Silkies week by week pictures

[Smileybans]

I am aware of @PioneerChicks thread but wanted to share mine as well. I thought I would also share body pictures. Since I’ll be taking them for my references. I started taking pictures the day they hatched so I’ll start with those.

Snuggle is a showgirl. Splash or all white. Also the only one with a name because one of my sons named him.

Splash 1

Splash 2

Splash 3

Frizzle grey

Black Showgirl

Black silkie

 

[Smileybans]

One week old

Snuggle

Splash 1

Splash 2

Splash 3

Frizzle grey

Black showgirl

Black silkie

 

[Smileybans]

Two weeks old

Snuggle

Splash 1

Splash 2

Splash 3

Frizzle grey

Black showgirl

Black silkie

 

[TheOddOneOut]

I am aware of @PioneerChicks thread but wanted to share mine as well. I thought I would also share body pictures. Since I’ll be taking them for my references. I started taking pictures the day they hatched so I’ll start with those.

Snuggle is a showgirl. Splash or all white. Also the only one with a name because one of my sons named him.
View attachment 2594171View attachment 2594172

Splash 1
View attachment 2594175

Splash 2
View attachment 2594178

Splash 3
View attachment 2594178

Frizzle grey
View attachment 2594180View attachment 2594181

Black Showgirl
View attachment 2594178

Black silkie
View attachment 2594183

You mixed up a few pictures.

 

[Smileybans]

You mixed up a few pictures.

Thank you. I had a feeling i did. I was doing it on my phone since that’s where all the pictures are. It’s hard to keep track of so many little babies.

Should be fixed now... i have no idea how i messed it up that bad

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Thank you. I had a feeling i did. I was doing it on my phone since that’s where all the pictures are. It’s hard to keep track of so many little babies.

I bet it is, lol. What little cuties.

 

[LynnaePB]

Aww what adorable little ones!

Love the weekly pictures!

I think your little splashes are actually paints (easy to mix up, I've even seen some newer breeders do it). Those dark spots in the down are a dead giveaway!

If you decide to breed in the future just a heads up that you may want to look into satins as I see some of your little ones have smooth feathers (a satin is basically a silkie without silkied feathers but is considered a different breed by many). Silkies and satins can be mixed together since they are bred to the same standard other than feather type. You can get all sorts of neat feather types breeding the two together. If mixing the two it's always good to let any customers of hatching eggs or young chicks know of the potential of smooth feathers to avoid any misunderstandings. Sorry for all that if you are already aware!

 

[Smileybans]

Aww what adorable little ones!

Love the weekly pictures!

I think your little splashes are actually paints (easy to mix up, I've even seen some newer breeders do it). Those dark spots in the down are a dead giveaway!

If you decide to breed in the future just a heads up that you may want to look into satins as I see some of your little ones have smooth feathers (a satin is basically a silkie without silkied feathers but is considered a different breed by many). Silkies and satins can be mixed together since they are bred to the same standard other than feather type. You can get all sorts of neat feather types breeding the two together. If mixing the two it's always good to let any customers of hatching eggs or young chicks know of the potential of smooth feathers to avoid any misunderstandings. Sorry for all that if you are already aware!

I was not aware. And wondered why some of them were feathering out weird! This explains so much. I got their eggs from a local farmer so I think she might not have known. Or the silkies she breeds has the genes in them but look like silkies... is that possible? I can always ask her though.

I thought splash and paint were the same and interchangeable. My mistake. Silkies, and keeping chickens, are new to me and I have no idea about breed standards. But I welcome all information.

 

[LynnaePB]

I was not aware. And wondered why some of them were feathering out weird! This explains so much. I got their eggs from a local farmer so I think she might not have known. Or the silkies she breeds has the genes in them but look like silkies... is that possible? I can always ask her though.

I thought splash and paint were the same and interchangeable. My mistake. Silkies, and keeping chickens, are new to me and I have no idea about breed standards. But I welcome all information.

Ah glad I didn't bombard you with useless information then!

Here is some more information. I wouldn't blame you for skipping it though as it's kind of a lot for someone new to chickens!

It looks like your little showgirl Snuggles and the frizzled grey both have silkied feathers and would be considered silkies.

The rest all look like they have non silkied feathers so would be considered satins (yours all look like smooth satins).

Both silkies and satins can come in the frizzled variety. It's harder to tell with frizzled silkies though as they often just look a bit more fuzzy/frizzy than non frizzled silkies. I'm pretty sure your little grey frizzle is indeed getting frizzled silkie feathers.

It's likely that the breeder just didn't know regarding the satin vs silkie thing or doesn't consider them different breeds. Things surrounding satins have changed a lot and it can be hard to keep track of at times. At first those working on satins as a project breed did try to get them recognized as a type of silkie but that didn't work out (that was back when they were called sizzles rather than satins). Now they consider them an entirely different breed but still breed to the same standard other than the non silkied feathers. Satins still aren't a recognized breed though and are considered a project breed.

The regular non silkie feathering is dominant so even if a silkie has satin ancestors it'll never produce a satin when paired with another silkie (barring some weird genetic anomaly). Since silkie feathering is recessive you can breed two satins together and still get a silkie if they both carry a copy of the recessive silkie feathering gene though.

This dynamic makes satin/silkie pens a lot of fun since you can get such a variety of feather types.

Paint and splash are definitely similar but different genetically. Splash is made with blue genetics (two copies of blue makes splash) and paint is made with dominant white over black. Generally paint has a more white background with black spots while splash has a very light blue/gray background with varying shades of blue streaks/spots.

Visual examples always help me more though so maybe these will be useful.

Paint silkie chick

Paint silkie

Splash silkie chick

Splash silkie

 

[Smileybans]

Ah glad I didn't bombard you with useless information then!

Here is some more information. I wouldn't blame you for skipping it though as it's kind of a lot for someone new to chickens!

It looks like your little showgirl Snuggles and the frizzled grey both have silkied feathers and would be considered silkies.

The rest all look like they have non silkied feathers so would be considered satins (yours all look like smooth satins).

Both silkies and satins can come in the frizzled variety. It's harder to tell with frizzled silkies though as they often just look a bit more fuzzy/frizzy than non frizzled silkies. I'm pretty sure your little grey frizzle is indeed getting frizzled silkie feathers.

It's likely that the breeder just didn't know regarding the satin vs silkie thing or doesn't consider them different breeds. Things surrounding satins have changed a lot and it can be hard to keep track of at times. At first those working on satins as a project breed did try to get them recognized as a type of silkie but that didn't work out (that was back when they were called sizzles rather than satins). Now they consider them an entirely different breed but still breed to the same standard other than the non silkied feathers. Satins still aren't a recognized breed though and are considered a project breed.

The regular non silkie feathering is dominant so even if a silkie has satin ancestors it'll never produce a satin when paired with another silkie (barring some weird genetic anomaly). Since silkie feathering is recessive you can breed two satins together and still get a silkie if they both carry a copy of the recessive silkie feathering gene though.

This dynamic makes satin/silkie pens a lot of fun since you can get such a variety of feather types.

Paint and splash are definitely similar but different genetically. Splash is made with blue genetics (two copies of blue makes splash) and paint is made with dominant white over black. Generally paint has a more white background with black spots while splash has a very light blue/gray background with varying shades of blue streaks/spots.

Visual examples always help me more though so maybe these will be useful.

Paint silkie chick

View attachment 2594345

Paint silkie

View attachment 2594342

Splash silkie chick

View attachment 2594346

Splash silkie

View attachment 2594343

Thank you for the information. I keep a chicken journal with all the interesting things I want to remember. I don’t have a great memory and a journal helps. But this is going in it. The pictures helped a bunch too. I’m glad I can still breed these guys and get silkies. Although I don’t mind the non-silkied feathering the plan is to breed them.

I went back and looked at her post, I met her on Craigslist, and she does list satins. I must have overlooked it the first time. Probably since I had no idea what they were. I was so excited there was a silkie breeder near me and I didn’t have to spend another arm and a leg online for eggs.