Silkies!

[BawkenQuackers]

I bought a bunch of silkies from rural king, the fella there gave me two extra. One looks so different from the others and one of the white ones has normal feathers. Are these mixed breed? I'm sure hatchery quality silkies won't be anywhere near SOP standards so they won't look exactly as they should but I'm curious. Could I use these for breeding projects? How soon can I tell rooster from hens? TIA!

 

[JedJackson]

Well, I would say they are not the best quality Silkies just looking at the pictures. The hatchery did a bad job, but I wouldn't say they are mixed breeds. These birds should not be smooth feathered, and I don't know what is going on with the brownish one.

That said, they will still be cute and sweet birds. Nothing wrong with them if you don't plan on showing. You could breed them so long as you let buyers know they are pet quality, not show quality.

For telling gender, it will take a while. Silkies are slow in this respect. You judge the usual way, by comb size, and later, the appearance of male specific feathering, which is difficult to detect in Silkies.

Or you could send in feather samples to a lab, and they can tell you what you've got, for a price.

 

[BawkenQuackers]

Well, I would say they are not the best quality Silkies just looking at the pictures. The hatchery did a bad job, but I wouldn't say they are mixed breeds. These birds should not be smooth feathered, and I don't know what is going on with the brownish one.

That said, they will still be cute and sweet birds. Nothing wrong with them if you don't plan on showing. You could breed them so long as you let buyers know they are pet quality, not show quality.

For telling gender, it will take a while. Silkies are slow in this respect. You judge the usual way, by comb size, and later, the appearance of male specific feathering, which is difficult to detect in Silkies.

Or you could send in feather samples to a lab, and they can tell you what you've got, for a price.

Thank you for all the information! Yes, they will be loved all the same and if I intend to rehome any babies I'll be sure to inform people about the quality. I'm hoping it'll be easy sexing them, but we'll see. Honestly curious, would I be able to make fibro type birds with these?

 

[JedJackson]

Thank you for all the information! Yes, they will be loved all the same and if I intend to rehome any babies I'll be sure to inform people about the quality. I'm hoping it'll be easy sexing them, but we'll see. Honestly curious, would I be able to make fibro type birds with these?

Yes, I think so. They all have the dark skin.

 

[BawkenQuackers]

Yes, I think so. They all have the dark skin.

Awesome, thank you!