sizzles!!!!!!!!! show them off, ask your questions, discuss

[evonne]

editing to make this a general information thread about sizzles
a sizzle is what you get when you mix a frizzled cochin (any frizzle? or just cochin?) and a silkie

to clarify a frizzle is a bird with a genetic feather mutation that makes the feathers curl forward
a frazzle is a bird that has 2 of these genes... it results in brittle feathers that break.. but also results in 100% frizzle offspring

i'm hoping those with experience with sizzles will continue to educate those of us who want to know, and through our questions and your help we can get more information out to others who may need it...


-----------original post below----------------
i just got 2 new roos, i still need to build seperate breeding pens for them and their girls, i've got the cochin part figured out.. for the most part, but wanted some opinions on silkies....

Pen 1 Red
1 frazzle red roo
1 smooth red chochin

Pen 2 Blacks
1 smooth barred cochin roo
1 frazzled black cochin
1 smooth black cochin

i want to put a few silky hens in the red pen, but not sure on color...
is there a red silky??
or would i go buff??
or maybe partridge??

should i get som BBS silkies for the black pen??
the roo there now isn't frizzle, but i should have some frizzled roos by fall? i THINK they will be barred....
or should i just leave that pen alone and only put some silkies in the red??

 

[walkswithdog]

Don't add in buff - it will blow everything out of the water.

Keep the reds.
Barred and blacks you can add BBS to, easily, since getting barring back out of the lines is easy.

Removing either red or buff from any other color will drive you to madness since red bleeding through black can take months or a year or more to show up and ruin perfectly nice black birds, that you already bred from thinking they were pure for black - see hair pulling 101 course...

I'm enrolled in Hair Pulling 201, my silkie males have silver and gold in their hackles

Fortunately I have a whole bunch of blue and splash sizzles, frazzles and smooths growing out right now.

LOL if you're near Knoxville TN I will have spare cockerals, and they're sixth generation sizzles. Got some rather nice birds out of this bunch.

 

[evonne]

okay, don't add buff?? keep the reds?? is there a red silkie??
i couldn't find any pictures...
and getting the red out of the red i don't think will be a problem.. lol...

and since the black pen will already have 2 pullets, i'm not 100% sure i even want to add anything to that pen... but i might becausee my 6 yr old really wants a fluffy head chicken.. i steered him away from the polish and he'll settle for a silkie... rofl....

i just know the little red pair could use another friend or 2, and since the roo there is frazzled, i thought silky hens would be perfect...

with the blacks, the roo is smooth, so i'm not sure what you'd call the babies from silky mama's in that pen, other than cute.. lol..

 

[walkswithdog]

LOL I'm not sleeping much. Keep the reds, just reds and yes there are red silkies. If you add red to black - then you get trouble. Just as you would adding buff to either red or black pens, totally foul up colors for generations. Hard to fix.

Cochin to silkie will produce smooth Sizzles or silkie feathered sizzles (if you luck out, sometimes the cross produces a curly generation) if it does not then you add in a Sizzle from somewhere in the next generation and you start producing real Sizzles, and smooth sizzles, and silkie feathered sizzles and frizzled silkie feathered sizzles (frilkies). After that the world is your oyster. LOL.

I'm working on BBS Sizzles and Gold and Silver Birchen Sizzles, so I have it all here right now, Sizzles in smooth, Sizzle, frazzle (two curly genes), Silkies and Bantam Cochins (birchen). Come spring everyone gets separated into pens, right now, more than half are growing out.

 

[nzpouter]

Are you actually planning to breed a certain colour? if not, have fun, mix them together, etc....

Frizzle/ sizzle looks more attractive when there are several colours in one bird....

even the crappiest black with red hackles can look interesting when the light hit it a certain way....

 

[becky3086]

I love them! Going to have to get some frizzled cochins now.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I'm not sure why adding buff to red would be a problem?

The problem with barred is getting dark skin--the barring gene counteracts dark skin, making it very difficult to work with--adding cuckoo/barring into the mix, unless you specifically are willing to devote the time and generations to working on skin colour doesn't seem a good choice. If that is your goal, then by all means go for it, but definitely don't use a barred bird unless it is and you have some understanding of the drawbacks.

 

[evonne]

WOW!! that first picture there is gorgeous... is that a frizzled cochin, or a sizzle??

about the dark skin, that's interesting...
is the dark skin considered standard for sizzles??
i know it comes from the silky, but i figured with them being a mixed breed there wasn't really a specific "standard" for them?
right now i don't have any silkies at all, if the light skin on a sizzle is an issue maybe i'll hold off on BBS silkies till i get a good solid frizzle roo... and i'll focus on the reds for sizzles...

post more pics!!!!!
i still don't even know for sure what a sizzle looks like, it just sounds fun...
i'd love to see pics and if you can tag them smooth sizzle, frazzle, frizzle cochin etc, maybe even list the parentage if you know it, so me and other people who look through can see mixing what with what gives you this...

nzpouter, i'm absolutley in love with the first picture.. what color is she considered?? and is she frizzle or sizzle??

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

There is no recognised standard for sizzles, as they are not recognised. However, the working standard calls for all silkie features except feathering. THere are a number of breeders who are seriously working on the breed, and have enough knowledge of the process for recognition that they are trying to dot all the i's and cross all the t's as they work on them.

 

[evonne]

oh awsome... if you know any of them personally.. or close enough to personally, point them this direction and tell them i need all the tips i can get so i don't spread any mis-information... i want to breed and sell the chicks as fun pets, so i don't want to be selling things that shouldn't be bred becasue i wont know what happens after they leave me.. and i don't want to be respoinsible for a big nono line evolving... lol...

maybe we can keep this thread going on the breed likethe other breeds have their own threads where people discuss their breeding practices and stuff.. i know those threads are awsome for people to get info from...

and i really want to know and understand as much as i can so i can pass the information on to anyone who ask me