So proud of my Silkie hen, Genie!

[Spongegirl]

oh wait, those are adopted babies?

 

[Yermite]

I thought they might have been mixed and "adopted" but by the look of it they are all Silkie. Oh, and my rooster is a Silkie too! I have this incubator on the way and I'm so excited to do some mixing around! Can anyone in or near Southern California recommended a good hatchery?

 

[Spongegirl]

oh ok, I thought you mentioned earlier they were brahama or something. Well I made the mistake of ordering from a hatchery for 3 years before reading that private breeders are the way to go instead of a hatchery. My hatchery chickens have no redeeming features and are the ugliest! My private breeder chicks are gorgeous.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Silkies don't have smooth feathers and straight combs. I think its highly likely your beautiful hen is just a great mix or from someones Sizzle project.

And, just to clear things up, unless you put her with a frizzled rooster, she'll never produce frizzled chicks. Only a frizzled parent can pass on the frizzled gene (to about half of its offspring).

She's beautiful and looks very content with all those peepers!

 

[Spongegirl]

So if she is smooth frizzled then she cant pass the curly frizzle gene with a regular silkie roo?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

That is correct, she is a normal feathered bird. She'd be a great addition to a Sizzle project though! A frizzled Silkie or Sizzle rooster would be a great match for her

 

[subhanalah]

Ok, so what's a frizzled silkie if it's not a sizzle? What's a sizzle then?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Sizzles are still a project, a work in progress, so they aren't technically a breed yet. But...

A frizzled Silkie is just that, a frizzled Silkie. They can still be shown in the Silkie class, but they are also a byproduct when making Sizzles. A Sizzle is a frizzled bird with normal feathers, and it should have all the characteristics of a Silkie (crest, type, black skin, 5 toes, ECT). Smooths are still Sizzles, they just don't possess the frizzle gene, and they are very important when breeding Sizzles, as you shouldn't breed 2 frizzles together. Frizzled feathers show if the gene is present and doesnt when its not and double doses (when both parents are frizzled) of the frizzle gene result in not so great things (brittle feathers that break off, called frazzles or curlies, sometimes they can be almost completely naked. They can have other genetic defects as well). When you breed the normal feathered frizzles back to a Silkie to improve type, you can get regular Silkies, frizzled Silkies, Sizzles and smooths. When you stop using the Silkies to improve the Sizzles type, you eventually loose the silkied feathers, but the smooths need to stay to continue breeding them.

I hope that all made sense, if it didn't, there's a Sizzle thread in the Breeds, Genetics and Showing section. Its a wealth of information for anyone interested in furthering the project, but there are also wonderful pictures to look at as well

 

[subhanalah]

Sizzles are still a project, a work in progress, so they aren't technically a breed yet. But...

A frizzled Silkie is just that, a frizzled Silkie. They can still be shown in the Silkie class, but they are also a byproduct when making Sizzles. A Sizzle is a frizzled bird with normal feathers, and it should have all the characteristics of a Silkie (crest, type, black skin, 5 toes, ECT). Smooths are still Sizzles, they just don't possess the frizzle gene, and they are very important when breeding Sizzles, as you shouldn't breed 2 frizzles together. Frizzled feathers show if the gene is present and doesnt when its not and double doses (when both parents are frizzled) of the frizzle gene result in not so great things (brittle feathers that break off, called frazzles or curlies, sometimes they can be almost completely naked. They can have other genetic defects as well). When you breed the normal feathered frizzles back to a Silkie to improve type, you can get regular Silkies, frizzled Silkies, Sizzles and smooths. When you stop using the Silkies to improve the Sizzles type, you eventually loose the silkied feathers, but the smooths need to stay to continue breeding them.

I hope that all made sense, if it didn't, there's a Sizzle thread in the Breeds, Genetics and Showing section. Its a wealth of information for anyone interested in furthering the project, but there are also wonderful pictures to look at as well

does this mean that sizzles cannot become their own breed since they (I don't think) will ever be able to breed true?