Showgirl thread- for posting pictures and discussing breed!

[rilly10]

There seem to be lots of posts on here that showgirls are showing up on. I wanted to start an official showgirl thread so all of us showgirl lovers could discuss breeding techniques and share pictures and information about out birds and projects!

I will start off....

I have a lavender bowtied showgirl rooster who I have paired with a black split to lavender silkie hen and a lavender silkie hen. The lavender hen has been laying for about a week now so I just set 6 eggs from her. I these will be the first eggs from this pairing so I HOPE he is fertile! He sure likes the ladies! I couldn't bare to crack open the eggs to test them so I set them and will candle on Weds.

I really love this roo but his neck is a bit light so I am pairing him with the darkest skinned hens I have. I have a black pullet who I will put with him when she is older and at that point I will take the Lav hen out so he will produce all black split chicks who I will then breed back to him to hopefuly darken up the bare necks.

 

[CliffB]

No idea how people can't find showgirls and naked necks cute...

 

[debs_flock]

This is the paint girl I took to the CA State Fair. I mostly entered her because I knew the public would LOVE her. For three days, I literally watched people shoving each other out of the way in order to take her photo. On the closing night of the fair, I had her out on the demonstration table and people were lining up for the chance to pet her and see her up close. A million questions of "What is it?" "Do you have to take her to the dog groomer to look that way?" "Is she for sale!!??!!". She patiently stood for hundreds of people to admire her. One lady asked "Does she do anything besides just being fabulous?" I said.................."she lays eggs".

 

[TinyBirds]

1 week old white naked neck silkies. Is there anything cuter? They make me so happy

 

[rilly10]

Also wanted to add since I love to think in %'s...

Clean neck X Clean neck = 100% Clean necks (Non-bowtied)
Clean neck X Bowtie = 50% Bowties, 50% Clean neck
Clean neck X Silkie = 100% Bowties
Silkie X Bowtie = 50% Silkies, 50% Bowties
Bowtie X Bowtie = 50% Bowties, 25% Clean necks, 25% Silkies

If I missed any or have one wrong please chime in!

 

[bethbug74]

Didn't know cackle hatchery has showgirls.Will have to check it out.

Please buy showgirls from dedicated, reputable breeders. The breed is still a work in progress, which means irresponsible breeding (for numbers, not quality, as is standard in all factory farming and puppy/kitten mill settings) is extremely detrimental to the population of showgirls in general. Plus, who wants to give their money to a giant corporation when you could give it to a real person who actually needs it?

 

[DOUGNASH]

This is my one bearded, my favorite

female I think?

 

[sharkman]

The black skin gene passes better in roos so it is best to start with a silkie roo. after several generations tho I would use a showgirl or sizzle roo that has the best FM (blackskin) to some fresh blood silkie hens. I would use the roo because it is the hardest to get strong FM in, after they are a year old it tends to get red or mulberry so breed the darkest roos. Most people mainly show hens because they express the FM the most. Also if you use a roo with no bowtie and breed it to normal silkies you will get 100% showgirls so once you get the right roos you can really up your production.
Rob

 

[bpgraham]

Here is one of the babies born last week end. I'll post more shortly. The babies are 16th Generation. The partridge on my profile picture is f14. We are getting White, Partridge, Gray Partridge, Gray, Splash, and Black Showgirls.

We breed Showgirls to Silkies... Bearded and Non Bearded. I like the BowTies the best. Ours are having all Silkie Characteristics most of the time. We do get occasional 4 toes.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I have a just-breeding-age Black-from-Paint Showgirl that appears to NOT have wattles at all, but DOES have a single, thin bit of skin that resembles a "centered" wattle. This would be what bearding would normally grow from on a bearded bird, but he has never shown signs of a bead, and he is quite healthy. No parasites, he stands up fro himself just fine, so it isn't being picked out by others...what do I make of this? He is really lovely; good dark skin and great feet and eyes, so I'd hate to have to eliminate him from breeding just because of this weird skin flap, but I've never even heard of such a thing...not a clue if it's a bad trait to be culled or just an odd presentation of "bearding." It did not appear until he began crowing, just like wattles normally would. At 4 months, he had nothing on his chin at all.

Take a look and let me know what you think:

At 4 months, nothing there at all, and still masquerading as a girl:


Crowing now:

^ That is ONE flap of skin, perfectly centered on his chin.



You can see his teeny tiny wattles on either side of the mysterious flappy thing.



Here's a good frontal view.




Is this just a clean-shaven "bearded" bird? What can I expect to be passed on to offspring?

What kind of comb does he have? Is it a pea comb? It looks like it might be, but that area is pretty shadowed in the one photo that would show it. This is a dewlap, and is not uncommon with pea combed birds. Pea comb reduces wattle size. Sigrid wrote an article about it: http://chickencolours.com/What Wattles-lowres.pdf

edited to add: I was able to enlarge that area by opening the photo in a different window. Comb is, in my opinion more problematic than the dewlap; however both might be corrected by breeding to a rose combed girl (the modified rose comb often seen in silkies, not as in wyandottes or RIR). A proper well-formed walnut comb might work, but it would be less likely to decrease the dewlap in the offspring, whereas a modified rose comb probably would.

If I had better quality birds to choose from, I would probably pass this one on to someone looking for an interesting pet.