Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Finally back on BYC! I have been spending a lot of time working with some local breeders and learning a lot. I am finally fine tuning my "eye" and what I want to see in my birds. This is Miss Olive, she is only 4 months. Hoping she will fill in that tail and her Splash markings will deepen. I have been noticing that several of my splash can take several months to develop good markings, is this the case for anyone else?

Oh, she's beautiful! Lovely background for your pictures too Here's my splash pullet (I hope)

She's looking pretty droopy since its extra hot and humid. She's really lightly marked, but started out pure white and didn't get any splashing until she was around 5 weeks old. Her mother is actually the bedraggled hen in my previous post, and she's very heavily splashed. But, she was light like her daughter when she was younger. Its amazing how much they change! My pullet is 5.5 months old

 

[peepblessed]

Finally back on BYC! I have been spending a lot of time working with some local breeders and learning a lot. I am finally fine tuning my "eye" and what I want to see in my birds. This is Miss Olive, she is only 4 months. Hoping she will fill in that tail and her Splash markings will deepen. I have been noticing that several of my splash can take several months to develop good markings, is this the case for anyone else?

Beautiful pullet! All my splash have continued to darken with age.

 

[delisha]

Love that splash pullet

 

[donne]

All of your guys birds are stunning how much does a Silkie usually go for?

 

[Sanna]

Does anyone have any idea what colors these are? Are they greys? Leaky blacks and blues? I know they're not the best pictures, but they found a new home today. The lady that bought them asked me what color they were and I had no idea what to tell her. The rooster started out pure black, so I'm guessing he's just leaky. The pullets all started out as partridge though. One pullet was actually partridge, another turned dark blue with some brown in the hackles. Everyone else looks like this:

Cockerel- started out black.

I had 5 that looked like this. A couple of them have some brown in their wing feathers.

Then there's this pullet, who's much different than everyone else.

And, on a sadder note, a splash hen I'd sold came back to me yesterday. The people who bought her called me (as I'd asked, if they decided they didn't want her for some reason). They said they've now decided Silkies aren't for them, she just wasn't active/never did anything. Well, I go to pick her up and they tell me "all she ever does is sit in that box" (they've had her almost 6 MONTHS). I explained the breed in depth when they purchased her. I told them all about broodiness. They had her in a kitty litter container flipped over on it side with poop for bedding

Her plucked chest has ammonia burn from sitting in excrement. Her crest and beard are completely gone and she's emaciated. I'm just sick over this. She was GORGEOUS when I sold her and now she has a long road of recovery ahead of her. Ugh. Here's a picture of what she looked like AFTER a bath and blow dry (I'm pretty embarrassed to even post it)

I understand that once I let an animal go, I no longer have any control over them. But, this is unacceptable. I told these people that if they had any questions or problems that they could call me and I'd do my best to help out. What's worse? They give me back this poor hen in terrible condition and then have the nerve to ask me if I'd mind donating some chicks to them since they're children are starting 4H. Umm, NO! Never going to happen

Sorry about your girl. I guess it was better that they called you and gave you the hen back instead of keeping her and letting her suffer. Or giving her to someone else that was clueless!

All of your guys birds are stunning how much does a Silkie usually go for?

I think it depends on the quality of the bird. You can sell them for $10 or some very good quality show birds apparently can sell for $100 or more.

 

[donne]

Wow !! lol I would just want a pair of nice breeder quality ones.

 

[Sanna]

Wow !! lol I would just want a pair of nice breeder quality ones.

Price also might depend on the area you live in. Have you checked craigslist or tried contacting breeders?

 

[Rebecca8576]

Hi I have a white silkie hen that just hatched 11 eggs. can any one tell me what color they think they will be. the rooster is a blue splash..

 

[fluffyfeathers]

Aww. So cute. They look partridge. Should be blue partridge if dad is a splash

Hi I have a white silkie hen that just hatched 11 eggs. can any one tell me what color they think they will be. the rooster is a blue splash..

 

[TNBarnQueen]

The question asked was specifically NOT silver partridge, but just "silver." I am not aware of a self-silver bird; it would be white, and other than having silver instead of gold, would have a similar genotype to a self-buff (as compared with buff columbian).

All chickens have the s-gene; which alleles are present determine whether the bird has silver, gold or golden ground. Ground colour does not always show (black, blue, lavender, chocolate, etc.), but it is always genetically present.

Breeding a male with silver ground to a female with silver ground will give pure silver to all offspring. Whether the silver will show or not will depend on other genes. For example, blacks and blues can be leaky in the hackle, allowing ground colour to show. Patterned varieties such as partridge, wildtype, laced show ground colour.

Thank you Sonoran. It seems I am getting a lot of silver both solid and partridge. I never know what to expect what is going to come out of the egg. I like the greys and would like to concentrate on them but want to try and follow the right path.