a silkie rooster with a red face!

[HelenaJean]

i brought a silkie rooster that has a red face. it's ugly as anything so i don't think i'll keep this particular one for breeding but i was wondering, it wouldn't be pure silkie if it has red skin, right? it has 5 toes, black skin in other places and the fluff overload so there's silkie in there but i'm highly doubting that it's pedigree.
any ideas guys?

 

[Illia]

Sounds like a hatchery quality Silkie to me. They're commonly found and should not be used for breeding.

 

[BirdNut]

Yup, that's called 'hatchery-quality'. I don't mean it in a condescending manner to your bird, it just means that you really shouldn't use him for breeding or showing.

 

[magicpigeon]

Quote:
X2. My non-show quality white silkie roos had the same problem. I re-homed them and now have some better stock coming in on Tuesday!

 

[HelenaJean]

haha thanks guys.
I paid for a rooster off a family friend who deals for our area, but that one (a beautiful boy) died so this bloke was a free replacement. I really didn't expect much more; i think the poor little thing's gunna be in a lot of trouble once i find a breeding quality black silkie rooster

 

[destiny_56085]

They can crop up infrequently out of your show stock too. Same thing with single combs, 4 toers, etc. It doesn't always mean hatchery stock origin. Its just something that breeders cull for right away as chicks. Some of the smaller breeders might only hatch 50 chicks a year out of their birds and might never see it happen. Other people will hatch 500+ chicks a year and your odds of seeing those abnormalities do pop up though.
You see it alot more often with your dilutes...the buffs and splash. The more you breed stuff like the wheaton based buffs together, you will get a higher percentage of clear buff feather coloration, but you get a higher percentage of red skin showing up. Cross in a partridge/black tail based buff to get back to the dark skin again. Same on splash.... splash x splash = 100% splash. Keep breeding those dilutes together long enough and eventually you get these washed out looking splash and see more of the red/pink skin showing up too. Cross in good blues to get back your color again.
Red skin isn't something you want to use for breeding. Can't argue with a freebie just if you want it as a pet though.