Product Description
Silkie Chicken, Taihe chicken, Black Chicken. Rich in Chinese culture and tradition, the Silkie Chicken is a very special bird. Native to South China (Marco Polo is said to have seen them in his travels) and surrounding areas, the West came of know of these fine chickens in the late 1500's, when publishers began to print of history and medicinal values of the various foods and herbs of the Dynasties. Chinese folklore includes celestial attention to the Silkie when the white birds gained immortality by consuming Lu Dongbing's pills from his pond in 798 A.D. on the Wushan Mountain of Taihe, and were transformed into white phoenix. Tradition remains strong, and the use of the Silkie is very common today throughout the world.
Research and reporting supports the Silkie's benefits in disorders of the kidneys, and liver. The complete list of medical disorders that Silkies are reported to benefit is indeed long. Various Chinese medical journals from throughout history report the many benefits of the Silkie, which is at times confusing and overlapping through the centuries. However, it is well known that Silkies contain certain hormones, blue pigment, and amino acids which can increase blood cells and hemoglobin, and many use it to aid with women's health relating to pregnancy and child bearing. In fact a sizable industry now flourishes in China marketing products based on the black colored foods and herbs, with these factories manufacturing pills designed to help with various illness which include the meat of the Silkie mixed with many herbal combinations.
The health benefits aside, Silkie is popular for its very sweet and rich flavor. Silkie chicken is often enjoyed at banquets as well as at home. It is most common now to enjoy Silkie in a very special soup containing particularly flavorful herbs. The whole bird is often served in sumptuous herb flavored broth with vegetables, and is becoming more and more popular.
Our Silkie, a bantam raised locally here in the Central Valley of California, carries several very important traits. Our birds, with their five toes, tasseled heads, silkie white feathers, double crown, black skin, bone, and black meat possess all critical elements in assuring our customer they are enjoying not just any black chicken but a real Silkie Chicken displaying the traits as written of for centuries.
Fed an all vegetable grain diet containing no antibiotics, and allowed extra room to socialize and to mature naturally, our silkies are special indeed. We maintain our own breeder line to assure consistency and value in our birds which are processed for the market when reaching dressed weights in the 1.5 to 2.5 pound range.