Rural Gardening: Silkie Questions, 1 by silkiechick

silkiechick wrote:
silkies come in both bearded and non bearded as do showgirls.

silkie is the purebreed

turken is the naked neck pure breed aka transyvanian naked neck

showgirl is a new breed of a silkie who carries the nacked neck gene which origionated as a cross breed of the 2 breeds.

silkie x turken = F1(first generation) turken/silkie untill about 3 more crosses with another silkie, silkie feathering and black neck do not show it is split and hidden. once u hit about F4-5 they start to look like showgirls with turken features starting to disapear. i call F1-about F4's "wannabe's" they are not full showgirl but resemble them usually very poorly with big red necks, lrg combs, large sized birds and sometimes turken feathering, 4 toes and will not breed true and look very pet quality.

once u cross a wannabe to a silkie enough eventually u evolve to a showgirl by breeding out the turken genes as much as possible. this will give u all black skin includeing black neck, 5 toes and naked neck with or without bowties who fit the silkie aba/apa standards. once a showgirl if u cross it to another showgirl or to another silkie u can deturman by the mix a pecentage of how many babies in the hatch will be showgirls or silkies that hatch because they breed true enough to go by genetics but noone has mastered full showgirl hatches yet to my knowledge due to genetic makeup.

a non bearded has 2 little skin pieces that hang down called a waddle, bearded these waddles r very small or do not show and inplace of the waddles is feathers that open to look like a beard or goate(sp) look.

hey, asking is how we learn ya don't know till ya ask. i can do pics to show ya also.

bearded silkie hen pictured.