Australian Breed Standards for Silkie Chickens
Silkies are one of the popular curiosities of the poultry world, with their nearly black skin, face, comb, wattles, flesh and bones, and their hair-like plumage in which there is no web. Way back in 380BC, Aristotle mentioned Chinese Silkies in his writings. The Silkie is also famous for its propensity to brood, and as such is often used by fanciers, or crossed with other breeds, to produce very reliable broody females.
Male Characteristics:
Carriage:
Small, compact and lively.
Type:
Body: broad and stout looking. Back: short, saddle silky and rising to the tail, stern broad and abundantly covered with fine fluff, saddle hackles soft, abundant and flowing. Breast: broad and full, shoulders stout, square and fairly covered with the neck hackle. Wings: soft and fluffy at the shoulders, the ends of flights ragged and "osprey plumaged" (ie with some strands of the flights hanging downwards). Tail: short and very ragged at the end of the harder feathers of the tail proper. It should not be flowing, but of a short round curve.
Head:
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Head: short and neat. Crest: soft and full, as upright as the comb will permit, and having half a dozen to a dozen soft, silky feathers streaming gracefully backwards from lower and back part of crest to a length of about 3.75cm. The crest proper should not show and hardness of feathers. Comb: almost circular in shape, preferably broader than long, with a number of small prominences over it; preferably having a slight indentation or furrow transversly across the middle. Eyes: brilliant and not too prominent. Beak: short and stout at the base. Face: smooth. Wattles: concave, nearly semi-circular, not long or pendent. Earlobes: (non bearded variety) more oval than round. Bearded variety, very small, almost concealed by the beard. The beard and muff is comprised of feathers turned horizontally backwards, from both sides of the beak; and from the centre vertically downwards. The whole forming a collar of three ovals in a triangular group, giving a muffling effect.
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Neck:
Short or medium length, broad and full at base with the hackle abundant and flowing.
Legs and Feet:
Free from scaliness. Thighs: wide apart and legs short, covered with abundant fluff. No hard feathers on the hocks, but a profusion of soft silky plumage on them is admissable. The feathers on the legs should be moderate in quantity. Toes: five, straight, the fourth or rear toe and the fifth diverging from one another. The middle and outer toes feathered, but these feathers should not be too hard.
Plumage:
Very silky and fluffy with a profusion of hair-like feathers.
Female Characteristics:
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Saddle broad and well cushioned with the silkiest of plumage which should nearly smother the tail, the ragged ends alone protruding, and inclined to be "Cochiny" in appearance. The legs are particularly short in the female with the underfluff and thigh fluff nearly meeting the ground.
The crest is short and neat, like a powder puff and with no hard feather, and not split by the comb. The eye should not be hidden by the crest when viewed from the side at eye level. Comb small. Earlobes small and roundish. Wattles either absent or small and oval in shape. Other general characteristics are similar to those of the male, allowing for the natural sexual differences. |
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Colours:
Black: Male & female - plumage black all over with a green sheen in the males. A minimal amount of colour in the hackle is permissible but not desirable.
Blue: Male & female - plumage an even shade of blue from head to tail; a self-colour, and neither laced nor barred.
Blue partridge: Male & female - plumage colour & markings as for the partridge silkie but black everywhere replaced by blue.
Gold: Male & female - plumage an even shade of golden buff, avoiding pale lemon colour on one hand and brownish-orange on the other. Clear colour throughout to be preferred but some darker feathers permissible in tail of both sexes.
Grey: Male & female - plumage; head & crest male dark grey, female pearly grey. Neck hackles and saddle hackle; male light grey streaked with darker grey. Shoulders, fronts and wing bows, male slate grey with shafting of dark grey. Breast; light grey. Primaries and secondaries; both sexes solid even shade of slate grey. Plumage throughout all remaining sections of both male and female; even shade of pearly grey.
Partridge: Male: Plumage of head & neck dark orange. Hackles orange/yellow, free from washiness, each feather having a clear black stripe down the centre. Back & shoulders, dark orange. Wing bar solid black. Primaries black, free of any white. Secondaries; outer web dark orange, inner web black, the dark orange showing where the wing is closed. Tail and sickles black. Leg and foot feathers black. Breast and fluff black. Undercolour slate grey, free from white.
Female: Plumage; neck and breast lemon striped black. Hackle feathers black centre with lemon edge. Crest; lemon and black mingling. Body (including wings and cushion), black barring on soft partridge brown, undercolour slate-grey. Leg and foot feathers, as for body. Black permissible in the tail.
White: Male & female - plumage white throughout all sections.
All varieties: in both sexes, beak slate blue. Eyes black. Comb, face & wattles mulberry. Earlobes turquoise blue or mulberry, the former preferred. Shanks and feet leaden. Nails blue-white. Skin mulberry.
Weights:
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Fowls:
Male: 1.58 - 2kg Female: 1.15 - 1.58kg Bantams: Male: 570g - 680g Female: 455 - 570g Scale of Points: Type: 20 Head (including beard & muff where present): 30 Legs: 10 Colour: 10 Plumage: 30 Total: 100 Disqualifications & Serious Defects for Silkies: General Disqualification - Incorrect colour of skin. Serious Defects:
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Disqualifications & Serious Defects for Silkies:
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General Disqualification - Incorrect colour of skin.
Serious Defects:
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