Silkie Duck Thread

[Coyote Night]

This is the official Silkie duck thread! These little beauties are growing in popularity and we need a place to share information, pictures etc..... so here it is. Who has silkie ducks? Post some pictures and lets get to chatting about them.

 

[Coyote Night]

Here are some of our silkie ducks! We have white, blue fawn, snowy, pastel, Aleutian and black bibbed in our flock. This will be our first year hatching from them and we have a handful of ducklings coming from Holderread again this year.

 

[Coyote Night]

 

[Coyote Night]

 

[happyfarmer325]

I am just thrilled you started this thread!! I want to know everything there is to know about raising and potentially showing silkies! Love the pictures, just adorable!

These are the smallest birds I have every dealt with, also the first show quality birds I have ever had. I am not sure if showing them is realisitically in my future, but I'd love to know if anyone has experience with that. Mostly would just love to hear any tips or information at all, and of course love seeing pictures! I will post some of mine shortly!!

 

[ChristineR]

Coyote, are you going to be selling hatching eggs from your Silkies this year? I'm going to order some Ancona eggs from you and I'd be tempted to get some Silkies, too, if you are going to sell them.

 

[Coyote Night]

Coyote, are you going to be selling hatching eggs from your Silkies this year? I'm going to order some Ancona eggs from you and I'd be tempted to get some Silkies, too, if you are going to sell them.

Yes we will probably sell some. Just let me know if you want to give them a try. Once they start laying will be our first chance to try hatching them and I can check fertility with the first eggs also. I'm excited for some silkie eggs. I've been hearing people are starting to get Call duck eggs so I'm wondering just how long before the silkies get started and keeping an eye out.

 

[Frank Phinster]

They look interesting, but are they waterproof with that peculiar feather structure?

 

[Coyote Night]

They look interesting, but are they waterproof with that peculiar feather structure?

Yes they are waterproof, they handle the cold just as well as my runners and anconas. The only difference is a wispy silkie feather instead of a smooth feather. Here is a photo for a comparison The blue fawn to the right is a heterozygous silkie that carries the silkie gene but has smooth feathers herself and the blue fawn behind her is a homozygous silkie possessing two silkie genes and showing the silkie feathering.

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[Frank Phinster]

Good to know.
I read somewhere that the silky feathers would get soaked in water and make the duck unable to swim properly.
But before starting an argument I wanted to ask you whether this is true.
Actually, your ducks look less silky than some I found on the interwebs (but yours look far better than these). Could it be that silkies with even more silky feathers might have problems?
I do not want to provoke you, I'm just curious.