The way to tell if it’s an egg is that one looks weird, with a yolk that is very light in color and quite large for a normal-sized supermarket egg. And it’s tiny, you can hold it between your thumb and first finger. Don’t be fooled by their size. They have big yolks that gives a powerful taste.
In fact, knowing just how small the eggs realy are will help with a quiche or cake so you don’t wind up with something rubbery. The eggs is from Silkies. Silkies are considered bantams: These are their physical specs (from the chart above). They range from 0.9-1.2 oz, qualifying them as Small-Peewee under USDA regulations; that’s much smaller than a standard Large size at two ounces.
Silkie Eggs and Chicken Care
That means if you’re baking something and want to substitute a Silkies’ egg for a large, it won’t work (youll need two of those little guys instead). Why? The math is straightforward but easy to overlook when your cake deflates: two small eggs equal one large egg, because they take up half the volume. Comparing them to other breed, like a Rhode Island Red or a Serama, makes it clear why; when placed side-by-side, size difference is obvious.
As we’ve said before, folks think all chicken eggs are roughly the same. Biology disagree on that one. The main reason this size difference matters: in cooking, the greater yolk-to-white ratio increase the richness of things like curds and custards. Deviled eggs featuring Silkie yolks has a more complex taste. When fried in the morning, they require closer attention (watch those edges!). Their quicker cooking time means they is only a minute from being dry.
According to the infographic, Silkies produce anywhere from 80-120 eggs per year, which is significantly less than high egg-producing breeds such as Leghorn hens. Though they aren’t production birds, they are highly maternal and ornamental. In fact, silkies are so good at it that they will go broody (sometimes every 6-8 weeks in high season) and lay no more eggs while they are broody.
If you don’t want chicks, you’ll have to collect your eggs twice a day because she’ll otherwise begin the process of incubating them. When a hen goes broody, she’ll just sit in the nest box for hours and won’t get off. She is a natural incubator with full set of feathers. She traps heat very well and can covers as many as eight standard-size eggs or even up to fifteen bantam size eggs.
They’re known for being calm in nature, which is another plus for this breed, and for having unique feet (five toes versus four in most other breeds). They have black skin and blue earlobes (they’re actualy turquoise!). This makes them look somewhat odd. However, their personality are gentle enough for little kids and low-key enough for neighbors.
But their feathering requires different care: Silkies don’t have the hooklets in their feathers that keep other birds’ feathers from soaking up water; they’re not fond of it either. If it’s raining out, a chilly wet chicken is not happy. Plan for a coop without drafts. Also, plan on low roosts because Silkies aren’t great fliers.
The number-one health maintenance item you’ll be able to control is keeping their coop dry. Matted, mud-covered feathers won’t keep them warm and they lose insulation. So they becomes susceptible to a cool snap that other breeds might shrug right off, but when their environment is right, they’re tough.
Hatching Silkies requires an adjustment in lifestyle. The eggs per year aren’t as plentiful… But the payoff is meals that taste like silk, a more personable bird, and accepting another pace of living. Size and weight information comes from numbers, and while the chart certainly helps with that, it doesn’t convey the pleasure of discovering a cream-colored treasure in your nesting box each day.
When you pick up one of those tiny eggs still warm from its hen-mother’s body, you begin to understand the satisfaction of savoring the simple pleasures. For breeders, they’re perfect little packages of personality and nutrition. Worthy of every added effort involved in getting them safely away before the momma hen should of thought better of it.