Single comb Silkie

[silkiefive]

Hi everybody,

Im a newbie from Costa Rica, not just to this community but to chicken raising. Just a couple of months ago me and my family decided to bring some chickens home, and with the help of my 2 little boys I started building a coop. After doing some research we decided that Silkies would be perfect for us as what we wanted were more like pets.

Was not easy at all to find them here in my country, not a lot of people interested in chickens as pets or ornamental, but finally we did, so we took five of these lovely creatures home. As you might guess not show quality chickens available around here, actually not much to choose from, but we fell in love with these chicks pretty soon...

... and everything was OK until I read several forums in BYC mentioning that single comb in silkies is a sign of crossed breeds

Going straight to the point it happened that one of my chicks is developing what seems to be a huge single comb though is only 6 weeks old, which makes me believe it is a male (I have no experience at all), what makes things worse, is that this is the one chosen for my 7 year son, so it was supposed to stay if more males appeared, and when I tried to explain the situation he just said: "You can never betray a chick"...OMG, can you believe it LOL.

As I mentioned before they are supposed to be just pets, not interested in showing them...what am I saying???...we have no shows around here!!!... LOL...anyway...I would like to keep my flock as pure as I can, if so, and not to breed crossed guys.

So please can you give me some advice to help me solve this difficult situation... please be honest and dont hesitate telling me what you think about it and about the guy, I am conscious there are no chickens as pure as those you have around here, so I wont get hurt , I enclosed several pictures of this guy, remember he is 6 weeks old, also note how poorly crested he is.

Reddish spots

Wing detail






Thank you folks

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Hello from California and

!

Honestly, I don't know that much about Silkies, but have a few thoughts to share. If you are keeping them for pets, it seems to me that the temperament of the chicken is more important than how it looks. A docile, friendly pet is a joy, but perfect looks will never compensate for a rotten disposition. Personally, I like that his crest is not huge. The large crests restrict their vision and make them easy prey for predators. However, I suspect that part of what makes this breed easy to handle is the fact that they don't see too well in the first place!

Another thing to consider is that it is often possible to keep 2 roosters at the same time, especially when they are raised together. (And I do think yours is a cockerel). One will be the dominant crowing king of the roost and the other will be submissive and might not even crow in front of the top dog. So if you end up with a more desirable rooster, maybe you can keep both and not have to betray

your son's favorite! Although if you plan on breeding your chickens, you may have to separate the single comb roo or give him his own girl in a separate pen.

If you are looking for more specific advice about the breed, I suggest posting in a dedicated Silkie thread (I'm sure there must be one here somewhere!) You could link this post rather than having to re-post the whole thing over again. Or perhaps you could amend the title of your post to say Single comb Silkie, to get the attention of the Silkie folks.

Good luck with your chicken project! I understand not wanting to disappoint your son. I have two boys also (14 & 11) and when we got our chicks this spring, they were so worried that one would be a rooster which we would not keep, and that did happen. Luckily we found a good home for him, but they still miss the noisy guy!

Best wishes!

 

[silkiefive]

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts W4W!...and for your advice too!...

 

[1muttsfan]

I have 3 roosters in each of my pens, and they get along just fine, although in the big chickens pen the main roo will not allow the other two to crow AT ALL.

You are correct about the comb on your cockerel.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

I hope you keep us posted about your decisions.

Another thing you might consider, if you are still thinking about breeding, is to show pics of your other birds as they grow to get opinions on which have the best traits and use those as your breeding stock.


Edited to add:

This seems to be the main Silkie thread. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/297632/silkie-thread/27160
You would probably get great advice here.

 

[silkiefive]

Hi W4W!!!
Great advices for sure, iI will post there and start doing as you say with other birdies...thanks a lot!!!

 

[aoxa]

Sometimes these things pop up. Doesn't mean chick isn't pure, just that it has a fault. IT is definitely a boy. Silkies are extremely hard to sex early on (unless they have a comb like this!)

Is he the only one with the single comb?

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Sometimes these things pop up. Doesn't mean chick isn't pure, just that it has a fault. IT is definitely a boy. Silkies are extremely hard to sex early on (unless they have a comb like this!)
Is he the only one with the single comb?

I'm glad you saw this thread. I almost pm'd you to ask you to check it out. (Saw your silkie babies on the EE thread with your lovely barred EE babies

)

 

[silkiefive]

Hi aoxa! What a beautiful place you have and that flock is amazing!!!

Thanks for your interest, well, answering your question it is the only one I think, here are some photographs of the rest of the flock

10 weeks old





Next one 10 weeks too




The biggest guy, 10 weeks





And here s the last one, hatched with the single comb one.





Thanks,

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Cute chicks! I can see why it's hard to tell male from female with those combs.