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

[Sonoran Silkies]

A synonym for split is heterozygous. Different alleles (alternative variations of a gene) as compared with two copies of the same allele. A lavender bird is genetically lav/lav; a bird split for lavender is Lav+/lav; and a bird who is not lavender is Lav+/Lav+ In this situation there is not appearance difference between a not-lavender and a split.

In other cases, such as silver/gold, there is a difference in appearance between splits and non-splits. Just to be confusing, the split version of silver/gold is called golden:

Silver is S/S
Golden is S/s+
Gold is s+/s+

 

[floridamama]

Ok i have a question. If you have a jet black Frizzle Roo with silkie hens What would the colors of them need to be to get nice, pretty, cool colored peeps? And of which colors to stay away from to keep from having cute fluffy ugly colored ones?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Well, since everyone has their own opinions of what is a cool/neat vs an ugly colour, ... no answer.

To get standard colours, breed like to like: black to black

 

[floridamama]

ok I know when you look at showgirls you look for "silkie" form. (toes, feathering,comb,etc)
BUT with a sizzle what do you try to shot for as the "final" out come or rather the goal look to be. I have Frizzled cochins but I have seen sizzles and some look like a frizzled chicken but some are cool looking.

 

[evonne]

Quote:
floridamama, i got that answer on page one of the thread when we were talking about the colorings i was picking.. don't know if it's enough information for you or not....


i'm going to change the title of this thread to be a general sizzle information thread... we need to keep it going because there are a LOT of people who don't understand the differences....

another question for you guys who know...
a frazzle is a frizzled bird who has 2 frizzle genes.. resulting in fragile feathers that break.. do you get the same thing with 2 sizzle parents??
even a smooth sizzle has a frizzled gene right??
once i get going on this i want to try to avoid frazzles and if there is such a thing sazzles
the poor birds look so gangly when half their feathers are missing...

 

[floridamama]

Ahh ok I had read that earlier. I just was wondering like you just stated about sizzle to sizzle. When you breed A silkie to A showgirl = better quality showgirl. So if you breed A silkie to A sizzle = ? or is it better for A sizzle to A sizzle?

 

[evonne]

Quote:
i think you would want to do a silkie to a sizzle, or a smooth cochin to a sizzle, to avoid the double frizzle gene and brittle featehrs... but that's just my guess....

unless you want to try to get a double frizzle just for your breeding pen.. i may do this as my frazzles get older, just to keep me knowing i have 100% frizzles or sizzles from a given bird, rather than having 50% frizzle and 50% smooth or whatever...

but i don't have the experience to know that it's bad to have 2 fizzle genes in the sizzles, because of hte silkie feathering their feathers are different anyway.. ????

 

[kathyinmo]

I have 3 little frizzles or sizzles, or whatever they are! I hatched them on Dec 3. Here they are today. They were hatched with my Spanish, and are in a brooder with 6 Spanish and 2 Light Sussex (that are huge compared to them!).

 

[Elite Silkies]

If I put a Sizzle Roo with my Silkie hens, what percentage of Sizzle would I get?

 

[sarahssizzles]

Greetings All;
Please forgive this repeat but, this is a recent post I put up on the what breed is this section. I am going thru the lists for references on Sizzles & puting it where ever I think I can get the info out to more people. I hope you find some useful info here.

I keep coming across the question what are SIZZLES and too often I hear the response “they are a frizzled Silkie” A frizzled Silkie is just that, a frizzled Silkie. It may well have Sizzle genes but, it is NOT a SIZZLE! There is an excellent pic of the two different birds at this topic site https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=101486&p=1

In the US, Frizzle is a feather type & can be found in most breeds, including Silkies. SIZZLE is a developing breed. The standard we are working with at this time are basically the Silkie standard BUT with a change in feather type to barbed frizzled and as a variety, barbed smooth. That means, 5 toes, blue skin, crests, walnut or pea comb, turquoise ear lobe, compact body type, etc. BUT NOT SILKIE FEATHERS! We are still working out the fine points & will eventually write our own standard to include the changes we desire.

SIZZLES are, in the original breeding, a cross of a Frizzled Cochin to a Silkie (matters not which parent was which) The chicks produced are referred to as F1 ie: first generation. . The cross produces 4 types of feathers - smooth regular, frizzled reg, silkie reg & frizzled silkie (aka; Frilkie) You can breed opposites back to each other ie; smooth silkie to frizzled reg, frizzled silkie to smooth reg..etc. to produce the desired frizzled & smooth SIZZLES. In the earlier generations it is not uncommon to see only 25% with frizzled feathers & that doesn’t take into account getting the proper crests, toes, color or combs. F1 do NOT a breed make. That takes time & dedication.

The problem with breeding a frizzle feathered bird to a frizzle feathered bird (no matter what breed)is the double frizzle gene gives you what is called a “frazzle”. This produces feathers that are soft, very curly and unfortunately usually brittle & tend to break off, leaving a bald bird. It is also known to, in a higher %, come with internal irregularities that can shorten the life span. So, that said, the general rule of thumb is to breed a frizzled coat to a smooth coat, preferable one with frizzle genetics. We (folks on the Sizzle list) have decided to include smooth feathered sizzles as a variety of SIZZLES for that very reason.

Following that rule of thumb, your next choice is to check you traits & breed for what you want ie; a light pigmented bird to a dark, straight comb to walnut, 4 toes to 5 etc. Choose your best stock & breed to reduce faults & increase desired results. It took me 5 generations to weed out 4 toed birds in favor of 5 toes & I'm still getting some straight combs and some light pigmentation but, ..it's a process and a very challenging & interesting one at that!

For the sake of clarety & simplicity we have taken to calling them Sizzle (with a capital S) for frizzled Sizzles & sizzle (with a lower case s) for smooth sizzles.

I have been breeding only back into my own lines, since I started out with a sizable gene pool. I’ve been hatching over 200 chicks per year. My F5 generation produced about 30-35% birds that I considered progressed far enough to keep & I still have my share of faults to breed out. In the earlier generations I was seeing only about 10 – 20%. I'm taking a clue from some of the other successful breeders this year & breeding back to Silkie roos to strengthen my characteristics. The challenge there is then I increase the chance of getting Silkie feathers, which we don't want but, I feel my lines are fairly strong at this point & want the infusion of traits that I still need to improve my breeding.

I am by no means an expert, either on chickens or on genetics but, I have some practical experience & because of the great people on the Sizzle list, I’ve learned lots. I have tried to keep track of the information on BYC about Sizzles & realized that there is a lot of confusions so I hope by sharing some basic information it will help others
To answer some of the questions I’ve been asked, I would avoid breeding back to Cochins if at all possible as you really only breed to them for the frizzled feathers & don't want the other traits. If you don't have a smooth sizzle roo to breed your frizzled Sizzle girls back to, try a Silkie roo. You'll get a higher % of silkie coats but, most of them will have the SIZZLE genes & you can breed them back to a barbed coated Sizzle next year.

I hope this helps clarify some of the general questions out there. There is a lot more in depth information available that just takes some asking & digging to get to. If I can be of any assistance in that quest well, it helps me learn too! The address for the Sizzle list is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sizzles/

Best of Luck!
SarahsSizzles