Silkie x RIR

[OvaX]

Hello

I might be getting a Silkie cock and one or two Silkie hens soon. I currently have 3 Rhode Island Red/Sussex hens. One is large and the others are thinner and slightly smaller. They are great layers and I was wondering is it possible for a Silkie cock to mate with them. If so what would the offspring be like and how many eggs and would they lay?

The larger one in the picture is in the far right.

 

[GitaBooks]

Some silkies are better at breeding with standard hens then others. It depends on the strain (I find my Naked Neck silkie can breed with hens a lot better then my normal roo). I've found that first generation crosses produce non-silkied chicks but they have feathered legs, grey skin, cushion combs, and extra toes like silkies. They are also good broodies, pretty good egg layers, and hardy in all kinds of weather conditions.

It sounds like it wound be a cool cross!

PS: Mine are not mixed with RIRs,but with other breeds such as OEG bantams

 

[OvaX]

Could you show me pictures of the crosses?

 

[GitaBooks]

Goldie, a silkie cross


Dove, some sort of silkie cross, not sure of her parentage as she is pretty large for a bantam


Dastan, a silkie cross


Rudy, a silkie, OEGB, sebright cross


The four silkie crosses (I call them Dalmatians) at a day old