Not a pure silkie?

[Keeperofmunchkins]

So I hatched four chicks from some ebay eggs that are proving to be questionable. First three out of four had incorrect toes (two had only 4 toes on one foot and one had 6 toes on one foot). Now I'm questioning whether they are even pure silkies!

They were all different colours so all from different parents. The breeder has several different pens of different colour groups but I also have seen them selling other breeds including Pekin bantams and cross breeds.

I ended up giving away two of the chicks to a friend so have only two left, a light maybe buff one and a black.

The black has a strange looking comb like a single comb that is crooked at the top, plus only 4 toes on one foot. It does appear to have beard and crest fluff, plus feathered legs and very dark skin.

The light chick has five toes on both feet, a bumpy little comb that might be correct for a silkie, and fluffy cheeks but it's skin is more greyish and it doesn't seem to have much crest fluff.

Mainly I am concerned about the wing feathers now that they have grown in some. The chicks are now 8 days old for the black one and 9 days old for the light coloured one. Do these look like silkied wing feathers?

 

[featheredplanets]

The lighter chick is not silkied. Can’t make my mind up on the black one but I’m leaning towards silkied. I just had a similar issue with chicks from a breeder, supposed to be gold laced Pekins, except, Pekins aren’t crested... Must be something about English breeders lol.

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

That's what I thought. Thanks for the response.
I've had bad luck this year with eBay eggs. I've had hundreds over the years and even though a lot of them end up being poor quality examples of the breed, they have all been the correct breed until recently. Then I had a batch of 'Japanese bantams' that hatched with feathered legs (turned out to be Pekin bantams) and now these 'silkies'. And to make matters worse I'm suspicious the lighter one is a cockerel because he's so much bigger and braver than the black one which means I will have to rehome him. Rehoming a mixed breed cockerel is difficult.
I'm so annoyed tbh.

 

[NNYchick]

Toes don’t determine Silkies are pure. They are supposed to have 5 toes but you can put 2 show winning silkie together and get wrong number of toes but a good breeder test hatches to be sure they don’t have 2 birds together producing chicks that have faults.
However, I do believe that the light colored one is hard feathered and not a Silkie I’m leanings towards the same thing for the dark one but not quite sure.
As far as comb my chicks at that age have no evidence of comb but it doesn’t stand out as a straight comb. Not sure till a little older.
They maybe mixes or the maybe from someone’s satin project pen. If you paid for pure Silkies that is not what you got. If breeder was breeding for satin they should have told you.

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

I did not known that about the toes. Is the wrong comb type to do with the purity of the breed? The black one definitely has a single comb but it's crooked halfway up. Never seen that before. I will try to get photos. The light chick has a weird little comb, hard to tell which kind but not a single comb.

 

[NNYchick]

I did not known that about the toes. Is the wrong comb type to do with the purity of the breed? The black one definitely has a single comb but it's crooked halfway up. Never seen that before. I will try to get photos. The light chick has a weird little comb, hard to tell which kind but not a single comb.

Wrong comb can also be a quality issue. It too can pop up in pure Silkies. Straight comb needs 2 copies, so even if both parents have correct walnut combs if they both carry hidden straight comb gene and when those two birds come together they produce a percentage of chicks with straight comb.
Lots of complications in genetics, a pair of birds can meet standard on the outside but when put together produce genetic default.
I would definitely contact this “breeder” and let her know all the issues. The biggest concern would be the wrong feather type.
What was your plan for these chicks? Pets, breeding, show. I learned my lesson with hatching eggs. You are better off buying chicks for breeding and adults for showing. That way you can look for default. Just remember the biggest red flag when someone is selling is if they refer to there eggs or chicks as “show quality” the only way to verify that statement is if the birds have actually won ribbons at APA/ABA judged event. There is no way to know if those eggs or chicks will actually develop into a show bird.

 

[HuffleClaw]

They look like Satin Silkies

 

[Matilda Belle]

Agree that they may be satin silkies.

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

What are satin silkies?
I don't think they are though because the breeder also keeps Pekin bantams and sells Pekin x silkie eggs as well. So presumably they mixed up my order.
I only wanted them as pets so wasn't bothered by them not being show standard. The weird toes and wrong combs I didn't mind. But I specifically wanted the silkied feathering! I also intended to sell any cockerels from the pair I have left and I know that silkie males sell significantly easier than cross bred makes around here.

 

[NNYchick]

What are satin silkies?
I don't think they are though because the breeder also keeps Pekin bantams and sells Pekin x silkie eggs as well. So presumably they mixed up my order.
I only wanted them as pets so wasn't bothered by them not being show standard. The weird toes and wrong combs I didn't mind. But I specifically wanted the silkied feathering! I also intended to sell any cockerels from the pair I have left and I know that silkie males sell significantly easier than cross bred makes around here.

Satin silkie is not the correct term, you have Satins and Silkies. Satin is a cochin crossed with silkie. This cross is taken through many generations of selective breeding to give you a bird that matches the standard of a silkie except it has hard feathers instead of silkie feathers. It is hard to say if these are true satins or just a cross, especially if they have wrong comb then the breeder has really not made it out of cross breed description into satin standards. Satins are not recognized by the APA/ABA yet but there are many breeders around the country that have work toward this project and are on their way to getting them recognized, at this time the really good ones can be shown as Non standard variety (NSV) or All other variety(AOV).