What are the appearance characteristics of the Silkie rooster?
The Silkie is a special rare poultry breed that combines medicinal, meat and ornamental value, and is a medicinal domestic fowl renowned at home and abroad. So what does the appearance of the Silkie rooster look like?
1. Appearance characteristics
In terms of appearance, its body is small and exquisite, fine and compact, with a small head, short neck and short legs. It has ten major features:
(1) Tufted comb: the comb is strawberry-shaped, with clustered comb teeth; the color is dark purple before sexual maturity and slightly red at sexual maturity.
(2) Crest: there is a tuft of long silky feathers on top of the head, forming a feather crest also known as a “phoenix head”; it is more obvious in hens than in roosters, shaped like a “white pom-pom”.
(3) Green ears: the ear lobes are dark purple, slightly peacock blue, and become more brilliant and eye-catching at sexual maturity; after adulthood, the color gradually turns dark green, and roosters fade faster.
(4) Beard: at the lower jaw of the chicken, there are relatively slender silky feathers; it is more developed in hens than in roosters.
(5) Five claws: each foot has five toes, with an extra toe growing at the base of the rear toe.
(6) Silky feathers: the feathers over the whole body are downy and silky, pure white and smooth, with only a small amount of flat feathers remaining at the base of the main wing feathers and tail feathers. Generally the wing feathers are relatively short, and the tips of the feather vanes often have incomplete splits; the tail feathers and the sickle feathers of roosters are underdeveloped.
(7) Feathered legs: the shanks and the fourth toe grow white feathers, most obvious on the outer side.
(8) Black skin: the skin over the whole body, as well as the eyelids, beak, shanks and toes, are all black.
(9) Black meat: the muscles over the whole body, as well as the internal organ membranes and peritoneum, are all black, but the breast muscles and leg muscles are lighter in color.
(10) Black bone: the periosteum is deep black, and the bone substance is light black.
2. Nutritional value
Silkie chicken meat is black, fine and tender, delicious and refreshing, and rich in nutrients, with a special nourishing function for the human body. According to analysis, Silkie chicken contains abundant nutrients needed by the human body, among which the contents of protein, trace elements, γ-globulin, platelets and serum enzymes are all higher than those of ordinary chickens; in addition, it also has multiple functions such as increasing blood cells and heme, regulating physiological functions, enhancing body immunity and anti-aging. Silkie chicken eggs have the characteristics of standard egg shape, good eggshell quality, high cooked-egg rate and high yolk proportion, and their cholesterol content is 10.94% lower than that of ordinary chickens, and they can also enrich the trace elements zinc and selenium essential to the human body; therefore, Silkie health-care eggs can be produced through a biotransformation pathway by changing the feed. Measured by Haugh units, the quality of Silkie eggs is all above the special grade one level; compared with ordinary chicken breeds, Silkie eggs have a higher yolk proportion and less albumen, indicating that Silkie eggs contain relatively high fat, are rich in amino acids per unit weight, and have high nutritional value.
The Silkie has a small and light body, a gentle temperament, is not good at flying, has good broodiness, and shows the characteristics of fast growth early and slow growth later. At the same time, it combines medicinal, nutritional and ornamental value in one, with its medicinal value being especially prominent.