Silkies mixed with EEs

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

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Very cute! The girls look quite similar to the regular feathered ones I hatched here.

Lisa

 

[yomama]

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Those are some really beautiful birds. Thanks everyone for giving me an idea of what to expect.

 

[Inkheart]

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Those are BEAUTIFUL birds !

 

[TurtleFeathers]

Thanks y'all!

The girls from this original cross lay blue eggs, like their EE mothers did - so I bred them back to silkie roosters, and got silkie feathered chicks. They're looking pretty much like my regular silkies as far as type, but I'm hoping these will lay blue eggs.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

I was just wondering if the silkie crosses ended up being any better layers than the pure silkies?

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

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These are incredibly handsome. I would love a whole flock of these buggers.

 

[phasianidae]

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What color was the Silkie roo?

 

[TurtleFeathers]

Thanks y'all - sorry for the late response - I must have lost track of this thread!

The hens from my original EE/silkie cross laid every bit as often as both my silkies AND my EE's do - winter didn't slow them down much at all, and their eggs are about halfway in between the sizes of each parent breed (mediums, I'd say). I only have one of the hens left from that original cross tho (Dotty, the white hen with black spots in the pic), as the others were killed by a hawk within the last month. Hawkeye, the rooster in the pic is still with me too - he is the head rooster in my free range LF flock. Here he is just the other day:

I really don't know exactly who the parents were in that original cross - the father(s) could have been any of 3 silkie roosters (a blue, a grey and a blue partridge), and the mother(s) could have been any of the only 3 EE's I had at the time that laid large and extra large blue eggs (one is partridge looking, one is similar to blue wheaten, and another is on the order of silver).

Of the 2nd generation of chicks I hatched from Dotty and her sisters (before they were killed) after they were bred back to silkie roosters, some were silkie feathered and some were hard feathered (which I expected). Of the silkie feathered chicks, only one ended up being a pullet - a blue. Of the hard feathered chicks, only one was a pullet as well - she's white with reddish highlights, making her appear to be "blonde" (I don't know how else to describe it). There is one other hard feathered chick (a blue) that I kept, thinking it was a pullet, but it started getting streamers from the crest and shiny hackle/saddle feathers around Christmas time - I haven't heard it crow yet, but I expect it to start any day. So, I ended up with a trio of 2nd generation birds. I was hoping to recreate Dotty's coloring (which I haven't ID'd yet), but the blonde pullet is the only one that came close.

I've also hatched a few of Hawkeye's chicks with my LF girls - one from last fall that hatched from a BCM egg turned out to be pullet - she looks like a HUGE black silkie with hard feathers - I'm hoping she'll lay an olive egg. Also, just this week, for the fun of it, I hatched some eggs from my Ameraucana and BLRW girls that were fathered by Hawkeye - I'm seeing all KINDS of weirdness with them so far: dark/light skin, 4/5 toes, feathered/clean feet and legs, single/flat combs, etc...

Who knows - maybe one day they'll give me olive egg laying, BLR silkie feathered EE's with feathered feet and 5 toes!!!

I'm really gonna have to get out there with my camera again one day soon...

ETA: Took these pics last night - this is the Sally, the pullet from last fall that I'm hoping will lay olive eggs - dad is Hawkeye (pic above) and Eleanor, my black copper marans:

and these are from Hawkeye and Juliette, one of my BLRW's - note the lack of crest and feathered feet:

 

[Cattitude]

I have some Silkie X Ameraucanas, F1s, that lay blue and green eggs. Ignore the white roo in front; he's a camera hog.

 

[Bryam]

They don't really look like silkies!! Sorry!! You can tell they are all mixed ! Silkie have short bodies that are not lanky!