Rural Gardening: Bearded/Non-bearded Silkies, 1 by silkiechick

silkiechick wrote:
first of all i could tell ya better if they were mixes if i saw pics and knew if they had silkie feathering or barbed feathers and if they r feather footed or not and what color skin they all have.

a silkie should have black or gray/blue looking skin they r the only all drk skin chicken breed. they should have 5 toes on each foot sometimes they r born with an extra toe or missing one. if they have 4 toes on both it is likely a mixed. if it has pink skin or pink feet it is a cross usually but pet quality sometimes shows white toes on tips rest normal silkie skin color. they also should have turquise earlobes. alot of crosses don't have the ear color however showgirls and sizzles are crosses that normally show them.

if u breed bearded to bearded=100% bearded
if u breed nonbearded to nonbearded=100% nonbearded
if u breed nonbearded to bearded i usally get 75% bearded since it is more dominant and 25% nonbearded. if u breed one of each together yes u will get babies who are bearded and nonbeaded from same parents.

most silkies r bearded i usually see less nonbearded. i have both in showgirls and silkies and my sizzles r all bearded. non bearded r easier to sex earlier but girls do get a slight small waddle also. non bearded sometimes they show slight waddles but they shouldn't.

hope this helps,
silkie



this is one of my purebreed exhibition white bearded silkie hens