Mount Vernon, IL
Photo: Francesco Altamura / Pexels
Varieties
- Purpose
- broody
- Egg color
- cream
- Eggs / year
- ~100
- Hen weight
- ~2 lbs
- Cold hardy
- Yes
- Heat tolerant
- No
- Temperament
- docile, calm, exceptionally gentle
- Forages
- poor
- Broodiness
- high
- APA class
- Feather Legged
- NPIP stock code
- W13
- Origin
- China
Breed guide
Silkie
Also known as: Silky, Chinese Silk Chicken, Showgirl
Ancient Chinese bantam with hair-like feathers lacking barbicels, black skin and bones, blue earlobes, and five toes. They lay poorly. As broodies they are legendary, and keepers use them widely to hatch other breeds' eggs. In the US they are shown as a bantam.
Keeper's notes
Silkie feathers are not waterproof, so in rainy weather they need dry shelter and covered runs. Trim the crest back around the eyes. Feathered feet ball up with mud in a hurry and want checking. A Silkie cannot fly, so keep them under cover where hawks hunt.
From the 1910 Standard of Perfection
Class: Miscellaneous (Class XI)
Standard weights: cock 3 lbs, hen 2 lbs
“Silkies derive their name from the peculiar formation of the plumage, their feathers being webless and of a silky texture, a peculiarity possessed by no other Standard fowl.”
Disqualifications: Absence of crest or of fifth toe; feathers not truly silky; shanks not feathered down outer sides; vulture-hocks.
APA recognized varieties
Feather Legged (recognized as bantam) · American Standard of Perfection, 2010 list
Bearded White 1874Non-Bearded White 1874Bearded Black 1965Non-Bearded Black 1965Bearded Blue 1996Bearded Buff 1996Bearded Gray 1996Bearded Partridge 1996Non-Bearded Blue 1996Non-Bearded Buff 1996Non-Bearded Gray 1996Non-Bearded Partridge 1996Bearded Splash 2001
Silkie listings
None right now. Have some? Post a listing. It's free.
Where to find Silkie
Showing Great Lakes. Change it with the Near box up top.
Regional breeders with this breed on file (184)
Decatur, IL
Marion, IL
Cherry Valley, IL
Palatine, IL
Crystal Lake, IL
Pekin, IL
Sterling, IL
Decatur, IL
See the full breeder directory →
Regional hatcheries that carry it (4)
Mt Gilead, OH
Polk, OH
Millersburg, OH
Kinsman, OH
Sourced from NPIP state directories, matched by the stock codes each participant registers. A flock may keep breeds beyond what it registers, so this list runs conservative.
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