Silky Ducks

[HeadmUP]

Silky ducks, Silkie ducks, Silky Mallards or Silky Calls, (I have seen them referred to by several different names) have a feather mutation that causes the feather barbs to basically "unzip," so "ducks with bad feather condition" is not too far off GD. :lol: Some people have argued that we shouldn't be breeding waterfowl that are not "waterproof", but I won't get into that. The feather mutation of a Sebastopol goose actually bends and curls at the shaft (Rachis I believe its called, without digging out the text books) of the feather, but the barbs are closed just like a normal feather. In my experience, Silky ducks tend to be good mothers, are much quieter than Calls, don't mess around in the water as much, and are naturally flightless. (I guess you could argue, that maybe we shouldn't be breeding birds that can't fly too.) They tend to be a little light around people however, but I found all these qualities to work for what I wanted them for.

[goosedragon]

Thanks for the info HeadmUP, Like I posted, I was interested in the silky duck before much was generally known about them. Once I learned what they actually were I lost interest. (yes I belong to the group that beleives that birds should fly and that waterfowl should be at least water resistant :? ) I have no real problem with breeders that produce birds that meet their general requirements. A big meat bird may lose the ability to fly because of the heavy bodies wanted for the table... The Silky sounds like the answer for the people that want bantam ducks but don't want to deal with the problems of flight. The mutation leaves them dependant on human keepers to survive.... ~gd