Silkie with 4 toes on 1 foot?

[askjcm2005]

Hello:

I just recently got into chickens and I am addicted! We have around 15 silkies. Our 2 oldest are only about 10 weeks old. 3 of them are maybe almost a month old and the rest are all tiny, only a week-2 weeks old. 1 of the month olds has 5 toes on 1 foot and 4 toes on the other...How does that happen? Would that mean if it was bred that the babies would be like that too? Another 1 of the tiny babies has really crooked toes too! I wanted to breed them when they were old enough but I dont know if it would be okay to breed those 2.... Any thought?

 

[vfem]

Its in the genes... technically its a defect. That bird, its parent heritage and the off spring are no more then pet quality birds. It has nothing to do with the quality of its laying, or the fact its not a silkie, it is a silkie... just not the highest conditions of the breed are in it. Your birds are just fine

 

[askjcm2005]

Quote:
Good to know! Thanks!!

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

"Another annoying fault is the Silkie that hatches with less than the required five toes on each foot. Having only four toes is another recessive trait but be warned that it is not a simple recessive. The five toed trait is only incompletely dominant so the Silkie with four toes can actually carry the five toed trait. Confusing? Definitely! However, if one four-toed chick hatches from a breeding pen, you can be certain that both parents carry the trait for four toes - to a certain degree.

Again, this "gene" is basically recessive to the normal Silkie five-toed condition, a condition that has the scientific name of polydactyly. Polydactyly simply means "many toes" and frequently involves too many toes! (However, six and seven toed Silkies are an entirely different story for another article.) So, restating the obvious, two Silkies with the correct number of toes on each foot can produce a four-toed chick quite easily. As with single comb producers, if you have a pair that produces a four-toed chick, you need to decide whether to continue using the parents in your breeding program. Decide whether you want to introduce an undesirable trait. No Silkie is perfect in all ways. It might look nearly perfect but odds are that it will have some genetic flaw that you do not like."

This quote is from the American Silkie Bantam Club and is authored by Inga Ladd.

 

[eemabri]

I just got two two week old silkies. The white has 5 toes on both feet and the buff has 4 on one foot and 5 on the other. I am reassured reading these posts... I was worried that maybe the buff isn't a silkie--- really cute and fluffy though. Also, when would I know what their sex is. I'm hoping that at least one is a hen?

 

[chickendales]

Quote:
it probly is a silkie and u might not know the sex till it lays an egg or crows

 

[torrelee]

I also feel much better after reading this! I have two 5 day old silkies, I know that the first one I picked up at the farm had 5 toes and didn't think to look after that. Needless to say I brought home two 4 toe-ers. One has a little tiny nubbin toe on one foot, but definately not "normal" 5 toes. I was worried I wasn't going to have fluffy chickens after I harassed by poor BF into letting me buy them!

 

[Mursal Mirza]

My silkie rooster has 5 toes on one foot and 4 toes on the other and my hen has 5 on both feet will their offspring have 5 toes on one foot and 4 on the other like their dad or not?
Also my silkie roosters walnut comb is really weird it is hanging downwards and looks like someone stuck black jelly on his head and when he walks it wiggles

 

[Georgiecee]

Toe development can also be influenced by incubation, so your four toed chick could have just had an issue in incubator, and it not be a parent issue at all.