Black silkies

[Smokin Silkies]

We got the ice too

When I look out my window, my car is covered in a thick sheet of ice and my steep driveway looks like a big ice cube! I have to go to the PO to pick up some birds shortly....hope my pregnant butt don't fall and get hurt! I HATE winter sooooo bad!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Yep, Eric is REALLY tough on colour, especially on silkies.

 

[kelar]

Last fall, I did a trade with Jennifer (ultasol) for a black cockerel from Amy's line. He has grown into a beautiful boy - I like pretty much everything about him EXCEPT he has some red leakage into his hackles. After doing a lot of reading about this particular problem, I decided to go ahead and put him into the breeding pen this year. He is with the daughters of my solid black cock. Any thoughts out there on this? I keep wondering if I'm asking for trouble

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Worst case is that you learn something about breeding that particular combination. Best is that you learn something and the offspring have no leakage.

 

[destiny_56085]

kelar.... If your solid black cock is exceptional in every other way, then I wouldn't introduce the off-color. You will produce a percentage of some clear cockerels and probably alot of off colored ones if you do use that gold male. The pullets that come out of him will probably be clear, but they will be carriers. If will be a problem you will deal with for a long time. However, if that cockerel is totally superior in body type, then use him and mark babies out of him.

In my case, the blacks I had gotten from Bobbi were totally clear and throwing clear babies. Nice birds, but not the national caliber ones like Premier has. I purposefully sacrificed color to get the better body type and feather quality. My first cross of her birds to mine was those 4 black pullets to the Bobbi cock. Those babies were the first time I had off-colors popping up on my blacks. However, the drastic improvement in stance, hard feathering through cushion, crest size, etc was very apparent. The next fall I got a clear black cock from Premier and took him back to those F1 pullets. I got a few off-color babies, but I finally got quite a few of the totally clear black males. I kept back the top 4 of those pullets and 2 of the cockerels from those matings. I ended up losing that rooster in a cold spell. Premier sold me another young male later that spring and I used him for the later hatches. When I got him, this male was totally clear black and he has produced some clear black males too. Now in his 2nd year and another molt, he has gotten some gold in his hackles too. I probably produced alot more clears than I realized, but first and foremost I culled for conformation issues so didn't grow out every single bird.

 

[kelar]

Amy - thanks so much for the background. It's always nice to hear how others have worked through these issues. In my case, I've been getting some nice blacks out of my cock and hens, but now the daughters are joining the group and I don't want to breed them back to their father. I'm really making a point of trying not to inbreed this year for a lot of reasons I won't get into right now. In any case, I guess I'll give him a try and see what happens - I can always scrap the whole thing if it doesn't work out since these will be the first blacks hatched this year. It just seems a shame to not use a really nice male, but Silkies are hard enough without introducing yet another issue to work on LOL. Anyone out there have a nice, solid black typey male they want to sell??

 

[Aria]

I have ONE jet black Silkie hen. She is beautiful with her blue ears on the jet black.
I really love all Silkies that are bearded. My Rooster is red and is also beautiful. I love them all no matter what color.

It was interesting to read the thread.

 

[ultasol]

Karen- I'm working with the same issues, as you have seen. I think it was you that I showed the very beginnings of off-coloring appearing in the hackle on one of my two best black cockerels at the Stevenson, WA show. Leakage! AHHH!

Out of many boys from Amy I ended up with two that are both pretty nice and have no leakage in the hackle. One has better wings than the other. Of the crosses I made from a cockerel from Amy over hens from Calesta last early spring I got my best show pullets, but I haven't held back males from that cross. I now have the Calesta hens under the younger black cockerels from Amy, and my show hens/pullets (from the crosses I made and from Amy) under a black cock from Calesta (he was at the Spring 2010 show).

BTW Karen, I am finally getting great fertility in the whites, so if you still want some when showtime comes let me know. I had to wait until I knew if I was going to Stockton to trim butts, and I finally get about 28 days ago, so I've had a couple good hatches already.

Sonoran- I went to Goodman Elementary, Anderson Jr. High (some of my friends went to Seton), and Chandler High. I get back to AZ every once in Awhile as my father and many good friends still live there. In fact, one of my good friends works for an exotic vet that does a lot of work with birds of all kinds- used to be the vet for the Phoenix Zoo. I iss being able to go to the Az. Botanical Garden and hiking around Papago.


In regards to blacks in general: While I love black pullets and they are admittedly easier to produce than good black cockerels (because they stay clear)... there is nothing like a nice black cock.

I mentioned earlier the black cock on loan from Calesta- I think he might be one of my favorite birds to look at in my pens. He's several years old and has the body type of a good mature cock. He's got a lot of mihalik blood and he's a bit leggy, but very very nice. If I thought she would part with him I would buy him in a second.

I've raised a heck of a lot of birds and done a heck of a lot of culling to advance the quality. I've also bought and traded birds with other breeders. I've been really really lucky in that the breeders here in the PNW are very open and buy/sell/trade stock and love to talk shop. They've helped me go over birds, helped me learn to AI, how to keep ahead of mites/lice, how to prepare for shows, etc. Karen, Calesta Rieth, Sheryl Butler, Marjorie Best, Dottie, etc have all been so much help and have helped make showing fun even when I don't place well. I also benefited from getting judges to go over my birds which actually prevented me from getting rid of a couple birds that have actually been useful for me in breeding. AmyJo Piehl also helped me a lot. About a year and a half ago I purchased a few young stock on eggbid from Amy that were culls for one reason or another (most relating to toe spacing, which I think is easy to correct) and she let me purchase from her a very typey black cockerel with gold leakage in the hackle. I needed a boy and that was what she had available, and he ended up being a fantastic purchase. He's probably going to be retired this year as I now have clear blacks from Amy that are almost as typey as he is. The problem with the leakage is that it takes so long to show up. As Amy mentioned, she has a black that didn't show leakage until he was a couple of years old. Because of that, it can be really frustrating to work with. There was one young bird I separated out and really really liked (in regards to type and wings) that I parted with because he developed leakage. It sucked because I liked his type SO much and had been conditioning him for the fall shows. Now, toe separation and the incorrect number of toes are easy to cull for. You see it at hatch and can sell or give away the baby at that time, without substantial investment of time, feed, energy, and hopes.

My goal is to get consistent quality so that I don't hatch as much/as many. Right now I've been hatching everything laid by my breeders.

 

[muddyhorse]

here is one of my black hens

I'm not sure if I like this black roo or not. he is two and does not have any leakage, a dark comb, good toes and foot feathering. however I am fairly new to this and would like some comments on his type

his crest was nicer but he jumped in to another pen and Capone got a hold of him

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

Muddyhorse-Is that roo bearded or non? I love his coloring.


Here's some pics of Crix when I brought him home and some a few months ago-I never seem to catch him how I want to.

And I thought I was bringing home a girl!

What did I know? (When I did buy him-it was before the obvious hackles and streamers came in.)

I'm just happy I managed to get a male with no leakage-and one god-given crest.

His beard always has something funky in it...my apologies.