Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[LynnaePB]

100% hatch rate! Congrats!
Can't wait to see photos!
Hope your little ones with the foot issues do alright. I find it pretty amazing how quickly they improve with the little tape shoes.
One of my pure silkie chicks has only 4 toes on each foot, very strange. Read that this can be partly due to incubation issues, but I have no idea really. I had some with 6 toes last Spring.
I love taking photos of the chicks! I lie on the ground and get on the chicks' level to get most of the photos, though getting back up again is not easy!
I have more hatching this week-end as well, 6 silkies and 4 polkies as well as the 3 Astrid eggs Layla was brooding.
Interestingly, the one she kicked out of the nest box on the 4th day has already internally pipped, while the other two she sat on until day 9 seem to be a day or two behind.
Good luck with your hatch this week-end!

Thank you!

I've also heard about extra or too few toes resulting from incubation issues besides genetic causes. I might be being a little too quick in blaming the father on some of the issues as they can have a inherited genetic source but not always.

That is interesting about the egg that got kicked out earlier developing more quickly. I guess Layla must keep the eggs a little cooler than the incubator does.

I'm too impatient with my pictures, I get frustrated and give up after awhile when most of mine turn out blurry!

Good luck with your upcoming hatch this weekend as well, I'm looking forward to seeing the babies!!!

 

[LynnaePB]

Congrats on the hatch!! 100% hatched is awesome! Can’t wait to see pictures! I do love the paint color, someday maybe! How hard is it to make silkied Cochins? I’ve seen those and they look so cool and I DO have a tiny bantam cochin boy would be fun to try hatching a few someday if they ever allow him to come near them haha.

Thanks!

I was wondering the same about the silkied cochins, they are pretty adorable! Silkies and cochins aren't terribly different type wise and the beard could be gone in just a few generations as could the walnut comb and extra toes probably but I'm unsure how long it would take to get rid of the crest completely and the darker skin.

To get a cute silkie feathered cochin/silkie mix would be easy enough though after a couple generations.

 

[Angel07]

Just saw this thread. I like silkies but sadly it gets too muddy here for such fluffy things. I'm hoping to organise something soon to get some. I actually want to get a couple of hens just to hatch my eggs and am thinking of silkies. Have to get a rooster though because we lost our last one to a fox but we've fixed that problem.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Yall my 6 month old silkies just began layin...n doin the "do" with my 6 month old lil roo. I luv these lil fluff balls!!! My 2 lil girls r white splash n roo is black. The girls always stayed so pretty, fluffy n white...til the "do". TMI? Now they r all wet from the moist ground and brown from the leaves n wood chips n stuff. Any suggestions on keeping the girls fluffy again? I mean they literally look like half their size from day to day...then somehow fluff back up ag

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Yall my 6 month old silkies just began layin...n doin the "do" with my 6 month old lil roo. I luv these lil fluff balls!!! My 2 lil girls r white splash n roo is black. The girls always stayed so pretty, fluffy n white...til the "do". TMI? Now they r all wet from the moist ground and brown from the leaves n wood chips n stuff. Any suggestions on keeping the girls fluffy again? I mean they literally look like half their size from day to day...then somehow fluff back up ag

Congrats on your new layers!
I keep my birds in covered runs to help keep them dry with access to areas to dust bathe. They stay surprisingly clean.

 

[kurby22]

Thanks!

I was wondering the same about the silkied cochins, they are pretty adorable! Silkies and cochins aren't terribly different type wise and the beard could be gone in just a few generations as could the walnut comb and extra toes probably but I'm unsure how long it would take to get rid of the crest completely and the darker skin.

To get a cute silkie feathered cochin/silkie mix would be easy enough though after a couple generations.

Yeah, I was thinking that even if they’re mixed they’d make super cute babies haha. White silkies are recessive white yes? So mixed with a BBS Cochin they’d like produce black babies? What about partridge? Would that also be black too? Haha. Boring but pretty!

 

[kurby22]

Yall my 6 month old silkies just began layin...n doin the "do" with my 6 month old lil roo. I luv these lil fluff balls!!! My 2 lil girls r white splash n roo is black. The girls always stayed so pretty, fluffy n white...til the "do". TMI? Now they r all wet from the moist ground and brown from the leaves n wood chips n stuff. Any suggestions on keeping the girls fluffy again? I mean they literally look like half their size from day to day...then somehow fluff back up ag

I too have a covered area where they can stay or get dried off. I also keep a dust bath area that’s dry and that seems to work pretty great even with my floofy white girl. They actually stay cleaner than some of my normal feathered chickens

 

[kurby22]

Just saw this thread. I like silkies but sadly it gets too muddy here for such fluffy things. I'm hoping to organise something soon to get some. I actually want to get a couple of hens just to hatch my eggs and am thinking of silkies. Have to get a rooster though because we lost our last one to a fox but we've fixed that problem.

My silkies are funny, they don’t really mind getting wet but stay surprisingly clean. Muddy all the time isn’t ideal though…I live where it’s dry a lot so I haven’t had to deal with that constant wetness. They’re so great though!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Was looking over the Polkie chicks to see if I could see the differences between the smooth and silkie feathered and could already tell in their wings what feather type they are!
They’re only 6 days old so this was useful. Two of the chicks are only 4 days old and I was not sure yet with these, so 6 days old seems to be the magic number. Photos below to illustrate for others who might find this interesting.
Smooth

Silkied

 

[LynnaePB]

Here are the new little ones, mostly fluffed up now.

Here is dad, I really like his type. I hope he'll pass on the shorter back and higher tail as that is something a lot of my girls need work on. The first picture is back when he was around 6 months or so and the last is him currently (he is looking pretty scruffy right now, I can't wait until he does a full molt).

Yall my 6 month old silkies just began layin...n doin the "do" with my 6 month old lil roo. I luv these lil fluff balls!!! My 2 lil girls r white splash n roo is black. The girls always stayed so pretty, fluffy n white...til the "do". TMI? Now they r all wet from the moist ground and brown from the leaves n wood chips n stuff. Any suggestions on keeping the girls fluffy again? I mean they literally look like half their size from day to day...then somehow fluff back up ag

When I had mine outside without cover they did the same, it really is amazing how much they can change in fluffiness day to day!

Yeah, I was thinking that even if they’re mixed they’d make super cute babies haha. White silkies are recessive white yes? So mixed with a BBS Cochin they’d like produce black babies? What about partridge? Would that also be black too? Haha. Boring but pretty!

Yep silkies from white lines are recessive white. Is your BBS cochin black or blue or splash? If he's black you'll probably get black chicks for the first generation pairing to a white. A lot of the time recessive whites have partridge under the white which is more recessive than black. Sometimes the whites have other interesting colors hiding though so you never know until you try! Bred to a partridge you'll probably get black babies as well for the first generation (with possibly a little gold leakage in the hackles/breast area).

Was looking over the Polkie chicks to see if I could see the differences between the smooth and silkie feathered and could already tell in their wings what feather type they are!
They’re only 6 days old so this was useful. Two of the chicks are only 4 days old and I was not sure yet with these, so 6 days old seems to be the magic number. Photos below to illustrate for others who might find this interesting.
Smooth
View attachment 2873667
SilkiedView attachment 2873669

This is really neat, and great example photos!