Feather Acres
Specializing in Rare Breed Poultry Preservation
Silky Ducks
We have blacks, whites and mallards to work with. we have also developed blue heads, green heads and silver heads from our extensive project with Australian Spotteds.
Original Black Silky Pair (2004)
First Silky Duck babies!!! From the above pair.
Mallard Silky Duck with some black brothers and sisters. All out of the original black pair! Note the "whispy" silky feathering on all (except the trout runner in the background).
Here he is in his beautiful adult plumage.
Our white silky we were able to get form Holderread's in 2005. Very pretty!
NEW COLOR! Ron is calling it Blue Fawn. Aren't they PRETTY?!
To quote directly from the Holderread's Waterfowl Farm and Preservation Center catalog, "These extremely rare little ducks have soft lacy feathers similar to Silky Doves and were first bred by Darrel Sheraw of Pennsylvania. They weigh between 28 and 36 ounces and come in white, black, dusky and mallard colors. They are non-fliers, excellent foragers, faithful setters and make delightful pets."
After conversations with Dave Holderread, we have also learned that the silky feathering is similar to that of a silkie chicken in that it should be transferable to most any breed it is crossed with, and will most likely show up in the second generation. We had a really hard time hatching them in the beginning. Holderread's has had a difficult time too. Apparently the young ducks were laying a really dense not very porous egg, that wasn't able to dehydrate enough before hatch. We had a really hard time getting a decent sized air cell on them by hatch time. We learned through trial and error, that daily spraying of the eggs was essential in the incubator. The best luck we had was under a runner duck hen. Otherwise, became sometimes necessary to help the babies out of their shells. They take about 26 days to hatch. It soon became apparent that to insure their survival, they were in need of outcrossing. About 5-6 years ago we crossed them with the Australian Spotteds. It has been a very interesting and successful project! Now in 2010 we see very little problems with hatchability and we are back to fully silky babies with some great new colors. Project a success!
One of the most common questions we get is, "Can they swim?" Yes, they are very watertight and can swim just as well as any other duck. The best way we can describe it is that they have a layer of tight feathers with a layer of whispy ones over them.
The hens lay a fairly large egg in proportion to their size. Fertility is great, and for some odd reason, the eggs ship AMAZINGLY well. Rarely do we have someone report that all did not develop!
If you are up for the challenge, and would like to try hatching some yourself, please contact me to be put on the waiting list. You are also welcome to check the Available Birds and Eggs page to see what we've got.