Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[Nikki816]

Good for you!
This is a very nice cockerel for his age. I'll be interested to see how he looks in 3 months. I wouldn't worry about his weight at this point.
She is looking nice for 3 months also. I would check her wings and make sure they fold correctly. She also needs to mature. Give her another two or three months to see how her tail and stance change.

Thank you for your input these are my first non hatchery/non mutt chickens, so any critiques or pointers in what to look for are welcome. We won't be showing anytime soon, but I hope to start showing in a few years when my boys are older.

 

[RavenWood]

I haven't had a chance to go through all 588 pages of this thread, however I would like to see what correct combs should look like and what colour should they be? I also have some questions about colour - I have a black rooster, but he has a bit of gold showing on his neck. I assume this is a bad thing? And can anyone tell me what colour the silkie in the photo is? This is clearly not a show quality bird, but I love the colour.



Another question, or perhaps more of a concern - When the crests become so big and pouffy that the birds can't see, how do they thrive? I'm all for breeding pretty birds, but shouldn't we also be concerned about keeping them healthy? I think of Polish and how they have such terrible eye problems and I love the Silkie breed so much I don't want anything like that to happen to them just because of our quest for show ribbons. Am I being over dramatic? My best broodies are beardless and have next to no crests - they can see and help feed their peeps and warn of possible predators. I just can't imagine some of these show birds having that ability. This isn't meant to offend anyone - just wondering what your thoughts are on the matter. Do you trim their crests when it's not show season?

Also wondering ... well, now I've forgotten my last question. LOL Oh ya, their butts are they supposed to taper off in a nice rounded arc or should they be pouffy like a snowball? I prefer an arc, but I've been seeing a lot that just look like big pompoms stuck together.

 

[ChickNmamma]

I haven't had a chance to go through all 588 pages of this thread, however I would like to see what correct combs should look like and what colour should they be? I also have some questions about colour - I have a black rooster, but he has a bit of gold showing on his neck. I assume this is a bad thing? And can anyone tell me what colour the silkie in the photo is? This is clearly not a show quality bird, but I love the colour.



Another question, or perhaps more of a concern - When the crests become so big and pouffy that the birds can't see, how do they thrive? I'm all for breeding pretty birds, but shouldn't we also be concerned about keeping them healthy? I think of Polish and how they have such terrible eye problems and I love the Silkie breed so much I don't want anything like that to happen to them just because of our quest for show ribbons. Am I being over dramatic? My best broodies are beardless and have next to no crests - they can see and help feed their peeps and warn of possible predators. I just can't imagine some of these show birds having that ability. This isn't meant to offend anyone - just wondering what your thoughts are on the matter. Do you trim their crests when it's not show season?

Also wondering ... well, now I've forgotten my last question. LOL Oh ya, their butts are they supposed to taper off in a nice rounded arc or should they be pouffy like a snowball? I prefer an arc, but I've been seeing a lot that just look like big pompoms stuck together.

Hi and welcome to the Silkie Breeding and Showing Thread! There is another thread for just silkies: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/297632/silkie-thread/38030#post_11783973

I did read all the pages here, its very interesting and has a lot of good information about showing and breeding show birds. It took several weeks, but I think it is worth it if you have the time.

Comb color is Mullberry - a very dark almost black red. The correct shape is Walnut - think of it like taking a walnut half and sticking it on the bird's head. There are a few pictures of the correct combs in this thread I believe.

Your bird pictured appears to be Silver Partridge. You are correct, gold showing on the neck of a black is not desirable for showing, its called "Leakage" and that bird should not be used to breed birds for showing.

The tail poof is supposed to be held up - and the correct stance is an S shaped head/body with the tail balancing the head on the rear. Sloped rears are not desirable for show birds. If you do get a chance to read through the thread you will see a lot of examples of good stance.. and some not so good.

The birds used for show, IMHO have gone overboard with the crest/beard/hind poof thing. It has gotten to the point where they will starve to death because they can't see the food. They also can't breed naturally and require AI because of the hind end poof. I was mentioning the over-poofyness of the crest (the SOP calls for a MEDIUM crest but those birds are way over medium so its not the SOP that is creating the problem) and one of the judges on the thread said he raises show Silkies and he considers them worthless... I know I wouldn't want to buy a bird from somebody whose goal when breeding is to make them worthless just because the worthless ones are winning at the shows... SQ birds are also not selected for their egg laying ability, or their mothering abilities - the mothering abilities are the reason for the breed So people are getting SQ birds that lay one egg a month and can't care for their own chicks - it wasn't an important trait and didn't get selected.

Interestingly enough, I had a few chicks hatch out of a cross of my BQ/SQ bearded Partridge male and a hard feathered hen. Those chicks have vulture hocks! The mother did not have them - they would have been glaringly obvious with her hard feathers, so it came from the BQ/SQ male. The silkie feathers may hide what they are - but they are actually a DQ on almost all breeds. Yet these BQ/SQ silkies have them - to give that lower pantaloon look. Now WHERE did THAT come from?

Some of the Show breeders on here will trim the feathers from the beard that block vision forward and down of their birds, this allows them to see their food. That kind of trimming is allowed for show birds, it is not to hide a defect. Some also put the crest up in hair tape to train it up and keep it out of the bird's vision too.

I actually have a pen of beardless that I am working towards improving for better tail and crest poof (but not overdoing it) and correct stance. I too prefer the beardless because they can SEE and I can see their intelligent little faces. I have one beardless girl that was shown and placed well, and a beardless boy who is rather nice too. I hatched out a batch and kept one girl who looks like her mother in stance and crest and tail, but is working towards the color I want from the father (Partridge).

 

[krackowpolish]

i just started a silkie farm! i have four so far and one half silkie. here they are:

truffles my black cock (hopefully)

Blizzard my white pullet
.
Snowball my white hen (the rooster pecked out her pom-pom

)

Black Pearl my black half-silkie hen

and Juliett my grey or blue hen

 

[farmer boy]

I have a question my silver partridge cock is pulling his hens tail feathers out and her crest feathers .. why do you guys think he is doing this ?? she has no tail feathers really now and not a nice crest now .. she is pretty when she has her full feathers but no she looks pretty bad with feathering from him

 

[ChickNmamma]

I have a question my silver partridge cock is pulling his hens tail feathers out and her crest feathers .. why do you guys think he is doing this ?? she has no tail feathers really now and not a nice crest now .. she is pretty when she has her full feathers but no she looks pretty bad with feathering from him

Watch them - maybe he is trying to catch her and she is running away and he is left with the feathers? Since they usually grab whatever they can get that would be tail and neck/head...

I have had some birds that "shave" bearded birds - my Ameraucana boys look very odd right now, I am going to try and figure out who is doing this..

 

[farmer boy]

Watch them - maybe he is trying to catch her and she is running away and he is left with the feathers? Since they usually grab whatever they can get that would be tail and neck/head...

I have had some birds that "shave" bearded birds - my Ameraucana boys look very odd right now, I am going to try and figure out who is doing this..

i don't think he is trying to mate her because he was standing by the fence and he did the rooster dance thing and she was standing there then he grabbed her tail feathers and then she ran .. i hope he doesn't keep doing it

 

[redrocketrooster]

ITS SO FLUFFYYYYY!!! One of the four 8 week old chicks I picked up from the post office today. Prior to this, the silkies i have met are terribly feathered and ill mannered. These guys went through a rough shipment, bathes and blow drying with no fuss. I'm starting to see the pet appeal.

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote:
Well, as long as she keeps running away from him when he is trying to mate with her - then yes - he will keep doing it. She is SUPPOSED to stop and squat down so he can mate - NOT run away! Or course - if he is young and hasn't figured out what he is doing yet and his hormones are raging ... that may also be a problem. It will go away when he grows up if that is the case.

With Silkies I have noticed some Silkie boys just aren't sure how to get the girl, and those girls play hard to get! Sometimes I think that is more the problem with fertility than the big fluffy butts. Once they had it figured out the fertility went way up - without any trimming or fussing. Rooster flirts - rears up, hen squats down, roo jumps on and shoots, off he jumps and hen shakes off and goes back to eating, scratching - whatever. No fuss, and fertile eggs.

 

[ChickNmamma]

ITS SO FLUFFYYYYY!!! One of the four 8 week old chicks I picked up from the post office today. Prior to this, the silkies i have met are terribly feathered and ill mannered. These guys went through a rough shipment, bathes and blow drying with no fuss. I'm starting to see the pet appeal.

Very cute! Nice hairdo!

Most of mine are very well mannered, cute, fluffy and friendly. Hope you have fun with your new friends!