What the chicks of a Cochin and a Silkie look like and lay, worked out from both breeds' standards.
A Cochin hen crossed with a Silkie rooster gives you what keepers call a first-generation (F1) cross. The pullets should lay brown eggs: there is no blue gene in this cross. Every chick gets a single comb. About 50% of the chicks carry the dark skin and bones (fibromelanosis) of the Silkie. Expect a medium bird, a light layer, hand-tame, the average of the two parents.
Preset to a Cochin hen and a Silkie rooster. Change either side to see how the blue gene and the brown coat move the shell colour.
He never lays, so his blue gene is read from his mother's eggs.
Too uncertain to call: 0–100% blue-based (Olive if it is, otherwise Brown). Add lineage to narrow it.
Brown shade shifts with a hen's age, diet and stress, so identical genes still lay a little differently. Speckling and bloom are cosmetic and not modelled.
| Trait | Cochin hen | Silkie rooster | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comb type | Single | Silkie | Single |
| Barring | Not barred | Not barred | Not barred |
| Fibromelanosis | Absent | Present | Present 50% · Absent 50%absent depends on a hidden carrier, so it could be 0%; a hatch or a known genotype can confirm (uncertain) |
| Leg color | Yellow | Slate | varies: polygenic, parents differ |
| Trait | Cochin | Silkie | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frame height | large | small | medium |
| Egg production | light layer | light layer | light layer |
| Broodiness | very broody | very broody | very broody |
| Docility | hand-tame | hand-tame | hand-tame |
| Bone density | heavy | light | sturdy |
| Foraging skill | fair forager | poor forager | fair forager |
| Cold hardiness | very cold-hardy | tender | cold-hardy |
Chicks land near the average of the two parents for these traits. Reaching one parent's extreme takes another generation of selection.
This is the breed-standard version. Add your flock, set a breeding goal, and the pairing engine ranks every hen and rooster you own against it. Free for up to 15 birds.
Checked September 2026. Hybrids and breeds no reference covers are marked approximate. Egg colour on these pages follows one rule: Brown is any shade a buyer would call brown; Cream/tinted is off-white.