Silkie they are fair layers themselves, laying only about three eggs a week, they are commonly used to hatch eggs from other breeds and bird species due to their broody nature. Silkie chickens are very easy to keep as pets. They are suitable for children, as they can easily withstand being roughly handled. It is unknown exactly where or when these fowl with their singular combination of attributes first appeared, but the most well documented point of origin is ancient China (hence another occasionally encountered name for the bird, Chinese silk chicken). Other places in Southeast Asia have been named as
What Bird is That? all-time best seller in Australian natural history and is still in print today. While sales and stature of Cayley’s original collection continued to grow, the prolific artist and ornothologist Cayley was working on a much more ambitious project – his so-called “big bird book”. From about 1918, he was creating illustrations of subspecies, plumage stages and eggs (now lost) of all known Australian birds. The project was incomplete at the time of his death in 1950, although the illustrations were all but finished. The ornithologist Terence Lindsey revived Cayley’s plans in the 1980s, creating the last and most significant revision