At what ages (on silkies) should you start assessing quality?

[monarc23]

If theres 5 toes, and the toes are the correct black color is there anything else you can tell about a silkie chick that determines things for you or do you need to wait until they are mature before you start removing them from your breeding plans? I am not breeding for show quality just yet, as I'm planning on doing a project of blue and black mottled silkies, but I want to atleast keep the silkies that are going to atleast pass as good 4H quality birds (im too old to be in 4h but just saying...).

I now have 5 silkies, in blue and splash...two that just hatched today and they have the correct number of toes, however the blue one has the pink tips on the toes which im not too worried about as I've read numerous times that the pink toes can fade

However, I have 2 silkie chicks a blue and a splash that are 3 weeks old on this upcoming wednesday, the blue ones pink toes are black now except for the bottom of it's toes in that area that used to be pink above I assume it will all fill in black here soon as it's done a good job so far.

The other, a splash, its pink toe tips are still pretty much as pink as they were at hatching... does anyone here have any experience with chicks at this age still having pink toes or should I wait longer?

I have pictures I can show of the toes and feathering and wings, however I wont waste time putting them here if you guys agree that they're still too young to assess. But was just curious

thanks!

 

[blackclownfish16]

The things I always check on my chicks are correct number of toes, correct comb, beak color and number of toenails. I don't worry about pink toes or the amount of leg feathers till they are a couple months old, then I get serious and cull them if they havn't fixed themselves. Then again a lot of mine are project birds so I tend to let some of the little things go (pink toes, beak color ect). I love it when I hatch from my pure silkie pen (BBS) and I get perfect little chicks

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
okay good! I'm glad to read this I was just worried if I should be moving out the pinkie toed cuties already or not. So from your info I will stop looking at them so closely and wait a few more months thanks!

 

[yellowflower]

I'd be really interested in other breeders opinions. I'm just starting with all baby chicks and I know I won't be keeping them all, so would like to know what other do. Do you all wait till their much older? Or do you start culling at 3/4 weeks old? Can you tell a definite no on a chick at that age?
Thanks!

 

[jimnjay]

If they all have 5 toes and toe nails on both feet, I don't cull till they are around 12 weeks old, I am looking at wing carriage and over all body type at that point. Toe separation will be obvious at this point as well, probably eariler.

If one has the luxury of raising lots of chicks then one can cull heavily earlier. Sometimes you need to improve foot feathering and need a rooster with heavy foot feathering though he may not be great in body or he might have a puney crest. Cull early for obvious DQ's and wait till your birds develop to decide on what you have and what you need. A great little rooster can make the world of difference with hens that need a little improvement here or there. Once you have breeders that produce chicks that are better than both of the parents then you keep that pair because the combination is right. Not all high quality chickens bred to other high quality chickens produce really great offspring.

Color in hackles appear with the final adult molt at around 4-5 months. You might have kept a great looking bird with off color in the hackles and you did not know it. If you have culled all the other roosters in the grow out pen, you are left with a great looking roo that will be disqualified and leave his mark on many generations to come.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
great info thanks!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Good reply, Jaynie!

I was thinking about the number of chicks hatched as compared with when one culls, and you mentioned it.

Right now I have a large number of started birds that I need to downsize--I'd love to raise some of them longer, but it is too hot and shady pen space is too limited, so I need to go through and select which birds go to the feed store. I know some will improve significantly in type over the next several months--but I can't keep them all until then. On the other hand, if I was only riasing a dozen babies, I could easily keep them all until they are pretty much grown & assess then.

I have a couple of buff cockerels that at 4 months of age I had no plans to keep. At 6 months I said, well, maybe, and at 7 months I selected one to keep. The other is also nice, but I selected based upon different individual characteristics.

As a wise breeder told me--no bird is perfect--if you throw them all out based upon a small imperfection that you can see early on, you'll end up with nothing left to raise.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
That's pretty much what a show rabbit breeder told me, and that almost every fault should be fixed

So I think I should apply this to my silkie project

I mean I'm going ot be crossing another breed into them that has yellow feet so I'm going to have a bit of a challenge anyhow