Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[LynnaePB]

Thank you for the feed back! I emailed the breeder as well with the same photo. He just replied. He says he is 5th generation smooth "sizzle" which does not have the sizzle feathers, but is used for breeding sizzles?? Guess he has the gene for the sizzle (silke/frizzle?) feathering, but needs to be bred to the right bird to produce frizzles? Cool, though not sure where I will find the appropriate mate for him. All my other silkies are just plain old silkies!

I don't breed satins/sizzles myself (just regular silkies) but I have researched into it a bit.

Sizzles/satins/feather types get kind of confusing. I think sizzle is the old name for satin but maybe there is more to it. Neither sizzles or satins are a recognized breed at this point but it is my understanding that they are a non silkie feathered bird that can come in either smooth or frizzle that is otherwise bred to the silkie standard.

5th generation likely means your little one has a bit more cochin mixed in than some other sizzle/satin projects that are further along in generations.

Frizzle is a dominant gene so your little smooth baby is not carrying the frizzle gene (if it was it would show). Smooth satins/sizzles are good to breed to a frizzled satin/sizzle however and with that pairing you should get around 50% smooth feathered and 50% frizzle feathered offspring.

Smooth feathered parents are very important in ethical breeding of frizzles because if you breed a frizzle to a frizzle you have a 25% chance of producing something called a frazzle. Frazzles unfortunately do not usually do well as their feathers are often very brittle causing them to be partially bald and I've heard internal problems with their organs are common as well.

Silkie feathering is recessive so your little one could potentially be carrying one copy of the silkie feather gene. You can find out if that is the case by breeding to one of your silkies. If he is carrying the silkie feather gene around 50% of the babies will be silkie feathered and 50% smooth feathered like him.

You can even have silkie feathered birds that are also frizzles (same rules apply, you don't want to breed two frizzle feathered silkies together either if you want to avoid frazzle offspring). It's a little harder to tell if a silkie is a frizzle as the feathers don't curl quite as obviously as with regular frizzles but they look a bit more "frizzy" than regular silkies and there is some curl to their feathers.

Sorry for the long explanation, I hope I didn't further confuse things.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I don't breed satins/sizzles myself (just regular silkies) but I have researched into it a bit.

Sizzles/satins/feather types get kind of confusing. I think sizzle is the old name for satin but maybe there is more to it. Neither sizzles or satins are a recognized breed at this point but it is my understanding that they are a non silkie feathered bird that can come in either smooth or frizzle that is otherwise bred to the silkie standard.

5th generation likely means your little one has a bit more cochin mixed in than some other sizzle/satin projects that are further along in generations.

Frizzle is a dominant gene so your little smooth baby is not carrying the frizzle gene (if it was it would show). Smooth satins/sizzles are good to breed to a frizzled satin/sizzle however and with that pairing you should get around 50% smooth feathered and 50% frizzle feathered offspring.

Smooth feathered parents are very important in ethical breeding of frizzles because if you breed a frizzle to a frizzle you have a 25% chance of producing something called a frazzle. Frazzles unfortunately do not usually do well as their feathers are often very brittle causing them to be partially bald and I've heard internal problems with their organs are common as well.

Silkie feathering is recessive so your little one could potentially be carrying one copy of the silkie feather gene. You can find out if that is the case by breeding to one of your silkies. If he is carrying the silkie feather gene around 50% of the babies will be silkie feathered and 50% smooth feathered like him.

You can even have silkie feathered birds that are also frizzles (same rules apply, you don't want to breed two frizzle feathered silkies together either if you want to avoid frazzle offspring). It's a little harder to tell if a silkie is a frizzle as the feathers don't curl quite as obviously as with regular frizzles but they look a bit more "frizzy" than regular silkies and there is some curl to their feathers.

Sorry for the long explanation, I hope I didn't further confuse things.

Thank you so much @LynnaePB I really appreciate it and I LOVE details!
You explained it very well, I had read about the "frazzle" issue when crossing 2 frizzles.
While I have your attention can I ask you another few questions as you have the knowledge. We really want to keep our little satin/sizzle. Closer inspection of his feathering which is still coming in, looks like he may be a splash and not a lavender. He is beautiful just the same. He has all the other silkie features (black skin, 5 toes, etc)
We were planning on keeping him mostly because he is my daughter's favorite. He would be the only rooster in that case. We also have a blue, I suspect cockerel, a partridge pullet (my daughter's second favorite), a white pullet, a splash pullet and a white cockerel. All the genders are my slightly educated guesses based on appearance and behavior knowing full well that sexing silkies is famously difficult until they are quite a bit older. There is a silkie breeder in my area (not the one I got the hatching eggs from) who is happy to do some trades as he is looking to get new blood lines. He has some gorgeous black and splash birds as well.
I know I could probably do a BBS pen and trade the white and partridge, but we want to keep the partridge anyway. We could probably trade the blue cockerel for a blue or black pullet.
Would it be a crime to breed splash to partridge and or white?
Should we even use our little satin/sizzle for breeding if he is not purebred?
Thanks and apologize for long windedness!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Photos of our little Pip just now:

s

 

[LynnaePB]

Thank you so much @LynnaePB I really appreciate it and I LOVE details!
You explained it very well, I had read about the "frazzle" issue when crossing 2 frizzles.
While I have your attention can I ask you another few questions as you have the knowledge. We really want to keep our little satin/sizzle. Closer inspection of his feathering which is still coming in, looks like he may be a splash and not a lavender. He is beautiful just the same. He has all the other silkie features (black skin, 5 toes, etc)
We were planning on keeping him mostly because he is my daughter's favorite. He would be the only rooster in that case. We also have a blue, I suspect cockerel, a partridge pullet (my daughter's second favorite), a white pullet, a splash pullet and a white cockerel. All the genders are my slightly educated guesses based on appearance and behavior knowing full well that sexing silkies is famously difficult until they are quite a bit older. There is a silkie breeder in my area (not the one I got the hatching eggs from) who is happy to do some trades as he is looking to get new blood lines. He has some gorgeous black and splash birds as well.
I know I could probably do a BBS pen and trade the white and partridge, but we want to keep the partridge anyway. We could probably trade the blue cockerel for a blue or black pullet.
Would it be a crime to breed splash to partridge and or white?
Should we even use our little satin/sizzle for breeding if he is not purebred?
Thanks and apologize for long windedness!

I would say it really comes down to what your goals are. Are you breeding cute/pretty pets or are you trying to breed to standard and work towards silkies who could be show potential?

If you are going the pet route then I personally don't think there is anything wrong with mixing colors as long as you are upfront about it with potential buyers if you sell the offspring.

If you want to breed to standard and work toward show quality birds then breeding in partridge and white will likely complicate things and make a lot more work for you in the long run. Both partridge and white are recessive so it'll be a lot harder to breed those colors out. Also I believe for BBS you'll want silver to be the ground color and partridge will introduce gold and white may introduce it.

If the breeder was breeding each generation of sizzle/satin back to silkies than your little sizzle/satin boy is mostly silkie at this point (if I calculated right he should be 96.875% silkie). If you bred him to a silkie his offspring would be a little over 98% silkie. If he has some really nice silkie qualities it might not be such a bad thing to breed him to your silkies but again it depends on your goals.

I may not be the best person to ask as I'm only just getting into breeding myself though.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Thank you @LynnaePB, I appreciate you taking the time to respond! Probably not going to show the birds as I live on an Island, but still nice to know I could if I followed breed standard. First time silkie owner, they are all so sweet. I have Marans and Ameraucana chicks too, they all get along so well. Little Pip bosses the bigger standard chicks around, pretty funny to watch as he is half their size!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Ok silkie enthusiasts, I have a challenge for you! I am posting photos of the rest of my 4 week old babies, to see if anyone can tell gender yet! I know it is WAY to early to tell for sure, but I have read on some of these threads there are some of you out there that have a knack for this.
I have read about puff on top of the head and beaks being a little different between the genders already at this young age.
I have 5 here, the blue one, Asher, I think may be an actual "sizzle". His feathers are different from the other silkies and he came from the same pen as Pip, from my previous post, who is a satin.
Let me know what you all think! Thanks!

Asher, blue

Jane, white

Zelda, white

Kana, partridge

Layla, splash

 

[PioneerChicks]

Ok silkie enthusiasts, I have a challenge for you! I am posting photos of the rest of my 4 week old babies, to see if anyone can tell gender yet! I know it is WAY to early to tell for sure, but I have read on some of these threads there are some of you out there that have a knack for this.
I have read about puff on top of the head and beaks being a little different between the genders already at this young age.
I have 5 here, the blue one, Asher, I think may be an actual "sizzle". His feathers are different from the other silkies and he came from the same pen as Pip, from my previous post, who is a satin.
Let me know what you all think! Thanks!

Asher, blue
View attachment 2207853View attachment 2207854View attachment 2207855View attachment 2207856View attachment 2207857

Jane, white
View attachment 2207858View attachment 2207859

Zelda, white
View attachment 2207860View attachment 2207861View attachment 2207862

Kana, partridge
View attachment 2207863View attachment 2207864View attachment 2207865

Layla, splash
View attachment 2207866View attachment 2207868

Your chicks are adorable!!!

I'm afraid they're too young to sex accurately, but I would love to see pictures of them in 3-4 weeks!

The way most people sex silkies is by checking their crests (head puffs). Round, fluffy crests belong to girls while boys have pulled back crests with streamers. Combs are also a big giveaway. Male combs develop faster and are much bigger than those of the females. We also follow they're behavior closely for hints, though this isn't the most accurate way. The boys are often bolder then the girls and stand taller. As for beak sexing, some say it works, some say it doesn't. I believe it is just chance. But if you want to try it, boy beaks are supposed to be mostly strait with a sharp curve at the end while the girls are supposed to have a rounder beak (look from the side).

Here is an article I made on sexing silkies, though the pictures are currently having problems. But you might be able to get some out of it anyways
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/sexing-silkies.75451/

Good luck!

 

[CindyinSD]

Your chicks are adorable!!!

I'm afraid they're too young to sex accurately, but I would love to see pictures of them in 3-4 weeks!

The way most people sex silkies is by checking their crests (head puffs). Round, fluffy crests belong to girls while boys have pulled back crests with streamers. Combs are also a big giveaway. Male combs develop faster and are much bigger than those of the females. We also follow they're behavior closely for hints, though this isn't the most accurate way. The boys are often bolder then the girls and stand taller. As for beak sexing, some say it works, some say it doesn't. I believe it is just chance. But if you want to try it, boy beaks are supposed to be mostly strait with a sharp curve at the end while the girls are supposed to have a rounder beak (look from the side).

Here is an article I made on sexing silkies, though the pictures are currently having problems. But you might be able to get some out of it anyways
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/sexing-silkies.75451/

Good luck!

I think there was a problem with some of the photos when they updated the platform last time. @CarpCharacin may be able to check that for you or direct you to the right contact person.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Your chicks are adorable!!!

I'm afraid they're too young to sex accurately, but I would love to see pictures of them in 3-4 weeks!

The way most people sex silkies is by checking their crests (head puffs). Round, fluffy crests belong to girls while boys have pulled back crests with streamers. Combs are also a big giveaway. Male combs develop faster and are much bigger than those of the females. We also follow they're behavior closely for hints, though this isn't the most accurate way. The boys are often bolder then the girls and stand taller. As for beak sexing, some say it works, some say it doesn't. I believe it is just chance. But if you want to try it, boy beaks are supposed to be mostly strait with a sharp curve at the end while the girls are supposed to have a rounder beak (look from the side).

Here is an article I made on sexing silkies, though the pictures are currently having problems. But you might be able to get some out of it anyways
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/sexing-silkies.75451/

Good luck!

Thank you so much @SoftSilkie!
I will definitely post an update! Any ideas about Asher's feathering? His wings show he has some "normal" feathers mixed in that kind of look like someone with a bad hair day!
The breeder does breed sizzles and smooths, and has them in his "blues" pen with his regular silkies where both Pip and Asher come from. The other silkie chicks all have regular silkie feathers. Big balls of fluff!
I already read your article, that's where I got the info!

 

[PioneerChicks]

I think there was a problem with some of the photos when they updated the platform last time. @CarpCharacin may be able to check that for you or direct you to the right contact person.

Well, it's sort of confusing. I sort of know what's going on. Photos from my computer don't work so I just need to upload photos onto it from a phone. I got it covered, just need the time...

Thank you so much @SoftSilkie!
I will definitely post an update! Any ideas about Asher's feathering? His wings show he has some "normal" feathers mixed in that kind of look like someone with a bad hair day!
The breeder does breed sizzles and smooths, and has them in his "blues" pen with his regular silkies where both Pip and Asher come from. The other silkie chicks all have regular silkie feathers. Big balls of fluff!
I already read your article, that's where I got the info!

I don't know much about smooths and sizzles, but if they are in the same pen it is likely he could be a mix or a sizzle or smooth. Some lesser-quality silkies (such as silkies from hatcheries like mine) have some normal chicken feathers, but if you got them from a breeder that is unlikely.