The Silkie, or Silky, or Chinese silk chicken, is a Chinese breed of chicken which derives its name from its unusual fluffy plumage and is soft to the touch as silk or fur. Other unusual features are; black skin and bones, blue earlobes, and pentadactylism (five toes on each foot) - most chickens have four toes.
The birds are usually raised for exhibition at poultry shows, and several color varieties have been developed :the Entente Européenne accepts ten plumage colours, the American Poultry Association seven, and the Poultry Club of Great Britain five . there are both bearded and non-bearded forms of most colours. In Europe the bantam and large fowl recognised in both types while in America large fowl is not recognized and listed only the bantam.
Silkie hens are strongly broody, and often hatch eggs from other hens and species of birds; they also lay relatively few eggs because of their strong broody tendencies.
History
To be certain where or when the exotic chicken with the unique combination of traits first arose is not known. The better-established origin point is ancient China. Other areas in Southeast Asia have been speculated to be possibilities like India and Java. The earliest known Western written description about Silkies is attributed to Marco Polo. In the 13th century account of his travels, he made references to a "furry" chicken from Asia.In 1598, Ulisse Aldrovandi, a writer and a naturalist at the University of Bologna, Italy, wrote and published a large book about chickens that is still read and respected today. He wrote about "wool-bearing chickens" and those "with a covering of fur like that of a black cat"
Silkies most likely traveled to the West by the Silk route and via sea trade. Silkies were officially recognized in North America with their acceptance into the Standard of Perfection in 1874.Once Silkies became publicly available, a lot of myths formed around them. Early Dutch breeders told buyers they were the hybrids offspring from chickens and rabbits, and sideshows promoted them as having fur (hair) like other mammals.
Silkies in the 21st century have become one of the most popular and common ornamental breeds of chicken. They are kept as ornamental fowl or pet chickens by backyard keepers, and as often they are used to incubate and brood the young of other chickens and waterfowl like ducks, geese and game birds such as quail and pheasants.
Characteristics
In some parts of the world, silkies are classified as a bantam breed, but this varies by region, and many breed standards classify them officially as large fowl (the bantam silkie is, in fact, nearly always a different variety). Nearly all strains of the breed in North America are bantam-sized, while in Europe the standard sized are the original version. Even though there are standard-sized silkies, they are still relatively small; for example, males weigh only 1.8 kg and females weigh 1.4 kg . The American Standard of Perfection defines a male Silkie as 1 kg , and a female as 900 g .
Silkie plumage was previously unique among the many breeds of chicken, but in recent years the silkie feathering trait has been developed in several breeds, most notably the Chabo in which it is now standardised in Britain and the Netherlands. The feathers have been compared to silk, and to fur. The ultimate result is one of a soft, fluffy look. The feathers lack functioning barbicels, so in that sense they are similar to down on other birds. This characteristic makes silkies incapable of flight.
Silkies exist in two varieties: bearded and non-bearded. Bearded Silkies have a muff of feathers in the under-beak area that covers the earlobes. They are also color separated. Colors of Silkie recognized for competitive showing include black, blue, splash, lavender, buff, grey, partridge, and white. Other colors such as cuckoo, mottled, chocolate, mauve, mille fleur, and red are in various degrees of becoming fully developed and/or obtaining recognition. The standards of perfection indicate that all Silkies have a small walnut-shaped comb, dark wattles, and blue earlobes. In addition to the main characteristics, Silkies also have five toes on each foot. Other breeds with this feature are Dorking, Faverolles, Houdan, and Sultan.
Silkies have black or blueish skin, black bones, and greyish-black meat; they belong to a group within the Chinese fowls of the Chinese name wu gu ji for 'black-boned chicken'. More specifically, the Silkie breed itself derives the name Taihe wu ji , which means 'black-boned chicken from Taihe'. Other wu gu ji may retain the basic characteristics of Taihe breed, such as the mulberry comb, white plumage, blue earlobes, and polydactylism.