These are a favourite world wide with both children & adults alike.  It has unusual soft, 'silkie' feathers that are just a delight to touch.   With their gentle, quiet, placid nature & being so eye catching, they have been a very popular pet since at least the thirteenth century. 

We have found the Silkie just as popular with our children as they have been for others all over the world.  They have a wonderful  quite disposition, are small and easily handled. I have friends whose children happily peddle their silkies in a basket on their bike or push them around in a pram.  And the amazing thing is, the silkies just don't seem to mind at all!

The origin of the Silkie is believed to be from either Japan, India or China.  Marco Polo wrote of these wonderful birds, describing them as hens that had hair like cats, were black and laid the best of eggs!  Contrary to popular belief, the Silkie is actually considered a large breed of light fowl, even though they are quiet small, between a standard & bantam in size.  The bantam size is now currently being created in Australia.

The Silkies unusual feathering is due to the lack of the barbs which would normally hold the webs of the feather together,  thus producing long masses of soft 'silvery threads'.  As a result of this, the silkie cannot fly & therefore is easily contained.  The Silkie are not known for their egg laying abilities,  they usually lay around 12-14 eggs before promptly going broody, which they do several times a year!

 However,  they are a popular choice for using as broodies & many people will keep a couple of silkies as broodies to raise more layers from fertile eggs that they purchase.  The Silkie do make excellent brooders & mothers, with the added bonus of passing their wonderful placid nature onto their chicks.

 The silkies comes in a range of colours including white, black,
buff (gold), partridge (a brown), blue (a charcoal colour) & grey.  They are also being developed in splash, chinchilla, silver & cuckoo.
They are a round ball of fluff with a powder puff crest, which sometimes can obscure their vision.  There are two varieties, the bearded & non-bearded.  The comb of the silkie resembles a large walnut and is quite large in the roosters. The silkie is also unusual in that it has black skin & five toes with feathering down the first two.

The Standard calls for a BEAK that is slate blue in colouring, EAR LOBES should be Turquoise blue & oval in shape, EYES that are black & bold, COMB, FACE, WATTLES & SKIN should be Mulberry in colour.  They should have a short BACK, ball-like body, round, full tail and a broad & square chest.  The silkie should also have feathered legs & five toes, also of Mulberry colouring.

Baby Silkie chicks (Black & Buff)- one week old

Blue Silkie Pullet - 5mths