Question about Silkie wings?

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ThePolishPrincess

ThePolishPrincess

Songster
11 Years
Dec 29, 2008
2,944
40
181
Orange County, New York
I'm wondering how seriously wings are taken into consideration at shows. I've seen pictures of beautiful birds owned by many people and every once in a while a bird is mentioned as having received a winning title at a show...but the wings don't look quite right to me. They don't look tight and 'well placed' if that makes sense.

I am a junior as far as exhibiting is concerned but I am careful about who I bring where. I have a weird-winged hen who I'm thinking about just bringing to a small fair 'just for the heck of it', but it got me thinking. Anyone care to share their knowledge and/or experience?
 
I am SOOOO glad you brought this up!!!!!! I am obsessive about my silkies wings. If they are to frayed or silkied, they are gone. I like them well tucked and tight. I have posted about silkie wings and no one seems to mention how the wings should look. I never knew if that was a phase and they molt it out. I am waiting on my black silkies to molt and hopefully their wings tighten. Here are a few pictures of what Im talking about!

I like mine like this!
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This is acceptable to me. I will probably sell this one.
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I dont like these wings.
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I HATE culling those birds just because of their wings. Is that acceptable in a show? I still have most of those birds in case they molt it out.
 
Yay! Someone as obsessive as me!
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I'm always surprised when I see a typey bird and then the wings and say "Uh-oh" and then see later that they placed BV in a show.

I totally get it. In my case, the primary wing feathers fold over the secondaries. I assume it's genetic. I'll be attending a small county fair and I just won't say anything and see how she does there. If there's speculation, I obviously know she won't make the cut for the bigger and badder shows. I just don't want to downgrade her a pet status if she has more potential. What a waste!

My bird is closest looking to the last one you posted...I'm pretty sure it's not split wing, just bad wing placement.

The female when she was just starting out (she was an ugly baby, lol):

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Now, she has matured into a beautiful bird...but those wings!
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My girl is in the process of molting (she's a year old) and I can see from the new feathers coming in that it will not fix itself. Hoping someone can shed some light on this.
 
You dont know how happy I am seeing that I am not the only one! Im sure this is common but hasnt been spoken about often. Sometimes you have a near perfect bird and they have bad wings. I am debating on whether selling them as pet quality or a potential show bird. Is it worth breeding? I would rather be safe than sorry, you know? Since I am just starting off breeding I want to have birds that are nearly perfect so I will save myself some culling in the future. I need to read the standards for silkies again. It is very vague though.
 
I'm also sure this is common. Once I made a comment to a judge regarding how wings all seem to look different and he said that 'Silkie wings are weird' and 'It's not one of my most important judging factors'. As far as it being bred on, I've seen alot of breeding stock show these issues-just from pictures. But if no one (breeder/buyers) is complaining (having a problem with it), maybe that's good? I would love to hear that this is a flaw often overlooked, and yet easy to breed out.

Now I see people are veiwing the thread. Where are the gurus?
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I guess it is personal preference. Some people like crests overly huge and some like them medium sized. I wish the gurus would come on here to! I don't show my silkie often and it's a personal hobby of mine. I'm just going to breed mine the way I like them.
 
The standard calls for a "moderate" crest. Problem is, it doesn't define moderate.
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Last December in Shawnee, the judge was VERY, VERY picky about wings. Much more than any of us had seen before. It's too late to get out my standard, but at the front there is a lising of points for each part of the bird. That will tell you how much wings should count.

I want a wing carried high, but not necessarily tucked tight into the body. Being completely silkied would be fine with me. Having the primaries fold on the outside versus the proper inside is a big fault, IMO. A slipped wing (wing held high, but primaries drooping) is also bad.

I do not have any single trait that concerns me. I much prefer to look at the whole bird when considering whether to keep or sell. If you notice the primaries folded on the outside when the bird is young, you can tape them into the correct position for awhile to try and correct the problem. Depending on age, you may need to do it for a week or a month.
 
Luckly I haven't had any problems with wings in my stock, thus far. Anything with bad wings would obviously be culled. But I can't stand it when birds have those odd wings, too loose or where they look like they have angel wing (like ducks). I also don't like when the wings are held so tight to the body it sort of "pinches" the cushion.
 
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