Album: Questions & Answers

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What Silkies do we raise?
Bearded Silkie Bantams. This is a beautiful and popular breed of chicken. Silkies make good pets as well as fancy lawn ornaments. The feathers of Silkies do not have barbs or quills, which is the reason for their very soft and fluffy plumage. The colors we raise are Gray, Black, Blue, Buff, Partridge, Splash and White. Interesting characteristics of this breed are its 5 toes and black skin. The roosters also have walnut shaped combs which should be a deep mulberry almost nearing black in color. A red comb and wattles are disqualifications for showing. Silkie hens are among the best to use as broodies if you want to hatch your eggs out under hens. Silkies are wonderful mothers and Silkie roosters are great with very young chicks and are forever watchful of danger. This is a very calm, nurturing breed! It is very hard to tell the sex of young chicks. The average age pullets begin to lay eggs is 7-9 months and the roosters begin crowing at 6-8 months of age. I don't think Silkie roosters crow as loud as other breeds of chickens, but still a crow is a crow, so keep this in mind if you have close neighbors. The Birds in our flock have all come from Quality breeders. We are members of the AMERICAN SILKIE BANTAM CLUB and the AMERICAM BANTAM CLUB.
You can find links for both of these in the links section located on the homepage. fluffysilkies@yahoo.com ~ OR ~ flufnstuff_email@yahoo.com

What are the Standard Weights of Silkies?
Bearded Silkies are in the feather legged CLASS.
Cock - 36 oz
Hen - 32 oz
Cockerel - 32 oz
Pullet - 28 oz

What colors can I get from my mixed flock?
This is my understanding of the subject. I tried to make it simple, short to the point but useful. I am not an expert and I don’t even play one on TV. :-)

Basic Genetics

This is just touching on the basics of color genes. Genetics can become very involved and complicated. Keep in mind that there are many factors that can change the expected out come. This information is for beginners not those who are already knowledgeable on advanced genetics.

Most Silkie Breeders keep their birds separated by color, The only mixed color pen I have is Blue/Splash. If you have a small back yard flock for your own enjoyment here is the basics.

Blue X Blue will result in 50% Blue, 25% Black and 25% Splash
Blue X Splash will result in 50% Blue and 50% Splash
Blue X Black will result in 50% Blue and 50% Black
Black X Splash will result in 100% Blue
Black Bird + 1 regular Blue gene = Blue Bird + another Blue gene = Splash Bird
Splash X Splash should produce all Splash
Splash X Black should produce all Blue

Black is my favorite color :-)

White hides colors. As a example just imagine a colored bird that was dipped in white wash. Underneath all the white it is still its real color, but you cannot see it. The color is genetically present, but the phenotype (appearance) is not there.
Or you can think of white as an OFF switch. It turns OFF the bio-chemical mechanism that causes pigment to be present in the feathers. White is a recessive gene in Silkies, it takes 2 white genes to get a white bird, but a white bird could also have other color genes in it which the white is masking. "Risk you take when buying birds/eggs from a mixed flock" I also think it's important to mention that some whites carry the silver gene, they hatch out a gray color and feather out pure white.

The color "blue" is a "diluter" of black, modifying the black coloration into a blue therefor you should consider keeping your Blacks separated, but you can pen your blue/blacks/splash together if you want, a lot of people do. Another thing to consider is mixing your Blue & Splashes in the same pen the Splash color/effect can become blurred/muddied over time if repeated generations are mated Splash X Splash.