A question about Silkies

[luvchickens]

When I was a kid, we had two Silkie roosters. Neither had any feathers on his head, and red combs were plainly visible.

Since then, I have seen numerous photos of Silkies with feathers on their heads and no visible combs. I've also seen photos of Silkies like the ones we had, with nice red combs and no top-feathers.

I'm just curious -- why do some Silkies have feathers on their heads and others don't? Is it how some of them are bred? An accident of nature? Are the ones with head feathers show quality, and those without more ordinary?

We just kept ours with some bantam hens for eggs and as pets. We would occasionally allow fertilized eggs to hatch so we could have some babies, but primarily the eggs were for food. We lived in a very rural area on a very tight budget, and this was a way to save money at the grocery store.

I'm asking about the head feathers or lack thereof out of curiosity. Just wondering ...

--luvchickens

BTW -- I am American.

 

[valeriebutterley]

Hello luvchickens and welcome, nice to have an American again, I'm sure all who post will say the same!
True Silkies are known for their jet black skin wattles and comb, and blue ears, also their "mad hair" type crest, I've had a few over the years, and all have had these characteristics, all pure bred Silkies.
They are certainly good layers, like Pekins, at the moment I am getting 5 eggs a day from 5 bantams, of which two are Silkie crosses, one with a bantam buff Sussex, and one with a Pyle Oxford game bird, - the feistiest little girl ever, stands up to the cat and hens 4 times her size - as you can tell I love Silkies in whatever form they come!

 

[luvchickens]

So, the Silkies we had must have been hybrids? Their combs and wattles were bright red, just as in other roosters. And no feathers at all on the very tops of their heads where the combs were. The rest of them were pure white, and they even had some feathering on their legs. We got them from a local hatchery when I was around seven years old. Dad called them Silkies, and apparently the hatchery staff also had them labeled as Silkies, and I have seen photos of what were called "Silkies" looking as our roosters did. They must have been a cross of some sort? Just wondering why some are different than those with the traditional "boa bonnets".

 

[Marigold]

Many Silkies have been crossbred with other bantams, and are none the worse for that unless you want to show them, of course. That's where the differences in combs and crest formation, or lack of it, originates I expect. Gamekeepers and farmers used to keep lots of Silkies in the days before large-scale electric incubators were invented, because they go broody so easily and are such good mothers. They were used to hatch pheasant eggs as well as chicken eggs.
When the kids were little we had a couple of Silkies and the little white one, a tiny ball of fluff, was top hen for some years. When I introduced half a dozen POL Rhode Island Reds she set to and put them firmly in their place from the start. . Although they towered over her they flinched when they saw her stalking up to them to take the best treats first. But she was very tame with humans and the girls used to dress her up in dolls clothes and watch TV with her on their laps. She lived to 8 years, when unfortunately she fell in the ponies' water trough one day and her feathers soaked up the water and she drowned.