious!

 

[Paaz1120]

I'm not sure but I will know soon!

our Silkie rooster got in with my Boyfriends Step-mothers RIR hens!! she wont eat any fertile eggs so she told us to get them for the next couple days!
haha Timmy couldn't help himself!

Why do you ask?

 

[crash0330]

I have 5 hens that are half RIR and half blue Silkie, I'm not home right now so can't really post pictures but I'll post them as soon as I get home, the best part is that with that cross I got 100% females!

 

[Paaz1120]

Thats awesome!! I cant wait to see pictures!! They are sex link? because the RIR and SIlkie.
How old are they?

 

[RAREROO]

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No they wouldnt be sexlinked, crash just lucked out and got all females.

And just FYI, yours may look different than other peoples crosses becuase I've seen the silkie traits inherit differnetly in lots of birds. I have a BCM X Silkie and shes the color and body shape of a BCM but has black skin and more leg feathering.

I have a Buff Columbina colored Silkie mix hen and she has black skin and also has a little tuft on her head.

Then I had a Silkie X Cochin and it looked like a cochin with a silkies comb and it didnt have Black skin.

And now I have three little chicks from that Buff Columbian mixed hen and a Red Pyle Phoenix rooster and they look like they are going to have black skin too.

So the silkie traits may be different from bird to bird.

 

[crash0330]

Yes silkie crosses tend to go from one extreme to the other just check out this ones all from the same parents. A blue silkie roo and a RIR

 

[RAREROO]

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Beautiful birds !!!!! Silkie crosses are my favorite mutts and they make great broodies. Here is my Buff Columbian colored hen I mentioned with some BCM chicks she hatched a couple years ago.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

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I'm curious about how much of the egg laying ability/egg size they got from the RIR? Are they better layers than a silkie, generally, or is that a total and complete toss-up, too? Are the eggs MUCH smaller thanks to the Silkie influence?

 

[crash0330]

Quote:
I'm curious about how much of the egg laying ability/egg size they got from the RIR? Are they better layers than a silkie, generally, or is that a total and complete toss-up, too? Are the eggs MUCH smaller thanks to the Silkie influence?

So far the eggs have been smaller than the RIR's but not as small as regular silkies but I'm gessing they are closer to regular size eggs than to silkie size eggs, altho they've only been laying for 2 months so who knows they might grow in size, they also started laying way earlier than their other pure bred silkie sisters. As far as production goes I get anywhere from 4 to 5 eggs a week from each one of them.
And they did definatly got the broody gene from the silkies, one of them laid only for a week before she went broody and she did a great job.