Beak problems

[aryucrazy]

I hatched 8 silkies a month and a half ago. I was hoping some of them would be good to start breeding with. I'm not planning to show them necessarily, but I don't want to breed serious genetic problems. Anyway, 3 of the chicks have weird beaks. One is an obvious cross beak and the other two are pointed off to one side. The person I bought the eggs from said it's an incubation problem, and they haven't hatched any chicks with beak problems. Can I trust that? I've included pictures of the chicks.

 

[2ndTink]

I'm not sure, but I'm really curious as I'm contemplating incubating some silkies from a local breeder.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

I hatched 8 silkies a month and a half ago. I was hoping some of them would be good to start breeding with. I'm not planning to show them necessarily, but I don't want to breed serious genetic problems. Anyway, 3 of the chicks have weird beaks. One is an obvious cross beak and the other two are pointed off to one side. The person I bought the eggs from said it's an incubation problem, and they haven't hatched any chicks with beak problems. Can I trust that? I've included pictures of the chicks.

Scissor beak and crooked beak is genetic from what I’ve read. Do not breed them. If they are hens you could keep them as broodies to hatch eggs for you and as laying hens. If any are boys butcher them so they can’t pass on their genes. If you don’t have the heart to kill the boys you could rehome them to some one who would eat them or to some one who just wants a pet and not a breeder.

 

[aryucrazy]

Should I be concerned about the rest of them? All the eggs came from two pens, and both pens had at least one chick with a problematic beak.

 

[SourRoses]

It's genetic and the birds without it may carry it too. The only way to be sure is to test breed the ones that don't show it.
What I would do, if you want to breed silkies, is source another line now so you can get those growing out. From this batch, be extremely picky and only select those without a hint of beak issue and that also show good traits all around. Even if you only end up with a pair left. Breed them and keep an eagle eye on those chicks. If no beak issues show up, your second line will be old enough, so blend them together. If even one chick has the beak issue, remove all of this blood from your breeding plan.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

It's genetic and the birds without it may carry it too. The only way to be sure is to test breed the ones that don't show it.
What I would do, if you want to breed silkies, is source another line now so you can get those growing out. From this batch, be extremely picky and only select those without a hint of beak issue and that also show good traits all around. Even if you only end up with a pair left. Breed them and keep an eagle eye on those chicks. If no beak issues show up, your second line will be old enough, so blend them together. If even one chick has the beak issue, remove all of this blood from your breeding plan.

Agree completely.

 

[phasianidae]

Cull

 

[phasianidae]

I disagree with potentially culling the line if this issue continues to show up. If you apply that same standard across all faults you wouldn’t be able to breed any line for very long. Every line will have stuff crop up over time, just cull the faults as they appear and breed from the strong birds.

 

[SourRoses]

I disagree with potentially culling the line if this issue continues to show up. If you apply that same standard across all faults you wouldn’t be able to breed any line for very long.

There's a big difference between a fault for appearance and a genetic abnormality that affects their health and can kill them. Cross beak chicks often can't eat properly, and it gets worse as they grow. When there are healthy lines available it is not good husbandry to perpetuate deformity.
I do agree that when it comes to appearance, breeding from what you have is a valid approach (and good for genetic diversity within breeds).

 

[phasianidae]

There's a big difference between a fault for appearance and a genetic abnormality that affects their health and can kill them. Cross beak chicks often can't eat properly, and it gets worse as they grow. When there are healthy lines available it is not good husbandry to perpetuate deformity.
I do agree that when it comes to appearance, breeding from what you have is a valid approach (and good for genetic diversity within breeds).

I think you misunderstood my post, I'm not advocating for the perpetuation of deformities. The OP said that 3 out of 8 have crossbeaks, that leaves five potential breeders left. My point was that you don't have to condemn a line because it currently has a high frequency of a certain fault, and that no breeder could maintain a closed line for very long with this line of thinking. If you keep a closed flock for very long at all you will have something bad show up, but it doesn't have to mean the end of the line. As long as you have some to work with that are free of the fault you can keep going. Chickens are such highly reproductive animals that you should always have plenty of offspring to select from as long as you keep your incubators running for a few months. Each hen can easily have 100+ offspring. In OP's case of course, the options are more limited since this is a new start from hatching eggs.