Friday, August 26, 2016

How to Breed Frizzle and Sizzle Chickens


Frizzle chickens are becoming very popular, but please note that "Frizzles" are not a breed of chicken.  Frizzle refers to the type of feathers.  Frizzled feathers can appear on any breed of chicken.  In a frizzled chicken the feathers are loose and curve upwards or forwards.  As such birds with this type of feathering require special protection in the winter where it is cold as they are not at all cold hardy.  Additionally they don’t cope well with rain, but they sure look interesting.

A sizzle is the term given to a bird with frizzled feathers when the bird is also a silkie chicken.  Other breeds such as Cochins, and Polish chickens, are often bred for frizzling, but sizzle is a term reserved specifically for frizzled silkie birds.

My silkie rooster and sizzle hen. ©BNelson


The frizzle feather gene is dominant, however the presence of two frizzle genes can create birds with feathers that are so “frizzled” they break easily, potentially leaving the bird with many bald patches.  This is known as being “double-frizzled” and most breeders try to avoid it by breeding a frizzled bird to a smooth (regular feathered) bird.  The frizzle gene is dominant; any bird with even one gene will be frizzled. 

Breeding a double-frizzled (has two dominant frizzle genes) bird to a smooth feathered one (no frizzle genes) will always produce frizzled chicks.  The chicks will have one dominant gene for frizzled feathers and one recessive gene for smooth/regular/non-frizzled feathers. 

When breeding a frizzle feathered bird (one with one frizzle gene and one regular/non-frizzle gene) to a smooth feathered bird the results are that half of the chicks inherit the dominant frizzle gene and will be frizzled and half the chicks will only inherit the non-frizzle gene and will be smooth feathered.  This tends to be the cross many breeders prefer. 

When breeding two frizzled birds together where both have one frizzle gene and one regular/non-frizzle gene 3/4 of the birds will be frizzled, but 1/4 will be double frizzled which may be undesirable (as mentioned), and 1/4 will be smooth feathered (regular/non-frizzle).

Silkie chickens, frizzled chickens, and sizzles, are typically kept as ornamental pet chickens.  They are often taken to shows and can command high prices at sales.  They can be any color as per the breed of chicken.  Egg color is also related to the breed of chicken used and has nothing to do with being frizzled.



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