Very small silkie

[speckledhen]

There are several types of dwarfism. One of them produces birds that may not look as mature as they really are-they have short legs and generally are just small. Another type is one where the chick has a parrot beak, short legs, crooked toes, weird feathering and just is not long-lived.

I found that one Delaware hen I used to have was carrying two dwarf genes through genetic testing. Sounds weird, but this person who did the testing was a vet who was studying dwarfism in poultry and swears that it was absolutely possible. Her daughter, owned by Cetawin here on BYC was tested and found to be carrying a double dwarf gene.

This hen passed the genes on to some, if not all, of her daughters, so I sold her and her daughter that I had planned to keep to someone who wanted layers only. I'd have to find the picture of one of the dwarfs for you. Hopefully, yours is just extra small and not a true dwarf.

Here is one of the Delaware dwarfs in a picture with a normal, same-age sibling--this pic belongs to kathyinmo and was posted awhile back:

http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/...egree/1-02-10Randomchickenphotosin10de-19.jpg

 

[phasianidae]

Would love to see pics.

 

[Celiandy]

Here's a couple pics. She wasn't cooperating with the camera, but you can kind of see the size difference.

 

[Teresaann24]

Quote:

 

[robin416]

This is Dwarf at about two years of age. She stood half the height of my other Silkies. She laid a normal sized egg for a Silkie and I mistakenly hatched one her eggs which produced a normal sized male. She didn't develop a tail until she hit four years old and quit laying.

 

[phasianidae]

Quote:
wow she is tiny

 

[CalebtheChicken]

I have a tiny little Cochin roo, but you can't tell him that. I had to seperate him from my main flock because he would pick fights with all my other roos (even my rather large cochin, who is roughly 4 times the little guy's size).

The little feler is only about 6-8in. tall. His name is Elvis.

 

[6Happiness]

Silkies always seemed rather "big" to me for bantams.... I would rather like a version that was much smaller- through careful breeding of course, not just a runt.

 

[Gordonhillfarm]

Silkies are one of the true Bantams -- I beleive all the cross breeding for new colours is what has made them larger . They really should be small -- Tammy

 

[CalebtheChicken]

Quote:
I actually used to have a silkie roo that was only a little smaller than my standard roos.