Black silkies

[destiny_56085]

And your runs look awesome! I use welded wire on everything. I should get a smaller size for the bottoms like you have for the runs, I just have 2x1" on the runs.

How is your hatching season going? I hope well. It seems that this year was my turn for incubator failure. Just got a new one though that I will be firing up today so fingers crossed I get some more babies from him soon. I hope I am still on your waitlist if you have extras too I bet your daughter is keeping you busy! My son is 7 months and he is almost crawling....so not excited for him to be mobile! LOL!

LMAO.... I know what you mean by the mobility. Kaylie was crawling at 4 months and walking at 7 months. Her big thing right now is climbing up on things when you turn your back.

I bought another 600 egg incubator in March.... Hatching has been a little better, but nothing spectacular yet. You know how it goes with silkies.... Not huge layers to begin with and then the whole darn pen goes broody. Other than the few pet quality ones dumped off at local swaps, I've only let go of 3 boxes of chicks so far this year. The incubator itself is working though... I have tons of faverolle, sumatra, and waterfowl popping like crazy. I keep telling myself that I'm not going to fight with the summer humidity again this year. As soon as the peafowl are done laying, the incubator is following suit this year. Big project right now is bringing all the breeder stock in for baths and pedicures...

 

[sweety1244]

Hi i am Katiana and i was wondering if you are selling your black bantams.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Watch out; both my sons were climbers. My son was about the age you little girl is when I walking into the dining room to find him swinging from the chandelier!

 

[destiny_56085]

OMG...Tarzan wannabe? My little brother was only 2 years old when they caught him up on the garage roof too.

Almost had a heart attack the other morning... I went out to do chores and found Monster, that big black cock of mine, hanging upside down from the wire by 1 leg. Alive thank god! He must have been trying to spar with the splash boy in the pen next to him and his spur got caught. He didn't struggle luckily or would have broke or dislocated that leg for sure. First time I've seen that happen in over 10 years...

Thought I'd share a couple pics from the baby pen. All about 2 months in here. Scraggly lil buggers at this stage yet.

 

[cityslickers]

WOW! Thats a great lay out. Pens look great

 

[rilly10]

OMG you two are gonna give me a panic attack! LOL! Jason has only but scooted so far and I already almost cried LOL!

Cute babies! Your pens are always so spotless! You must go though a ton of shavings. I swear I use more for the chickens than the horses and mine never look as clean as yours!

 

[destiny_56085]

I have a little OCD... I strip and rebed every other week. In between I take the horse manure fork and get the worst of it off the top. Brooders in the house are cleaned daily and bigger ones in the garage weekly. I only go through about 10-12 bags of shavings every other week. My latest task was bringing in all of the breeder stock for baths and pedicures.

Maybe I just drink too much Mt. Dew and have a problem sitting still too.

 

[Muzzie]

I have a little OCD... I strip and rebed every other week. In between I take the horse manure fork and get the worst of it off the top. Brooders in the house are cleaned daily and bigger ones in the garage weekly. I only go through about 10-12 bags of shavings every other week. My latest task was bringing in all of the breeder stock for baths and pedicures.

Maybe I just drink too much Mt. Dew and have a problem sitting still too.

You sound like me Lol

 

[littlecritters]

Hi, I'm lucky to have three black chicks from Rilly10 (see her lovely rooster below). Two are little roos and I'm pretty sure the third is also. I'd appreciate your help in understanding the differences in black colored silkies. I would also like to know if there is a preferred combination of genes and/or a preferred breeding plan to produce pure black silkies. 

I have seen blacks that have a beetle green sheen (like Laura's), some that are coal black and others that have a brown undertone. My desire is to produce beetle green blacks, which do not have leakage around the hackles. I would be grateful for a very simple explanation of the genes that make up black silkies...and on a practical level what should I look for when seeking additional foundation stock for a small pure black breeding program.

I understand that the following combinations can be used to produce black...Are any of these more appropriate for a pure black breeding program?
--> Black x Black 
--> Black x Blue
--> Blue x Blue 

Thank you in advance for your help!!
Tina G.

Ok I didn't get pics of the chicks yet, but here are some of the adults! I snapped these while cleaning the coops the other day!   Pictured is mr rooster, two hens (one broody), a cockerel I am growing out, and my roo again with a older chick (probably a pullet but hasn't filled out that much yet). Please excuse the droopy wings and panting, it was 94 that day 

 

[destiny_56085]

There's an article on breeding blacks in the latest edition of Exhibition Poultry. If you click on the Aug 2012 link, it will take you to the PDF version. http://www.exhibitionpoultry.net/

You can also go back to the first couple pages of this thread. Breeding blacks isn't as simple as it seems. There are at least 5 different bases for it with different melanizers affecting each. I personally stay away from the black on blue matings because its hard to determine which offspring are black versus just a dark blue. The brown undertone is often seen with birds in need of a molt. The coal blacks are often just dark blues or poorly melanized blacks.