Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[groundpecker]

I went to a breeding seminar taught by DR. Bramwell of University of Arkansas. He said the sperm is piled on layer by layer and the older sperm is absorbed and the newer is used to fertilize.

He said that in 3 days the newer roosters sperm will fertilize the eggs.* Exception: If either one is new to mating ( too young and just started breeding)
It was taught that it is not needed to wait 3 weeks for the hen to empty, before breeding to a new male.

He actually did a test to prove his theory at one point in time.

I would assume this was and should be done with a 1 on 1 mating.

I think someone recorded the seminar and it should be on youtube if you want to watch it.

By the way, i am no expert. I just take the experts advice use it to help myself and others.

 

[peepblessed]

Thank you..very much..all the eggs were marked wrong it seems..except the whites and the porcelain.

Not necessarily. I don't know what they were marked but odd colors can and do pop out of unusual places. If you ordered paint for instance, pretty much anything can pop up!

 

[thedragonlady]

I didnt read through the 4000+ posts but I have a question about breeding/showing BBS silkies. Keep in mind I'm new to all of this!

My question is do the blacks bred from BBS differ from just a black breeding by itself? I mean would someone see more even black colorin from just black x black breedings opposed to those blacks from BBS breedings? I hope that made sense!

I see a lot of beautiful blacks but looks like some seem washed out around certain areas and had me wondering. I'm sort of leaning towards starting up next spring breeding possibly try my hand at some showing and would like to learn.

Years ago no one bred many BBS birds in Silkies. You bred Blacks, Whites, Greys, or Partridge. Now the Blacks I'm seeing are not the deep black wih a slight green sheen that I showed. Too many Blacks have light under fluff, and foot feathering showing white, or blue shafting.There is a seious need now to breed pure black lines to keep the proper color gene in the breed.

Your question made GREAT sense. Go for a pure black line. If you select from BBS for a few generations, only those birds who show true black under color, and possibly introduce a good Black , who is pure Black breeding, you'll end up with a nice Black line. Go for it !

 

[chisNchickens]

I agree. I bought a whitening shampoo for horses. The brand name is Vetrolin. It works great. You only want to use about 1/3 of the recommended amount and don't let your bird sit in it too long. You'll have a pretty blue chicken. Been there done that. My hen I was trying to get white is 3 years old, never had a bath and was in the breeding pen since she came of breeding age and lives on dirt floor. She was so white she looked like she had never been dirty other than the little bit of sunburn on the feathers on her hackle feathers. i was amazed even when I let her sit too long on the second bath. I always first bathe mine in Dawn dish liquid to remove any bugs that may be on them. Dawn kills any critter along with removes anything greasy or oily. Then after I rinsed that off I sat her in a 5 gallon bucket with about 2 1/2 gallons of water with the horse shampoo in it and I just swished it over her and worked it in her crest and tail feathers, foot eathers and the vent area. This stuff really works well. If you do manage to turn yours blue you can get them back white again by giving more baths with the dawn. I was glad I started working on her 2 weeks in advance to the show because when I turned her blue it took every bit of the time remaining to get her white again..

I've tried peroxide, shout dog whitener and none of it works like the horse shampoo. If you can't find Vetrolin make sure to find one that says it's for white or light colored horses to whiten their coat.

That is what I use as well. What I do is first wash the bird with dish soap, then rinse. I then soap it up again with dish soap again and then add a couple of drops of the vetrolin to my hands and rub my hands together getting a good lather. I then apply to crest, beard, and tail. Then you can start lathering the bird all over. It may take a couple more times of adding the drops to your hands, lathering, and applying. You don't want to put this bluing shampoo directly on the bird. Use some sort of shampoo/dish soap first to dilute the vetrolin. If you even get a drop of it directly on the bird it will stain so quickly dilute it. It is a balancing act, but it works very well once you get the hang of it. You can apply it to the foot feathers directly, just not the silkied feathers.

 

[realsis]

We are looking at finally purchasing out first silkies. The kids would like to show them in 4-H. I've really enjoyed reading this thread from beginning to end. Coming from "show
dogs" I really have learned a lot by the explanations
of conformation posted here. I look forward to
learning a ton more

you will just LOVE having silkies!! They are different from most chickens. They are defiently the Lap kittens of chickens!! So gentle and loving. Mine will sit in my lap and purr! Yes they actually purr when very happy! Mine also purr when given a food they really like! Its the sweetest sound!! My flocks have all been silkies. Once I saw them I was HOOKED! And silkies are like potato chips; you can't have just one!!I'm expecting another new addition to my flock. She is shipping out today! Its not too far where she's coming from so will arrive tomorrow!! Only problem with silkies is they are notoriously difficult to sex. I use a dna lab that tells the sex with feathers. My lab is only 10 dollars a Sample and its name is Accu-metrics. It serves world wide if your interested. You just pluck a couple chest feathers and send them in and they will tell you if your bird is male or female! Its really easy and simple to do. Have you decided where your getting your silkies from yet? I'm certain they will bring you lots of joy.i know mine do!! I wouldn't trade mine in for Anything! I just love them to peices and I'm sure you will too!! Please show us some pictures when they arrive!! I wish you the best with your new silkies!! Its a wonderful breed and they make perfect pets!! Keep us updated!! If your son will be showing them you will likely want to get them from a breeder and not a hatchery. The looks can be different between breeder and hatchery birds and if he's showing them then a breeder would be who you want your stock from. Hope this helps you out and good luck!!

 

[PaintedFeathers]

Jingle is getting so big! What a beautiful bird!!

Beautiful girl. She looks a lot like her mother(?) that you used to post a lot on here, I think her name was Icelynn? Is she still doing well?

Thanks guys =D Yes Rachel good memory! Icelynn is her mother, she's doing well, still has that calcified egg in her abdomen and looks pretty ragged but still well =) Here she is on the same day I took those pictures of Jingle



and here are a few others I have, Everyone is in their awful winter drab lol

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Here's a few more pics of that weird colored cockerel I posted a few days ago, he's got an interesting look so far!

This is what he looked like when I'd decided to keep him. Nothing special, just a run of the mill blue:

Here are the pics I snapped of him today:



He's got some bigger white splotches on his other side, but I couldn't get a picture. He was too busy running away from the camera

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Also, grey silkies are silver, not lavender and not blue

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I have four pullets: 3 paint Silkies and a black split to paint. What would be the best color rooster to breed to these girls to get nice loud paints? Black or Paint?

I believe you'd want to breed to black, which would give you black and paint chicks (and help improve type if that needs work). If you breed paint to paint, you get black, paint and white. I think I'm remembering that correctly anyway. I saw a breeding chart for them not too long ago. I'll have to see if I can find it again. I'm not sure which pairings would give you the loudest spots though, maybe they could make a recommendation on the paint Silkie thread

 

[emvickrey]

How cute is this?