Key Technical Points of Feeding and Management for Silkie Chicken Farming

The silkie chicken, also known as the silky fowl, five-clawed chicken, silkie chicken, and bamboo silkie chicken, is also called the Taihe chicken because it originated in Taihe County, Jiangxi, China. The silkie chicken is a traditional and precious Chinese medicinal material, renowned at home and abroad, and internationally praised as the “pearl among poultry”.

I. Biological Characteristics

The silkie chicken belongs to the class Aves, order Galliformes, family Phasianidae. It is a small-sized chicken with a small head and short neck, with whiskers under the beak, ear lobes that are greenish within blue, and white feathers over the whole body. Except for the arrow-shaped feathers of the two wings' main remiges and tail feathers, all are downy fine feathers. The male has a mulberry-shaped purplish-black round comb, with a tuft of fine feather crest behind the comb. The female wears a white downy ball crest on top of the head, with many fine short feathers connected from the upper beak to both cheeks. The claw has five toes, that is, one extra toe on the rear toe, feathered feet, with abundant and dense feathers on the shanks. Because its eyes, beak, tongue, skin, flesh, bones, shanks and toes, internal organs, and fat are all black, it is thus named the silkie chicken.

II. Medicinal Value

The silkie chicken is a precious Chinese medicinal material. It was recorded long ago in the Compendium of Materia Medica: the silky fowl is sweet in nature and neutral, non-toxic, and is mainly used to tonify deficiency, fatigue, and weakness, and to benefit women in childbirth. It is clinically recognized that the silkie chicken has the functions of tonifying the liver and kidneys, benefiting qi and blood, and reducing deficiency heat, and is a good medicine for treating weakness diseases and women's diseases. In addition, modern medical practice has proved that the silkie chicken has good therapeutic effects on pulmonary tuberculosis, heart disease, gastric ulcers, chronic hepatitis, neurasthenia, and pediatric rickets. Silkie chicken eggs can treat headaches, dizziness, asthma, nephritis, and other diseases. Soaking silkie chicken bones in wine can invigorate the blood and dispel wind. Boiling silkie chicken feathers in water and washing the body with it can relieve itching and treat urticaria and other conditions.

III. Living Habits

The silkie chicken has a small body size; adult roosters weigh 1-1.5 kg, and hens 0.75-1 kg. It has a gentle temperament and strong adaptability, and can be raised in houses, enclosures, cages, or free-range. Hens take 5.5 months to reach sexual maturity, eggs weigh 35-45 g, annual egg production is about 100 eggs, with the high reaching 130 eggs. The silkie chicken has a very strong broodiness; after laying about 20 eggs it stops production to "sit on the nest," so its natural incubation ability is stronger than that of ordinary chickens. Chicks weigh 27-30 g and have weak vitality and poor resistance to cold and dampness, so during brooding they require careful management, and the chicken house must be dry, ventilated, warm, quiet, and hygienic. The silkie chicken has a habit of enjoying sand baths, so a sand bath trough must be placed in the chicken house to help clean the feathers and assist growth and development.

IV. Key Management Points

1. Careful brooding. When chicks have just hatched, warm brooding must be adopted. The optimal temperature in the first week is 35-36°C, in the second week 32-34°C, and thereafter it is lowered by 2°C each week; after 5-7 weeks they can be taken off heat. After chicks are 2 days old, if one third of the chicks are seen pecking at the ground with their beaks, feeding can begin. In the first few days of feeding, feed half-cooked millet mixed with cooked egg yolk; the amount of egg yolk can be 1 per day for every 18 chicks. After 7 days, switch to mixed feed, mainly half-cooked grain, supplemented with green vegetables, fish meal, and vitamins. During brooding, about 17 chicks can be raised per sq m. Drinking water must be sufficient and clean; in the early period give warm water, and potassium permanganate should be added to the water at a ratio of 1 part per 10,000.

2. Feeding adult chickens. Chicks grow relatively quickly; at 30 days of age they begin to grow silky feathers, and at 50 days of age they can reach 250 g. Normally maintain hygiene in the chicken house, suitable humidity, and sufficient drinking water. During the laying period, maintain 16-17 hours of light per day; when light is insufficient, supplement artificially in the morning and evening. The daily ration should use formula feed; the formula is: fish meal 10%, soybean cake 10%, grain powder 20%, corn (2316, 2.00, 0.09%) powder 30%, sorghum 5%, rice bran 7%, shell powder 2%, growth hormone 1%, green feed 15%. Use a combination of dry and wet feeding methods. Before 4 months of age, feed 4-5 times per day. During the laying period, appropriately feed more green and succulent feed to prevent laying hens from becoming too fat; appropriately add manganese salts to increase egg production and egg quality.

3. Disease prevention and control. Although the silkie chicken has strong disease resistance and fewer diseases, the principle of "prevent disease early when there is no disease, treat early when there is disease" should still be adhered to. Clean the chicken house every day, remove feces, and pay attention to moisture prevention; disinfect once a week, and scrub and disinfect the feed trough every 3-5 days; do not feed moldy or spoiled feed.

4. Breeding and selection. For silkie chicken breeding, excellent individuals must be selected that possess all five major characteristics: heavy comb, green ears, white down, five claws, and black coloration. Incubation can be done in spring and autumn, but spring incubation is better. Roosters are required to be robust with obvious sexual characteristics; hens are required to lay many eggs and have poor broodiness. A breeding male-to-female ratio of 1:6 can achieve a relatively high fertilization rate, and the hatched chicks are also robust. Roosters can mate at 6-7 months of age, and hens are best at 10 months of age, and can be used for 3-4 years.