The Sizzle Thread!

[ihavechickens2]

She's a paint =) That is what white with black leakage is HAHA I have one also just like her

O ok so will she produce white, black and paint?

 

[ihavechickens2]

beautiful birds all of them, but MAN!!!! theses two are stunners!! good work 

Thanks!

 

[PaintedFeathers]

O ok so will she produce white, black and paint?

When I bred her to her half brother who looks just like your birchen roo they produced a lot of paints, blacks, and some odd colors.

 

[ihavechickens2]

ok, I will be breeding her to a blue silkie oh and forgot to mention her spots are not black they are blue!!

 

[Zland]

Ready to join the sizzles club with a black and (I think) a splash:



Little (named by 4yo son, hehe) is turning out much more solid black than I first thought. I think s/he has a vaulted head, right? My son asks to play with him every day but I suspect he may be a roo.



Heisenbird (hubby is a Breaking Bad fan ) is splash, right? I'm really not sure. We thought s/he might be white at first but he keeps getting more gray. It's not solid; especially on his head he's getting darker gray feathers here and there.



Our little flock.

The silkies are buff and partridge (looks light but medium reddish/brownish feathers coming in on her head). They're all pretty friendly but I must say the sizzles are much braver and more curious! The silkies ran to the back while the sizzles came right up to check out the camera. They're all 5.5 weeks old though the buff silkie might be a little older, not sure.

I have a few questions if y'all would bless us with your input:
1. Any guesses on gender? I really don't know and I know it will be a while yet til we find out. Maybe there's a trick to sizzle sexing though?
2. Can anyone correct me on color? We're new to chickens. I'm googling a lot but not finding a whole lot of sizzle chick pictures.
3. I'm really interested in breeding (had no idea how fascinating this is!). I haven't decided yet whether to go for a certain color/feathering or try to breed a better backyard chicken. Obviously depending on what gender they turn out to be, should I think about crossing any of these chickens? Or would I need another frizzled bird to keep the frizzle gene? (On that note, how does one identify a frizzled silkie at this age?) I'm researching the genetics myself of course but maybe a more experienced sizzle owner could tip me off to an interesting potential combo they see. Outside of these I am pretty thrilled with the idea of lemon blue, red pyle, and white laced red smooth sizzles, but yeah, not even sure if that's possible! Would it be worth trying to cross breed with another chicken of one of those colors someday?
4. Speaking of better backyard chickens, ours is a literal backyard operation. We're allowed to have 6 hens. So I was thinking, if I could get a sizzle with a little better egg production and a little more meat, it might be a perfect breed for small suburban flocks. Surely this isn't a new idea. Anyone else tried it? I have no problem experimenting but I don't want to create some crazy frankenbird if it won't be healthy/happy.
5. We found a place to process chickens for us. (sniffle) If it crows, it goes. Is this a reasonable plan for a flock like ours? Or would a sizzle/silkie be too small to process by the time it crows? I'm not concerned about having a lot of meat (ha), just a humane, reliable way to deal with roos/extras we can't rehome. Hoping this will not put an end to my breeding plan before it starts!

Thanks and sorry for the million questions! Our chicks are young but I like to plan ahead, heh. Ours are all from Country and her birds are beautiful. Wish I could have taken a whole bin of chicks home!

 

[marmca]

Ready to join the sizzles club with a black and (I think) a splash:



Little (named by 4yo son, hehe) is turning out much more solid black than I first thought. I think s/he has a vaulted head, right? My son asks to play with him every day but I suspect he may be a roo.



Heisenbird (hubby is a Breaking Bad fan ) is splash, right? I'm really not sure. We thought s/he might be white at first but he keeps getting more gray. It's not solid; especially on his head he's getting darker gray feathers here and there.



Our little flock.

The silkies are buff and partridge (looks light but medium reddish/brownish feathers coming in on her head). They're all pretty friendly but I must say the sizzles are much braver and more curious! The silkies ran to the back while the sizzles came right up to check out the camera. They're all 5.5 weeks old though the buff silkie might be a little older, not sure.

I have a few questions if y'all would bless us with your input:
1. Any guesses on gender? I really don't know and I know it will be a while yet til we find out. Maybe there's a trick to sizzle sexing though?
2. Can anyone correct me on color? We're new to chickens. I'm googling a lot but not finding a whole lot of sizzle chick pictures.
3. I'm really interested in breeding (had no idea how fascinating this is!). I haven't decided yet whether to go for a certain color/feathering or try to breed a better backyard chicken. Obviously depending on what gender they turn out to be, should I think about crossing any of these chickens? Or would I need another frizzled bird to keep the frizzle gene? (On that note, how does one identify a frizzled silkie at this age?) I'm researching the genetics myself of course but maybe a more experienced sizzle owner could tip me off to an interesting potential combo they see. Outside of these I am pretty thrilled with the idea of lemon blue, red pyle, and white laced red smooth sizzles, but yeah, not even sure if that's possible! Would it be worth trying to cross breed with another chicken of one of those colors someday?
4. Speaking of better backyard chickens, ours is a literal backyard operation. We're allowed to have 6 hens. So I was thinking, if I could get a sizzle with a little better egg production and a little more meat, it might be a perfect breed for small suburban flocks. Surely this isn't a new idea. Anyone else tried it? I have no problem experimenting but I don't want to create some crazy frankenbird if it won't be healthy/happy.
5. We found a place to process chickens for us. (sniffle) If it crows, it goes. Is this a reasonable plan for a flock like ours? Or would a sizzle/silkie be too small to process by the time it crows? I'm not concerned about having a lot of meat (ha), just a humane, reliable way to deal with roos/extras we can't rehome. Hoping this will not put an end to my breeding plan before it starts!

Thanks and sorry for the million questions! Our chicks are young but I like to plan ahead, heh. Ours are all from Country and her birds are beautiful. Wish I could have taken a whole bin of chicks home!

As far as gender is concerned, youtube has a video from a large hatchery showing how they 'sex' biddies. Shows feather sexing as well as vent. I just use the feather so far.
From what I have read frizzle has to be crossed with a straight feather and 60-40 chance of getting Frizzle feathered.
There is a real good thread on caponizing, which would mean 'no crow' and could keep if you wanted too. From what I understand crowing is a major complaint in urban areas.
Best of Luck, Have Fun - sounds like you are already.

 

[ihavechickens2]

As far as gender is concerned, youtube has a video from a large hatchery showing how they 'sex' biddies.  Shows feather sexing as well as vent.  I just use the feather so far.
From what I have read frizzle has to be crossed with a straight feather and 60-40 chance of getting Frizzle feathered.
There is a real good thread on caponizing, which would mean 'no crow' and could keep if you wanted too.  From what I understand crowing is a major complaint in urban areas.
Best of Luck, Have Fun - sounds like you are already.  

I wouldn't rely on the feather sexing with silkie or sizzles, ecspacially not at this age. I would just wait until you can see sattle feathers.
To get frizzled birds you have to breed to a frizzled bird, in exception to the modifier gene which I really have now clue about. I know that it is rare though.
Hope my little knowledge helps!

 

[jajeanpierre]

I have a few questions if y'all would bless us with your input:

5. We found a place to process chickens for us. (sniffle) If it crows, it goes. Is this a reasonable plan for a flock like ours? Or would a sizzle/silkie be too small to process by the time it crows? I'm not concerned about having a lot of meat (ha), just a humane, reliable way to deal with roos/extras we can't rehome. Hoping this will not put an end to my breeding plan before it starts!

Thanks and sorry for the million questions! Our chicks are young but I like to plan ahead, heh. Ours are all from Country and her birds are beautiful. Wish I could have taken a whole bin of chicks home!

Silkies are used as meat birds in the Far East.

I processed my Silkie cockerels myself. Each gave me enough to make a curry to feed four and the leftover bits and bones made a wonderful soup. I would think the Sizzles will have the same black bones and funny colored meat. There is a thin layer of jet black where the meat lies against the bone, plus some black in other places like the legs. The rest of the meat is kind of greyish colored. I haven't had any chicken other than the mush you buy in a grocery store since I was a little girl and it was fabulous.

You probably don't want to leave the skin on (it's black). I skinned mine when I processed them

I don't know how much you will be charged to process one. I wished I had found someone to process mine, but there was no one in the area who would do it. I have a few more cockerels I need to process and I need to grow the backbone, again, to do it.

I applaud you for using these birds. There are no pet homes for excess cockerels. If you sell them, they go into someone's pot, so why not your own pot. I've also heard that some people just turn their unwanted birds loose to fend for themselves rather than take responsibility for their unwanted birds' deaths. Silkies don't last long, and it is a nasty death to be torn apart by a predator.

 

[Theresa sla]

hello marmca

beautiful little chicks and welcome to the wonderfully addicting world of chickens!!!
love some of the colors your thinking about working on should be some great projects, and if your willing to work on the long enough i'm sure you will have great success. just about any color or breed is possible with frizzled feathering. so far i've got sizzle projects started for these colors= columbians, creole, millie, chocolate, lavender, and various laced patterns. and loving them all.
looks like you have all smooth which is good if you keep the hens and look for a frizzled feathered roo, you'll be all set! just remember to only keep all smooth girls or all frizzled girls. don't mate frizzle to frizzle!
if your ok with also eating your spare roo's have you thought about raiseing frizzled full size standard chickens? i'm also working on frizzled standard chickens blue wheaton americanas, and true arecanas ( darker blue eggs) wellsumers (heavily speckled eggs) and double laced barnevelders (dark chocolate brown eggs) they are all good for both large colorful eggs and freezer birds. i have 3-4 of each kinds of hens listed above with a frizzled 3 generation birchen americana rooster. the cross should produce olive colored eggs as well as the colors listed above. i'll be selling eggs next spring if your interested??

 

[Theresa sla]

barnie feathers

wellsummer eggs