Silkies are a breed of chicken named for its unusual soft, fluffy silky plumage. Silkie chickens have several unique genetic and behavioral traits that make them stand out from other chicken breeds.
The Silkie chicken is one of the most popular chicken breeds today. Silkies are a cute, fluffy, small breed chicken with a calm personality. These traits make them ideal as pets that enjoy attention and frequent handling.
It is believed that Silkies originated somewhere in ancient Asia with an early documented account from Marco Polo during his travels in Asia in the 13th century. In his writings, he described chickens with black fur:
“… I have been told, but did not myself see the animal, that there are found at this place a species of domestic fowls which have no feathers, their skins being clothed with black hair, resembling the fur of cats. Such a sight must be extraordinary. They lay eggs like other fowls, and they are good to eat.” – Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian
Silkies are incredibly strange birds. I don’t even know if you could call them birds. They look more like bunnies with chicken legs. In fact… there are some tales that people in the Netherlands tried to market them to tourists as the first ever bird mixed with bunny. If someone told me this was a bird mixed with a bunny, I would totally fall for that. I’d probably pay good money for one too.
7 Interesting Facts About Silkie Chickens
Here are 7 features that make Silkies different from other chicken breeds.
1. Silkie Chickens are Fluffy
The feathers on these birds are furry and fluffy because they don’t have barbs to hold them down. Instead each individual Silkie feather flutters and flies around her like a walking feather duster. This can cause Silkies to get extra cold in the winter, but our Mokey has never had a problem, even in -5˚F without heat in the coop.
2. Silkie Chickens have Black Skin and Bones
Besides the silly fur-like feathers that make a Silkie look like a Muppet, these birds have several other weirdo traits that make them stand out. Silkie’s skin is black or dark blue instead of white. They also have black bones. These are two very strange traits that they share with a few other chicken breeds, the Ayam Cemani among them.
3. Silkies have Extra Toes
Silkies have five toes on their feet instead of the usual four. The fifth toe is very small and pokes out between two others, like it just mistakenly sprouted there one day and decided to hang around. Even with the extra toe (or perhaps because of it) our Silkie, Mokey is a clumsy lady. Whenever another chicken chases her she does this hysterical hop sprint while flapping her wings and trying to stay upright. I laugh every time I see it.
4. Silkie Chickens’ Ears are Turquoise
The earlobes of these birds are what truly make them stand out. We thought something was wrong with our Silkie rooster when we noticed his ears were turning blue. In fact, they were bright turquoise! “How interesting!” we said. “How creepy!” we thought. When his comb and wattles started coming in purplish maroon, I was sure we had some kind of circus freak on our hands. Turns out, that’s just Silkies for ya.
5. Silkies Make Good Pets
Because of the docile nature of these birds and the fact that they don’t make much noise and can barely fly, many people keep them as pets. They are very sweet and love to be held and pet. I’ve seen Silkies that crave the attention of their owners and will sit on their lap all day long. Because of these qualities, they are also the most recommended chicken breed for children.
6. Silkie Chickens are a Delicacy
Many people consider Silkie chicken meat to be a delicacy, and restaurants like to charge a pretty penny because of it. Many cultures also believe Silkie meat to have healing properties and contain more nutrients than traditional chicken meat. In China, where Silkies were first bred, women eat these birds after giving birth to get their strength back.
7. Silkies are the Best Mothers in the Chicken World
It’s no secret that Silkies make wonderful mothers. Their tendency to go broody (have the urge to sit on eggs) is much higher than any other breed. They will patiently incubate those eggs and lovingly care for whatever comes out of them. They will proudly raise the babies of uninterested flock mates. Even baby ducks and turkeys!
I can’t even imagine our one pound bird raising a bunch of turkeys. They would tower over her in just a few weeks! We have high hopes for Mokey going broody this spring. Since our rooster is a cross breed, and we have such variety of breeds in our hens, whatever comes out of those eggs is going to be quite a surprise. I can’t even imagine the hilarity of that fluffy Silkie butt parading around with a brood of weirdo mixed up chicks.
Other chicken breeds may share one or two of these features, but only the Silkie shares such a unique combination of genetic and behavioral traits.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about our adventures with these delightful creatures, and I hope you learned a little something too!
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Thankyou for you lovely website, very informative. So much help for a newby.
I’m so glad you like it, Debbie! We’re glad to have you here!
LOVE. THIS. MEREDITH.
Thanks Tessa! 🙂
I have silkies and can attest to all your facts( except eating them:) but found the bunny comment funny as I have had two bunnies in the coop with my gang and they get along great! And they do “favor “. Also I haven’t found them to be the best mothers so I usually take their babies inside , so to stop two of mine from setting I gave them 4 little day old Cochins and they were thrilled and these being tougher babies are thriving! The overall BEST breed on my farm:)
Ok, that was great. My hubby and I could not stop laughing reading this post! You are right, they are strange, awkward, and hilarious animals, and our flock would not be complete without them! Thank you for the stories and the laughs!
Aww thank you! 🙂
Just bought our silkies 2 weeks ago and they are beautiful. I love how gentle & docile they are. Our 4 children just sit in their coop and talk to them after school.
My question is:
When do you move them from a growing food to a layer food?
Ours are approximately 20 weeks now.
Aww I’m so glad you’re enjoying them! Silkies are our favorite. As for your question, at 20 weeks they’re ready for layer feed right now, although they may scoff at it at first. If they do, try mixing it 50/50 with their chick food until they’re used to the new stuff.
Thanks for the info on the toes. Just got my first chickens and 2 of them are silkies. I was worried I got mutants but apparently the more toes and merrier!
Hello ! I am wondering if silkies and normal brown chickens mix / get on well ?
Cheers
In our experience Silkies get along well with every breed. They tend to be more gentle and timid, but can hold their own if conflict arises. They should be just fine! 🙂
Thanks so much for your Silkie article. I can’t wait to get started on my Silkie collection!
Love this blog post! We have four silkie hens in chocolate and lavender color and one blue silkie rooster. I <3 them to bits. Already thinking about making our coop bigger and getting some more silkies, in different colours, next year.
Love your blog, its been really fun reading it and relating. We also have a variety of chickens, including silkies. One of them is currently raising a chick. She is so patient and attentive to it. Love the chickens, they bring us a lot of enjoyment. Thanks for sharing, I’m looking forward to reading more.
I’m so glad you like it, thanks for the compliment and thanks for reading! Silkies are the best, we love ours and want to get more soon!
What a super blg, lovely post. We keep Silkies in the UK and I love them and all their weirdo-ness…. We also keep Polish Hens as well, but Silkies are by far my favourite breed. Lovely freindly funny little birs!
I have had my silky a couple months I had two roo,all of a sudden they died ,,I have 4 hens they are fine so far ,,,,,,,,,what could have happen to them ,,,,thank you,,,,,ruby,,,
Meat quality is very very good.
I just bought 2 silkies, at least I was told they are silkies. They have black skin and black beeks, black legs but no fur on their legs, should I be concerned that they may not be silkies?
I wouldn’t be concerned, the feathers on their feet may grow in and may not. They are likely silkies, but you may have to wait and see how they turn out!
Help. Does anyone have silkie roosters? I have 3 and all of them have become doberman attack dogs. I am trying to train them by saying no to bad behavior. But they end up in time out. Literally get locked out of the yard. We have 2 and a half acres so they all but the females get full range. My girls i am protective about and keep them separately from the boys. They are just mean and all attack at any time. Help
Hi Jeanine,
We’ve found that roosters are not easily trainable. Mean roosters will likely always be mean roosters, saying no or putting them in time out won’t mean very much to them, and they’ll just continue the behavior. If they are attacking you it’s time for them to go. As rough as it sounds, we recommend culling mean roosters. It wouldn’t be fair to give them to someone else as they’ll just continue the attacking elsewhere. We make a point to only keep nice roosters, and all the rest go in the soup pot. We have had several nice silkie roosters but have heard from others that silkies can be mean. If they have a bad temperament there’s very little you can do to fix it unfortunately, it’s time for them to go.
I am enjoying all your articles and hope you are still writing – 2016 is quite a while ago! Be blessed!
Jean, Thank you for your comment. I took a break from the website for a while, but I’m back to writing and will be adding more articles about our homesteading experiences soon. Stay tuned for some interesting updates, and feel free to let me know if there’s anything specific you’d like to read about. Your support means a lot!