The chicks will still look good. They'll be mostly black with silver leakage, so may not fit a standard color variety, but that doesn't matter unless it is planned to show them.
Silkies can have hidden color genes, so you can get surprises.
They are pretty. The chicks should be sex linked. Female offspring will be gold partridge, males will be silver with gold leakage on the shoulders. I'm not sure if the penciling will carry over to the female chicks.
Yes. In old times some breeds were specifically bred for short legs because people thought they did less damage while scratching around in gardens. I don't know if there's any truth to that. Maybe.
Yes. That could be in the mix, but they have such high carried tails that I didn't think of it. Sometimes short legs just turn up, especially when bantams are mixed with standard size breeds.
Are these birds all free range? If so, the hens would all move to the less drafty coop if that was the cause of the switch, not just the dominant rooster.
As far as the roosters go, the dominant is attacking the subordinate. That's normal. So long as the younger one can escape and the older...
I'm guessing he's not a simple cross of two breeds but an amalgamation of several breeds. He's muscular and hold himself upright, so that could mean he has some game blood. He probably has New Hampshire or Rhode Island red in the mix, and maybe brown Leghorn or Welsumer. His legs are short. I'm...
I'm guessing somewhere in the background of the pale bird a light Brahma was crossed in. It's larger size also could be a sign of that since light Brahmas are typically larger than dark Brahmas.
This variety is usually consistent for color, from what I've seen, so I don't think it is just...
They are a difficult breed to determine gender because they are unusual in so many ways. I gave my opinion, but there are no guarantees. This is why I try to inform people about genetic testing where you send samples into a lab. It costs money, but I think it is worth it for some people because...