The Sizzle Thread!

[TAMMACLEAN]

Shipped eggs maybe?

I just lucked out finding my rooster. The owner didn't even know what he was. Thought he was just a regular silkie.

He looks more like a porcupine to me

Oh and his crest is growing in nicely. He was pretty bare there for a while (fight).

OMG So cute! They look like giant walking flowers!

I just know that if I show pictures to my kids they will want some. They are just as much in love with chickens as I am. Thanks. I think I might just start looking for some eggs.

 

[country]

If I bred George to a silkie - would I still get sizzles, or would I get only frilkies and silkies?
If I can't get my hands on any smooth sizzles, what would be my best option for continuing this line? Currently I only have silkies for him to breed. Is that not the right way to do it?

It looks to me like George has Sizzle feathering so if you breed him to Silkies, I would say you will get all 4 types of chicks, including Sizzles & smooth Sizzles. You just won't get as many with curled feathers as you would if the hens had the frizzle gene. Basically, the results would be similar to those of a first cross Sizzle breeding of your Silkies to a frizzled Cochin, but by using George you'll be several steps ahead since he has many nice Silkie qualities that a Cochin doesn't have. Besides, I think he's beautiful & I'd like to see what you get from him. That is, if he can maintain his balance & find the right end of the hen! lol lol That cracked me up.

Why don't you try breeding him with his daughter? She should have the Sizzle gene & I think I read that with poultry, father/daughter or mother/son is okay but you should stay away from brother/sister. If that's wrong, someone please correct me.

 

[country]

OMG So cute! They look like giant walking flowers!

I just know that if I show pictures to my kids they will want some. They are just as much in love with chickens as I am. Thanks. I think I might just start looking for some eggs.

Me! Me! Here I am & I sell hatching eggs!!! lol Actually, you should try to find someone as close to you as possible if you are going to buy eggs. The shorter the distance that they will be shipped, the better the chances for a good hatch. If the seller is close enough for you to pick them up, even if it is a drive of a few hours, by all means do it. Shipped eggs are really a gamble & the odds aren't good. Also, be sure to keep an eye on the weather & temperatures at both ends of the shipment. It's going to be too hot for egg shipments before too long but I have heard about using cold packs for eggs. I'd like to check into it. Good luck. You may be about to become bitten by the Sizzle bug. It causes you to become addicted to all things furry, feathered, & curly!

 

[aoxa]

Currently none of my silkies are laying. I only have three pullets closing in on a year old. Two are broody (same nest) and one hasn't started laying yet. She's almost 35 weeks old. Honestly.. Starting to tick me off! lol. I am keeping any of the chicks that are good quality to breed back to George, but I free range.. so it's a toss up if they are his kids or my other silkie rooster's. I plan on building a silkie coop/run - but that will have to wait. Still in the process of settling in to our new house.

See that platform in the middle of the yard? That would make a great floor. It would be a huge coop too. It's easy to keep my silkies from cross breeding with the others, because I don't have any other bantam roosters (just George & Steve). Though George has a liking of my cochin - wonder what that cross would look like?

+

= ? She is the only one who will squat for the poor guy lol. Oh when did I become a chicken match-maker anyway? Soo.. Is there a sex-link trait for skin colour when you cross these two? I thought I heard that somewhere...

 

[4hchickmama]

Currently none of my silkies are laying. I only have three pullets closing in on a year old. Two are broody (same nest) and one hasn't started laying yet. She's almost 35 weeks old. Honestly.. Starting to tick me off! lol.

Only one of my hens is laying right now too. The sizzle is roughly the same age as the silkie, but alas, no eggs from her yet. The silkie only *just* started laying and we've gotten 6 eggs out of her so far in a little over a week and a half. I was thinking I was doing something wrong! lol.

 

[TAMMACLEAN]

Me! Me! Here I am & I sell hatching eggs!!! lol Actually, you should try to find someone as close to you as possible if you are going to buy eggs. The shorter the distance that they will be shipped, the better the chances for a good hatch. If the seller is close enough for you to pick them up, even if it is a drive of a few hours, by all means do it. Shipped eggs are really a gamble & the odds aren't good. Also, be sure to keep an eye on the weather & temperatures at both ends of the shipment. It's going to be too hot for egg shipments before too long but I have heard about using cold packs for eggs. I'd like to check into it. Good luck. You may be about to become bitten by the Sizzle bug. It causes you to become addicted to all things furry, feathered, & curly!

I will look thanks. These are adorable!! Anybody know of anyone with good quality Sizzle eggs for sale in Maine, New Hampshire area??

 

[TAMMACLEAN]

Actually does anybody know of good quailty Sizzle hatching eggs or chickens for sale in Maine, New Hampshire, or even Mass.???

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

CochinBrahmaLover Welcome!

It's great to have another Sizzle lover & potential breeder on board.

You're right. I'll bet that Sizzles chicks would sell like crazy in Alaska, or anywhere for that matter. I get $8 for 2 wk old chicks & I could probably get more. And of course, you definitely have the starter recipe with a Silkie & a frizzled Cochin.

However, starting from scratch is not always the best road to follow. If you go back & read posts 39 & 42 on this thread you'll see some reasons why. Of course, in Alaska you may not have the option of buying Sizzle eggs or chicks so you might have to start from the beginning. If so, I would still suggest using high quality breeding or sq stock for your beginning birds, even if you aren't planning on showing. Sizzles are a very hard project even with the best beginnings so I would think that starting with poor quality birds to start with would really be a nightmare. For instance, if you use a hatchery Silkie with a tiny crest, small beard, & poorly feathered feet, I'm not sure you could ever breed your birds up to the point where they will look like this.

I'm no genetics expert but I think you have to have good genes somewhere in the background before you can selectively breed to improve on them. You would probably be able to do it eventually but I would guess it would take years longer than if you started with nice birds to begin with. Just my opinion & I could be totally wrong. Believe me, it wouldn't be the first time! lol

About the smooth Sizzles - some people like them & some don't, but they are also very good sellers. A nice smooth Sizzle, like some of the ones shown on this thread, looks just like a Silkie with the fluffy Cochin feathers. They have the round body & feathered feet of the Silkie & Cochin, so I personally don't think they look anything like a Polish. In fact, I would be more apt to describe them as a Cochin with a crest! The nicest thing about them is that you can see the feather patterns in all the colors, whereas on the shredded Silkie feathers, the pattern disappears. Most of the blue smooth Sizzles have a beautiful laced pattern on the feathers. They're very striking. I'll see if I have any pictures that really show the pattern & if so, I'll try to post them later.

In any case, I wish you good luck with a Sizzle project. It is always nice to have another supporter so maybe someday these little guys will be recognized as a breed. In the meantime, they are just fun to have around.

Well, I wouldn't be using my IDEAL hatchery cochin, most likely th McMurray (they have pretty good birdies)
As for the poorly feathered feet and such, we don't have the silkies but have gotten them before and they look good, and our cochin's feet are GREATLY feathered, even on the middle toe. Sad part is that the FRIZZLE cochin has horrible feet, hes missing most of his toes

Its from the other chicks pecking 'em off, not genetic or nothing, but still feel bad for the fellow.

Hmm.... We're gonna order some chicks soon.... perhaps i could find a local silkie breeder? The cochins from McMurray are quite great from my experince, but they have vulture hocks!

Oh great, now i gotta go look for cochin AND silkie breeders here, or see if any are willing to ship..

The headaches have begun....


Oh and yes, i read the entire thread. I don't mind headache's actually, and starting from scratch would be fun. Plus, any DQ would sell mad here cause people love 'em silkies, and 'em frizzles LOL.

Yes i know they resemble a cochin in MANY ways, but for some reason, i look at a smooth feathered and think polish...Strange.... Still, all of 'em are purdy !! Maybe cause i like the strange silkie feathering more then chicken feathering..hmm....
Back to the genetics talk,...

I could try and get MM silkies... they are pretty good.... Never had VH on them...then i could get cochins from a breeder?

Urrrgggg, can silkies even get hocks? COURSE THEY CAN!

Wow, the headaches HAVE began

What ever, i still wanna start from scratch

 

[country]

Actually does anybody know of good quailty Sizzle hatching eggs or chickens for sale in Maine, New Hampshire, or even Mass.???

You might try the BYC egg auction. Also Ebay & there are a few other egg auctions around.

 

[country]

aoxa,

Though George has a liking of my cochin - wonder what that cross would look like?

I hope your Cochin is a bantam. If she's a standard, even if she's squatting, poor George is going to have to learn mountain climbing!