Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[peepblessed]

The fret marks are a characteristic of the lavender gene.

I knew that to be true but he has so many. I will post a photo for everyone

It has been recommended to me with self blue breeding in general (not specific to Silkies) that breeding to black helps to improve feather quality including fret marks which are not ideal.

I will be crossing to black so hoping that will help.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/31227/arizona-chickens/31596 post 31596 has a couple of photos of chocolates from a couple of weeks ago at our state fair.

And

Really pretty! Much lighter than expected. For some reason I assumed they would look nearly black. A pleasant surprise!

i hope i dont sound stupid but what is fret marks on a self blue?

Can you post a pic? I would love to see what "fret marks" look like.

Thank you so much, Sonoran! I'm doing a close examination of each one of them tonight to decide who needs to go and who needs to stay. Now I'm so intrigued by this color that I will have to look up that thread on the club forum! Should I only breed gray to gray to best perpetuate the color or should I breed in black (from black x black background) to keep it true?

Here is a photo. Looks like dirt on his hackles....

 

[sager:)silkies]

I knew that to be true but he has so many. I will post a photo for everyone
I will be crossing to black so hoping that will help.
Really pretty! Much lighter than expected. For some reason I assumed they would look nearly black. A pleasant surprise!


Here is a photo. Looks like dirt on his hackles....

is fret marks that much of a corcern tho will the judge rather pick a bird without just wondering as i dont know much about self blue i have a pair and thats it ill be breeding the boy to blacks as they are far much better quaility over my self blue pullet should i worry about the colour more then type and other things?

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
It's all going to depend on the competition on the day and if the judge's opinion is all you care about. However, as a breeder of self blues, YOU should care about the fret marks - as is being demonstrated here.

 

[sager:)silkies]

It's all going to depend on the competition on the day and if the judge's opinion is all you care about. However, as a breeder of self blues, YOU should care about the fret marks - as is being demonstrated here.

thank you thats exactly what i needed to know so fret marks in the self blues is a nono and u want to breed away from it?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Some are quite dark. I am selecting for even colouring and a shade that is obviously chocolate, not a miscoloured black. FWIW, these two photos are the same bird. The colouring in the top photo is more true to life IMO.

 

[peepblessed]

Some are quite dark. I am selecting for even colouring and a shade that is obviously chocolate, not a miscoloured black. FWIW, these two photos are the same bird. The colouring in the top photo is more true to life IMO.

Wow, it looks blue in the bottom pic. Pretty girl!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: In the photo is does; not at all in real life!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Some more chocolates to show the variation in colouring. None of these are in the silkie breeding pen. Kept for yard pest control and fail-safe backup. Just in case.

On my computer this looks rather blue. Not so in real life. Note the mahogany hackles.



Silver gene dulls the chocolate colouring to a sort of taupe hue.




I like this colour!








Roo in back is a little too dark. One in front is nice, although the undercolour could be a tad more even.


Way too dark, but man does he have green sheen!

 

[peepblessed]

Some more chocolates to show the variation in colouring. None of these are in the silkie breeding pen. Kept for yard pest control and fail-safe backup. Just in case.

On my computer this looks rather blue. Not so in real life. Note the mahogany hackles.



Silver gene dulls the chocolate colouring to a sort of taupe hue.




I like this colour!








Roo in back is a little too dark. One in front is nice, although the undercolour could be a tad more even.


Way too dark, but man does he have green sheen!

You have done a ton of work on this color!!! Love the green sheen on that last bird! Wow!

 

[chikincrazee]

Personally I prefer black birds that keep clear hackles their entire life. George and many other breeders (not just silkie breeders) have said that gold birds have better sheen, and the only way to know they are gold, not silver is to have cocks with some leakage. This is also stated in some older books on breeding. In a recent thread on The Coop, exactly what causes some birds to display green sheen when others do not was mentioned, and the lack of real knowledge of why. Green sheen results from feather structure, but much more is not known.

I have George blacks...some leak red and I still use them. The pullets are the deepest black i have ever seen. I also have purchased stock from a line which has no leakage in its male line. But since personally I breed for show pullets I will continue to use my red hackled blacks to make those exceptionally dark pullets with the beetle green sheen and to help maintain that wonderful line.. I found your info on the extra toe interesting as we have a couple of outstanding pullets who have an extra toenail on each of their 5th toe and cant decide what to do with them...so maybe i will experiment and see if they can be used in the breeding pen.