Sparky's all grown up...new pics!

[shelleyb1969]

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Sparky is a sizzle. She's the offspring of a frizzled cochin and a pure silkie. I hatched her out of some eggs that I got from jimnjay here on the forum. Her sizzles are absolutely gorgeous!

 

[#1California Chick]

What a beautiful chicken!!!

 

[WriterofWords]

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If you want a "lap chicken", then get you a silkie or a sizzle. Sparky looks identical to my black silkie hen, as far as feathering and such. And the silkie personality is just toooooo darn loveable. They actually want to be held and cuddled! I have almost decided that Sparky will be staying in my office for the duration of winter. I just don't think I could be without her in my office!

Steven's part silkie Charlotte is a lap baby,,, so is Nugget but he's a little large to sit in your lap for long, even though he wants to.

 

[flamingauburnmustang]

Quote:
If you want a "lap chicken", then get you a silkie or a sizzle. Sparky looks identical to my black silkie hen, as far as feathering and such. And the silkie personality is just toooooo darn loveable. They actually want to be held and cuddled! I have almost decided that Sparky will be staying in my office for the duration of winter. I just don't think I could be without her in my office!

Steven's part silkie Charlotte is a lap baby,,, so is Nugget but he's a little large to sit in your lap for long, even though he wants to.

My one hen is over a year now, and she still sits on my lap.

Oh yeah. Congrats shelly. She/he is really beautiful.

 

[jimnjay]

Shelly, she has turned out just beautiful but she is more accurately a Frizzled Silkie. Sizzles have regular barbed feathers. She was from a Sizzle hen and Silkie rooster but you can get either feather type from the breeding.

Don't you just love the maternal instincts of the Silkie They are so endearing and precious with nurturing. I would say Sparky is for sure a she, however I have had male Silkies that brood chicks and do a wonderful job of raising babies too.

 

[shelleyb1969]

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Thanks, Jaynie, for helping me with my terminology...I get rather confused on all the genetic stuff!

So if I breed Sparky to one of my silkie roos, could I possibly get a true sizzle with the barbed feathering? I guess what I should ask is, What is my best option with breeding her to try and get an actual barbed feathered sizzle? Hope that makes sense!

 

[jimnjay]

I am not sure if you would get any barbed feathered birds if you breed her to a pure Silkie. I doubt it as the Silkie feathering is dominant. If you bred her to another bird from the same type of cross you would have a better chance of getting the Sizzle. Or you could breed her to a cochin and you would have more regular feathered birds to work with. With crossing her to a Cochin you will have lots more cochin traits, however, Single comb, four toes, yellow skin and so forth. Not all will show these traits but more than if you keep the Silkie mate.

 

[shelleyb1969]

Thanks again, Jaynie. I had no idea that the silkie feathering is dominant...I'm learning so much on this forum. Maybe I should just wait and get more eggs from you

and try to hatch some sizzles and just let Sparky raise me some nice silkie babies.

 

[shelleyb1969]

Since I moved all the Delaware, Delahorn, BA, and BSL chicks out of the house and into the garage a few days ago, Sparky is now alone. But she's definitely not minding it. Those 18 chicks she was "mothering" were becoming a handful, and the stress to her was becoming apparent. I gave her a nice bath yesterday...the first for her and a first time for me to bathe a chicken! I never would've imagined that 6 months ago!

She absolutely loved it...and now she's back to her irrisitably sweet self.

Anywho, I came up tonight to surf the web for a while, and I decided to let Sparky sit with me. As you can see in these pics, she's definitely a lap chicken! She just fell right to sleep and was "purring" the whole time I held her. Don't tell my DH, but I'm saving up to buy her a couple of diapers! I don't plan on letting her run loose in the house, but I'd be more comfortable holding her for long periods of time if I knew she was wearing one.

 

[Squeaky]

What cuteness!

Silkies are banty chickens, are they not? Can they be kept in the same coop as the regular sized birds?