Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[MamaChicken02]

Huh, that’s interesting!!!

I wish i knew what they were!!! But thank you for helping!! Now i just need to figure out which of my Silkie and Silkie/frizzle babies I’m keeping! Lol

 

[CaliFarmsAR]

I wish i knew what they were!!! But thank you for helping!! Now i just need to figure out which of my Silkie and Silkie/frizzle babies I’m keeping! Lol

You’re welcome! Keep ALL the CUTE ones (aka: ALL OF THEM)

 

[MamaChicken02]

You’re welcome! Keep ALL the CUTE ones (aka: ALL OF THEM)

I’ve been so very tempted lol but i have 10 juveniles. 17 two weeks olds. 19 one day olds. And 23 starting to hatch in the incubator

 

[CaliFarmsAR]

I’ve been so very tempted lol but i have 10 juveniles. 17 two weeks olds. 19 one day olds. And 23 starting to hatch in the incubator

Wow!!!

 

[CaliFarmsAR]

Wow!!!

That’s insane!!! We used to have about 100 or more chickens, but have cut down on them!!!

 

[MamaChicken02]

That’s insane!!! We used to have about 100 or more chickens, but have cut down on them!!!

I have cut down! But now hatching season is here!

 

[CaliFarmsAR]

I have cut down! But now hatching season is here!

nah, you don’t need to cut down

 

[CaliFarmsAR]

My blue Silkie pullet!

 

[LynnaePB]

Thanks for the info, I'm eggcited for Spring time babies! With these orange girls bred back to Biscuit I'm sure to get more orange offspring then or if my young paint boys are sneaking in a mate with the orange girls there might be some other variety

Can't wait to see your frizzle chicks! Frizzles are so cute! What colour is the Silkie boy you've put her with?

Thank you! I can't wait to see what you get when you start getting babies from them as well!

This is the boy I've got her with and her. He's sort of partridge like but with a little more red, I think they should compliment each other.

Broody Betty did a fantastic job hatching my Olandsk Dwarf eggs! 4 fertile eggs, 4 babies hatched and seemingly healthy! When I incubate them, I always lose at least half the babies during lockdown. I think having a broody Silkie or two is going to help a lot!

Aww congratulations to you and miss Betty on such a great hatch! The little ones are absolutely adorable, I just love the down color on the little yellow one with the brown on the head.

Here are my two new babies!!! I got a blue and black View attachment 3159532View attachment 3159534

Aww what cuties! Congratulations!

My Silkie and frizzle Silkie babies! Just hatched yesterday!!! I’ve been trying to figure out colors! But the black and white ones i can’t find possible pictures anywhere!!

Thoughts on any of them?!?

View attachment 3159864


View attachment 3159865



View attachment 3159866



View attachment 3159867



View attachment 3159869



View attachment 3159872



View attachment 3159874



View attachment 3159875



View attachment 3159876
Picture of all babies together!

View attachment 3159877
Picture of babies and Miss Frizzle!

Wow what a great variety of colors you got there! I'd say it's looking like you've got some that will be the silver version of partridge (called gray in silkies). Some that are likely blue based and the silver version of partridge....not sure what to call those except blue based grays or mixed color. Then the lightest one could be recessive white, a light downed blue, splash, or even lavender though lavender is so rare I'd say that is the least likely. Then you've got some that look blue and some that look black. The black downed chick with the most white and light colored beaks/combs might have mottling involved. Maybe just splits (meaning they carry mottling but won't show it). They might just be blacks as well though.

As far as what to call the chick colors my guesses might help but if selling I'd definitely mention they come from a mixed color flock so breeders don't accidently mix in some recessives they didn't want in pure color pens if buying chicks. Serious breeders who understand recessives etc might ask on their own if the chicks came from color separated pens. Always better to be safe than sorry though as you don't want any disgruntled customers. People who just want pets or breed a mixed flock themselves I'm sure won't mind either way.

The blue babies could be coming from your white girl as white can hide pretty much anything underneath without it showing. It's also possible that one of your black boys is actually a very dark blue (blue can vary a lot from nearly lavender looking to black looking). From the pictures I'd guess Beast would be a bit more likely to be a dark blue than your other boy. If the lightest chick turns out splash that would mean one of your boys has to be carrying blue since both parents have to have the blue gene for splash to happen. At least one of your boys must be split on his e-allele to probably eb (partridge) to get the eb silver version of partridge chicks. One or more of the black girls may be split to eb too though your white girl is probably the most likely to be eb based as a lot of recessive whites are underneath the white. It's pretty much just a guessing game with multiple boys and girls together about what colors came from which though.

Here is an example of how dark blue can be. This is a blue girl of mine that looks closer to black.

I'm guessing young I know but the far left sitting down chick looks boyish do you all agree? - wattles and comb showing..
He is quite a plain colour (off-white?) so would I be better off selling him and keeping the other boyish looking paint coloured one? Also looks to be another paint type coloured boy but not as many splotchy dark bits...

View attachment 3159899

Aww they really are cuties and looks like they are enjoying the dust bath despite it being wet.

I'd guess you are probably right about that one little one being more likely a boy. If I were you and had to choose right now which boys to keep I'd probably choose the more spotted one for the color. Type is really important to me when picking a boy to keep too though so I usually keep boys until they are at least 6-7 months old when they are old enough I can judge type better.

I have another auestion!! I’m sorry guys!!! I was told these two black juveniles were slick Japanese bantams. But i can’t find anything on that breed! Google, Pinterest, even on here! Is this a satin or a smooth???? Because i have eggs in the incubator she labeled as the same breed

View attachment 3160087

View attachment 3160090View attachment 3160089

Hmmm yeah I've never heard of that breed either. Is it possible the breeder meant silkie japanese bantams as in a silkie japanese bantam cross? They definitely look like silkie mixes to me and they could be a silkie crossed to a Japanese bantam perhaps. They have regular smooth/non silkie feathering. Satins are a project breed that have non silkie feathers as well but are bred to the silkie standard and have been bred back to silkies for enough generations they are genetically 99%+ silkie just without the silkie feathers. Originally satins were outcrossed to another breed to get the non silkied feathers (often the first crossing was to a cochin). Unless they've been backcrossed to silkies for enough generations they are almost all silkie they can't be considered satins yet and are considered mixes or if working towards making satins could be considered a satin project. The whole satin thing does get a little confusing for sure. Some breeders consider satins to be silkies since genetically they are the same other than feather type. The breeders who started satins as a project in the first place have tried to get them recognized as silkies and were told no they can't be recognized as silkies as they must have silkie feathers to be considered a silkie. This is why those breeders now consider satins a whole different project breed and are attempting to get them recognized as such despite them being genetically a silkie without silkie feathers. Since they are so genetically similar you can actually cross the two types and get both pure silkies and pure satins if the satin happens to carry a recessive silkie gene giving half silkie feathered chicks when bred to a silkie. A lot of people really enjoy all the feather types they can get when mixing satins with silkies. A frizzled satin over a silkie (assuming the frizzle satin is carrying the recessive silkie feather gene) can throw 4 feather types in the offspring. Frizzled satin, regular smooth satin, frizzled silkie, and regular silkie.

I hope that didn't get too confusing, there honestly is a lot of confusion out there still regarding satins (and what they used to be called which was sizzles). I just try to go by what the original breeder working on the project says as she knows all the ins and outs being the one who originally started everything and someone who is continuing to work on them.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

At least I’m not the only one! she’s a Silkie owner and she helped me get my Silkie and frizzle pairs going. She gave me the hen, rooster, 2 juvenile and eggs. But i haven’t put the rooster with a coop because idk what he is! And the juveniles will be the same way when they get bigger! I guess i could put the roo and juveniles together lol but they kind of look like smooth silkies to me. I just don’t know much about the smooth and satin side!

This is my Satin roo...has all the same as a Silkie but with normal feathering like other chickens and Silkies have the "fur-like" feathers. note: NOT the technical terms LOL.

Obviously i prefer the bearded in both Silkie and Satins, hence my name lol!

I know some use different breeds to make the Satin...which also still isn't recognized as a breed yet by the poultry associations...ugh.

pay no attention to his floofy tail feathers as he bends over lol

EDIT to add: I knew @LynnaePB would explain it much better...just didn't see her post til now!

BTW @LynnaePB beautiful couple u got there!!!