Unlocking the Silkie Hen in Sunshine Islands

It is by shipping only 1 S Rank Ranch Product of a specific variety that you will unlock the rare breeds of Animals in Sunshine Islands. With respect to your Livestock, you can obtain S Rank product in one of two ways. The long path is by raising your Cow or Sheep to 9 or 10 Hearts to win the Contest at the Cow or Sheep Festival. When your Animal wins 1st Prize, she will begin to give S Rank product on a regular basis. There is a far quicker method where Livestock are concerned and that is by playing the Touchscreen mini-game. Even a Cow or Sheep at 5 Hearts can give S Rank product when you play the Touchscreen Milking or Shearing game. Ship the Product and the next day, you will experience an Event at Mirabelle's Shop wherein she will announce the arrival of a new rare breed of Animal. The Cow is the Jersey Cow and the Sheep is the Suffolk Sheep.

It is where Chickens are concerned that you will have to wait a very long time to unlock a Silkie Hen if you do not pursue a dedicated programme of breeding. Although there is a Touchscreen Petting game to raise Friendship, there is no Egg-laying Touchscreen game. This means that the only way to obtain an S Rank Egg in the ordinary course of the game is with a Chicken who wins 1st Prize at the Chicken Festival.

Raising a Chicken to 10 Hearts alone will not produce an S Rank Egg. I tested this with the very first Chicken I obtained. At 10 Hearts, she still laid only A Rank Eggs of the highest Quality of 10 and 9 1/2 Size. Winning 2nd Place at the Chicken Festival in the 2nd Year did not produce S Rank eggs either. You must win 1st Prize evidently.

If you endeavour to obtain the result by raising a Chicken's Friendship, then winning the Chicken Contest, you may have to wait until the third year, depending on when the Chicken reaches a high enough Friendship Level to win 1st Prize. The Chicken Contest occurs only once each year on 7 Summer.

There is a strategy that will produce quicker results, however, and that is through breeding. Order an incubator from Gannon as soon as possible and throw the highest level Egg that you possess into it. When the Chick is born, it will have half the Hearts of the parent Chicken who laid it. Chickens mature very quickly, so you should be able to take THAT Chicken's Egg and incubate it before an entire season elapses. By following this procedure again and again, you may be able to produce a Chicken with sufficiently high Friendship Level to win 1st Prize at the Chicken Festival on 7 Summer in your 2nd Year. Otherwise, you will be obliged to wait until the 3rd Year to buy your first Silkie Hen.

As Voda commented, there is a 'cheat' of sorts if you have been diligent in raising Friendship Levels of Characters from the beginning. If you look at my General Guide or Characters Guide, I have included a list of the Birthday Gifts your Characters will receive on his/her Birthday from any Character who has attained 7 Hearts. One of Mirabelle's three Gifts is a Silkie Egg. As the three Gifts are rotated by year, you will receive the Silkie Egg every three years, beginning in the second year. (In my own game, my Character's Birthday as always falls on 4 Autumn and thus, I neglected to mention this option initially as the Chicken Festival predated it! This is one of the risks of becoming too involved personally in any game. One sometimes fails to mention the 'bigger picture'!)

In any event, if you pursue your Friendship with Mirabelle regularly (and she will be thrilled even with a daily gift of Pet Food), you can incubate the Silkie Egg you receive (which should be of A Rank, at least 10 Quality and 8 Size) to produce a Silkie Chick with higher heart level than the Silkie Hen unlocked at her Shop through traditional methods.

Here is the Birthday List section from my General and Characters Guides:


Your Birthday in Sunshine Islands

When you reach 7 Hearts or Yellow Heart Level (40,000 points) with any individual, even while you remain single, you will receive a special Birthday Gift from that Character if you speak to him/her on your Birthday. The only exceptions are Haila, Nick and your own Child. Each Character gives a different Gift and many of them are rare or valuable items. Each Character actually has the potential of giving one of three different Gifts, one of which usually is far more valuable and rare than the others. For example, Will’s Gift can be the very rare Firefly Flower, a Red Magic Flower or a Pinkcat Flower and Shea’s Gift can be a Truffle, a White Herb or a Large Fish. The gifts follow a specific order and the actual gift you receive is determined by the year.

Note that, for most Characters who themselves have Birthdays that are defined in Sunshine Islands, one of the three Gifts in many cases is THEIR Most Favourite Gift. The order of the Gifts is not determined by the degree to which the Character favours the Gift, however. For example, in Elliot’s case, his Most Favourite Gift is Stir-Fried Veggies, which you will not receive from him until the 3rd year. Even where the Birthday Gifts are not 'Most Favourite Gifts', they are Gifts ordinarily that would be worth 500 FP if you 'regifted' the item to them.

With respect to the Characters who do not have a defined Birthday, one of the Birthday Gifts they give can be a Most Favourite as well. In Ray's case, it is Sushi. Even if not uniquely a 'Most Favourite', all three Gifts will be favourites of theirs. Sad to say, although I hoped that these characters might have had secret birthdays, I have obtained official confirmation from Natsume that this is not the case.

Your choice of Birthday makes it either more or less likely that you will receive any Birthday Gifts in the 1st Year. Remember, however, that the list rotates and 1st Year Gifts will be 4th year Gifts as well.

Receiving a Birthday Gift is one method by which your Shipping List can be completed early in the game in the case of rare items.

The following is the List of Birthday Gifts that you will receive from any Character in the order in which they are given. Where an item is a true 'Most Favourite Gift', I have capitalised it:

Elliot: Vegetable Juice, Chop Suey, STIR-FRIED VEGGIES
Vaughn: PORRIDGE, Superb Butter, Milk Soup
Denny: Fish and Chips, SASHIMI, Carpaccio
Pierre: Chestnut Kinton, Rolled Omelet, Paella
Will: FIREFLY FLOWER, Red Magic Flower, Pinkcat Flower
Mark: Summer Sun, Gold Lumber, Winter Sun
Shea: White Herb, Truffle, LARGE FISH
Natalie: FRUIT SANDWICH, Blueberry Juice, Strawberry Milk
Julia: Superb Mayonnaise, SUPERB YOGURT, Dried Bean Curd
Sabrina: Ruby, Amethyst, Emerald
Lanna: Paella, Fish Meuniere, YAM PUDDING
Lily: Gold, Diamond, Red Magic Flower
Chelsea: Fall Sun, Spring Sun, Gold Lumber
Witch Princess: Twin Herb, Gold Lumber, Red Herb
Alisa: Cheesecake, ICE CREAM, Fruit Dumpling
Taro: Bodigizer XL, Fried Tofu Dumplings, Hungerizer XL
Felicia: VEGETABLE GRATIN, Apple Pie, Tempura Noodles
Mirabelle: Suffolk Wool, Silkie Egg, SUPERB CHEESE
Chen: NOODLES, Tempura Noodles, Curry Noodles
Charlie: Soybean Rice Candy, DRY CURRY, Chocolate Banana
Gannon: Gold Lumber, Natto, TEMPURA RICE
Eliza: DONUT, Baumkuchen, Toy Flower
Regis: Diamond, Peridot, Topaz
Nathan: Pancake, Steamed Bread, FRENCH TOAST
Wada: GRILLED FISH, Large Fish, Medium Fish
Witchkin: Peach, Natto, Peach Juice
Harvest Goddess: Pineapple, Firefly Flower, STRAWBERRY
Cliff: Sponge Cake, Bamboo Rice, Cheese Fondue
Trent: Vegetable Juice, JERSEY MILK, Soy Milk
Karen: Wine, Risotto, PIZZA
Popuri: OMELET RICE, Doria, Pudding
Kirk: Bamboo Dumpling, Soybean Rice Candy, Cold Tofu
Carol: Boiled Tofu, Tofu Steak, Lassi
Martin: Sashimi Bowl, Fish Sticks, Simmered Fish
Ray: Pumpkin Pudding, Chocolate Cake, SUSHI
Slater: Relax Tea, Pineapple Pie, Bodigizer
Isaac: Hungerizer, Mixed Rice, EMERALD