Silkie Chickens

Facts about Silkie Chicken chicken breed, Silkie Chicken's are native to China. The Silkie Chicken is called this because of its uncharacteristically fluffy plumage, which offers a silky feel. The Silkie Chicken breed has quite a lot of other strange features, such as black bones and skin, blue color earlobes, and five toes on each of its feet, whereas nearly all chickens may have only four toes on their feet. Silkie Chickens are habitually displayed at poultry shows, and they appear in a variety of colors.

Features

Silkie Chickens are habitually incorrectly called a bantam breed, and though they are measured bantams in some countries, this differs consistent by the region and several breed standards group them legitimately as big fowl. The bantam Silkie Chicken is, in fact, a separate range most of the time. Approximately all strains of the breed in North America are bantam sized, but the standard-sized Silkie Chicken in Europe is the original version. However, even standard Silkie Chickens are relatively small chickens, and usually, male Silkie Chickens are heavier than the female ones with the body mass of 4 lbs (1.8 kg), whereas the female chickens have a body weight of 3 lbs (1.36 kg).

The Silkie plumage was unique amid chicken breeds in the past, but in modern years, Silkie feathering has been urbanized in quite a lot of breeds, mostly particularly Chabo, where it is currently standardized in the Netherlands and Britain. It has been contrasted to silk, and to coat. Their feathers are short of functioning Barbicels, and they are therefore similar to down on other birds and make Silkie Chickens incapable to fly. The overall outcome of Silkie Chickens is a soft, feathery look.

Silkie Chickens come in two different varieties, such as bearded chickens and non-bearded chickens. Bearded Silkie Chickens have an additional muff of feathers beneath their beak area, compared to non-bearded ones. This beard covers their earlobes. They are also separated in accordance with their color. Colors of a Silkie Chicken include Blue, Black, Buff, Partridge, Gray, and White. Alternative shades, such as Lavender, Cuckoo, Splash and Red exist, as well. All Silkie Chickens have a petite Walnut Comb, turquoise blue colored earlobes and dark wattles. Besides these characteristics, these breeds boast five toes on each foot. Other chicken breeds that exhibit this uncommon trait include the Faverolles, Dorking, and Sultan.

All Silkie Chickens boast black color skin and bones and grayish-black color meat. Melanism that extends beyond the skin into the connective tissue of an animal is an uncommon feature, and in chickens it is caused due to fibromelanosis, which is an uncommon mutation considered to have started in Asia. The Silkie Chicken and numerous other breeds descended from Asian breeds have the mutation. Ignoring the color, this breed does not usually produce as much as the more widespread meat chicken breeds.

Diet

In captive, Silkie Chickens are fed with crumbles or layer pellets to keep them healthy, though they are fond of feeding on meats.

Temperament

Besides distinct physical characteristics, Silkie Chickens are celebrated for their calm, gracious temperament. Among the most passive of poultry, Silkie Chickens are measured as an ideal pet. Hens are extremely broody, as well, and they are good mothers. Though they only lay a maximum of three eggs per week, they are normally used to produce eggs from other chicken breeds and bird varieties.

The average lifespan of a Silkie Chicken ranges from 2 years to 5 years.