The Sizzle Thread!

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

I took some up dated pics of some of the Sizzles that I hatched a few weeks ago. These are from the first group. Out of the 13 birds that I hatched these were the ones that I kept to grow out a little and see if they will be keepers for breeders next year. I have my fingers crossed the the one smooth that I have here is a boy.

This is chick #1


Chick #2


Chick #3


Chick #4


And chick #5 the smooth Sizzle


Chicks 1, 2 and 5 are the better looking ones for possible breeders in my opinion but I really do like them all. I have 6 or 7 more in another brooder that are a little younger that I'm watching and 13 that just hatched today. So I know I should end up with a few good ones to keep. Please critique these chicks and let me know if you think that I'm heading in the right direction to improve my lil flock of dust mops.

Thanks,
Chris

I love them! They look great and I especially like #2! I'm hoping to get some a similar color to #2 out of my next breeding.

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

I'm so glad to have found this thread and enjoyed reading the posts and love all the great images. Very informative! I brought this boy home today from a local breeder. What is everyone's opinion? I was told he is about four months old. His long wing feathers seem to be rather roughed up and I figure he's maybe been in a few fights living in a mixed flock. Does he look to be a sizzle?

He looks to be an excellent sizzle! I can't tell for sure from the pics but it appears that he does not have 5 toes on each foot and does not have blue ear lobes. Those are the only faults I see. I really like the looks of him.

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

RBF, your boy is a looker. With the frizzle gene and dark skin, I'd say he's a frizzle. But hopefully someone else will say since I'm pretty new at this.

Frizzles are mostly cochins and polish though you can have frizzled silkies. I would say he is a sizzle. Sizzles should have black eyes, black skin, 5 toes, crest, and silkie combs. They are judged on the silkie standard.

 

[Chris Herzog]

I love them! They look great and I especially like #2! I'm hoping to get some a similar color to #2 out of my next breeding.

Thank you.
I think #2 came from this hen...The light Buff


with a dark Buff Silkie over her.

Chris

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

Thank you.
I think #2 came from this hen...The light Buff


with a dark Buff Silkie over her.

Chris

Those are gorgeous! I can't wait till my next breeding. I've added a dark partridge silkie, a black silkie, and a buff silkie. Hopefully my birds will turn out as pretty as yours!

 

[aoxa]

Thank you.
I think #2 came from this hen...The light Buff


with a dark Buff Silkie over her.

Chris

Do you usually use a smooth feathered male instead of the other way around? What are the benefits of this?

 

[Chris Herzog]

Do you usually use a smooth feathered male instead of the other way around? What are the benefits of this?

I am in no way an expert in the breeding of Sizzles and there are many other people that are more knowledgeable about this than I am. So don’t take this to the bank but this is my understanding of all this.


First off I personally screwed up right from the beginning. I bought eggs from a number of people and only kept the 4 hens in the pic above. I got rid of everything else that did not look like these 4 hens. That was a big mistake. So anyway, when my hens were old enough to breed I bought 2 good Silkie Roos to breed them with thinking that I would get ½ and ½, half Silkie looking birds and half Sizzles that look like my hens in the pics above. When you breed a Silkie to a Sizzle (like my hens) you actually end up with 4 different types of feathered birds. You get Silkie feathered, Frizzled Silkie Feathered, Barbed feathered and Frizzled Barbed feathered. A smooth is a Barbed feathered and my hens are Frizzled Barbed feathered. However, the advantage of using a Silkie to breed with is that you end up with a lot of the Silkie traits that are desired with Sizzles. The dark skin, 5 toes, the crest on top of the head ect ect but only ¼ of the chicks end up looking like my hens and don’t forget you get males and females within them. I say that because you DO NOT want to breed Frizzled feathered to Frizzled feathered. Doing so you end up with a Frazzle or a curly and their feathers are really brittle. They end up breaking off and you have a bird with few feathers that has a hard time regulating its body’s temperature and is sick a lot and need special care.


So to answer your question, No I normally don’t use a smooth feathered male to breed with only because this past month was the first time I could actually hatch my own eggs. My Sizzle hens just started laying about 2 months ago. However I would have used one if I had one to breed with. Remember I told you I screwed up getting rid of all the other birds that did not look like my 4 hens. I had at least 2 good smooth feathered males that I could have used in my original hatch but I gave the birds away. A smooth feathered Sizzle and a Frizzled feathered Sizzle will give you a 50/50 hatch. 50% will end up with smooth barbed feathers and 50% will be Frizzled Barbed feathers (what we desire). Then when your chicks get old enough, you can set up 2 pens if you wanted. One with a Smooth feathered male over Frizzled feathered hens, the other with a Frizzled feathered male over smooth feathered hens. I really only prefer the Frizzled barbed feathered hens so that’s what I plan to keep with the exception of just one smooth feathered male to breed them with.


All my chicks that I have hatched so far (like 50 of them in the last 3 weeks) have 5 toes. Some have crest some don’t. Some have dark skin and some don’t. My goal is to keep the chicks that turn out to be pullets with the best Slikie traits and that also have the barbed frizzled feathers. Then find me a good smooth feathered male to cover them. If I don’t get my male this go round with all the chicks I hatch, I’ll get another Silkie Roo and try again in the Spring.

Chris

 

[Chris Herzog]

One of the smooth males I gave away not knowing any better...

 

[aoxa]

I am in no way an expert in the breeding of Sizzles and there are many other people that are more knowledgeable about this than I am. So don’t take this to the bank but this is my understanding of all this. First off I personally screwed up right from the beginning. I bought eggs from a number of people and only kept the 4 hens in the pic above. I got rid of everything else that did not look like these 4 hens. That was a big mistake. So anyway, when my hens were old enough to breed I bought 2 good Silkie Roos to breed them with thinking that I would get ½ and ½, half Silkie looking birds and half Sizzles that look like my hens in the pics above. When you breed a Silkie to a Sizzle (like my hens) you actually end up with 4 different types of feathered birds. You get Silkie feathered, Frizzled Silkie Feathered, Barbed feathered and Frizzled Barbed feathered. A smooth is a Barbed feathered and my hens are Frizzled Barbed feathered. However, the advantage of using a Silkie to breed with is that you end up with a lot of the Silkie traits that are desired with Sizzles. The dark skin, 5 toes, the crest on top of the head ect ect but only ¼ of the chicks end up looking like my hens and don’t forget you get males and females within them. I say that because you DO NOT want to breed Frizzled feathered to Frizzled feathered. Doing so you end up with a Frazzle or a curly and their feathers are really brittle. They end up breaking off and you have a bird with few feathers that has a hard time regulating its body’s temperature and is sick a lot and need special care. So to answer your question, No I normally don’t use a smooth feathered male to breed with only because this past month was the first time I could actually hatch my own eggs. My Sizzle hens just started laying about 2 months ago. However I would have used one if I had one to breed with. Remember I told you I screwed up getting rid of all the other birds that did not look like my 4 hens. I had at least 2 good smooth feathered males that I could have used in my original hatch but I gave the birds away. A smooth feathered Sizzle and a Frizzled feathered Sizzle will give you a 50/50 hatch. 50% will end up with smooth barbed feathers and 50% will be Frizzled Barbed feathers (what we desire). Then when your chicks get old enough, you can set up 2 pens if you wanted. One with a Smooth feathered male over Frizzled feathered hens, the other with a Frizzled feathered male over smooth feathered hens. I really only prefer the Frizzled barbed feathered hens so that’s what I plan to keep with the exception of just one smooth feathered male to breed them with. All my chicks that I have hatched so far (like 50 of them in the last 3 weeks) have 5 toes. Some have crest some don’t. Some have dark skin and some don’t. My goal is to keep the chicks that turn out to be pullets with the best Slikie traits and that also have the barbed frizzled feathers. Then find me a good smooth feathered male to cover them. If I don’t get my male this go round with all the chicks I hatch, I’ll get another Silkie Roo and try again in the Spring. Chris

That was very detailed, thanks for the description. I thought it wasn't the norm. I've only seen the rooster be the sizzle and the hens are always straight feathered. Right now I only have silkie hens and a sizzle rooster. I don't have an option for a smooth feathered sizzle yet. When I do, I will be sure to keep them. Question to Sizzle people out there. George bred with a polish hen. The chicks have 5 toes, one has dark skin and is smooth feathered, the other two are lighter skin and have frizzled feathers. Can I use the smooth sizzle x polish in the breeding program (if a pullet) or is that not recommended? She/he has perfect toe spacing for a silkie, but the crest is still growing - so I don't know how big it will be. She has black skin and feathered shanks as well. Not sure about the comb. It's so small. Looks like the silkie combs at this age.

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

I like to use a straight sizzle rooster over sizzled hens with frizzled feathers. That way, the majority of your birds are what we like to see best, the sizzles with the frizzled feathers.