Silkies or mixes?

[D00dle]

Hello! I’ve just hatched these beautiful babies I’m not sure if it’s even possible to tell this young, but I got these hatching eggs knowing they could be silkies or silkie mixes. The person I got them from said her silkies tended to stay with their own but she also kept a svarthona, a hmong, and a Belgian bearded d’uccle in her pen (roosters). Is it possible to tell if any of these guys are mixed and perhaps with which breed? They all have feathered feet. Also, if they are silkies what colours do you think they’ll be? Thank you so much!! the circled three are 2 Easter eggers and an ameraucana!

 

[murphynhazel12]

Check how many toes the chicks have- the pure silkies should have 5 on each foot. They should also have black skin, so I'm thinking 4 is a mix. Comb type isn't too visible right now, but anything that's not a walnut comb indicates a mix as well. Hope that helps! All very cute babies!

 

[Cloverr39]

Silkie mixes can have 5 toes too, since Silkies often pass that trait on. The absence of 5 toes would indeed suggest it's not a pure Silkie though.
I agree that if they are Silkies they should have black skin. (There are some exceptions to that, like cuckoos, but usually they will have black skin and dark combs.) Though, I think hmong and svarthona both have black skin too, so only the d'uccle rooster would throw light skinned chicks.
Walnut combs tend to be dominant over other comb types, (though not always. It depends on the parents' genotype.) so even Silkie mixes will often have walnut combs.
When they start to feather out, you'll be able to see the feather type. Silked feathers are recessive, so if a Silkie was mixed with any smooth-feathered breed, the chicks would always have regular smooth feathers. That will probably be your best indicator. You should be able to see feather type in a week or so when their wings come in. Any chicks that have smooth feathers are mixes.

 

[D00dle]

Thank you so much for all the info, and sorry for the late reply!! I do have an update, they seem to all be mixes except for #2, which I believe has silkie feathering coming in. All have leg feathering except for #3 and #5, they all have black skin and #5 is the only one without 5 toes. Another odd thing, #3 and #5’s feathers seem to almost look like frizzles? The person I got the eggs from didn’t keep frizzles so I’m wondering if it might be angel wing, but it doesn’t really look like angel wing to me so I’m a little stumped! I’ve added a picture of #5 from the top so you can see how the feathers are laying.