Zemeraire
Songster
A few recent changes in my flock have forced me to have to rethink my 2021/2022 breeding plans. Breeding season where I am starts around August so not long now.
I'm sorry if this is a huge ramble.
The change in question is my two Frizzle hens, who are half silkie, not laying the same colour egg (green) as their mother. Due to this, their eggs are IDENTICAL to my silkie eggs. And as they are half silkie and their mother is a mixed bantam, their babies if fathered by my silkie roo might pass as silkies and I don't want to accidentally sell crosses as pure silkies.
So far, I have acquired a 3mX4m pet run that I will be setting up in my yard, and am having a second coop built to put in it. I will be able to separate two breeding flocks, and thus separate the silkies from the frizzles to avoid confusion.
Breeding and selling chicks helps me on my low income to support my chickens, which I got initially as Therapy. I make it perfectly clear that my birds are not purebred unless they ARE, and last season I had lots of people who were very happy with the chicks I hatched and sold them. I also have a huge passion for genetics, and love my rainbow flock. When I first got my chickens I did not intend to breed, and once I realised I really enjoyed it I went out and got pure silkie eggs to hatch out to be able to produce pure silkies this year.
For this year, my basic plans are to have the two groups as follows.
August to Jan
Stolas (Silkie roo)
-3 silkie hens
-Leghorn Pullet
-Faverolles Pullet
Luci (Half Silkie Frizzle Roo)
-2 Frizzle hens (not going to hatch these as I don't want to hatch any Frazzles)
-Araucana Hen
-Wyandotte Hen
-Mix Breed Hen
Feb to May
Stolas (Silkie roo)
-2 Frizzle hens
-Leghorn Pullet
-Faverolles Pullet
-Wyandotte Hen
Luci (Half Silkie Frizzle Roo)
-3 silkie hens
-Araucana Hen
-Mix Breed Hen
The idea is to produce pure silkies at the start of the season, and then early next year I'd like to produce 3/4 silkie sizzles (frizzle AND silkie) from both pens. I also need to test breed my frizzle roo against the non blue layers to see if he inherited the gene or not.
Next year I might get another silkie roo and replace Stolas, he is a very small boy and a bit short in the back. He has a beautiful personality and is great with the hens, and I don't want to take the risk on a new rooster this close to breeding season. I don't like breeding from nasty roos.
The silkie hens I have are also very small (I think this is an issue with most of the silkies in my area), but all have massive crests, great feet and are sweet girls.
I want to grow out some silkies to see how the cross goes.
My longer term plans for my frizzles are a bit more complicated. All of them are full siblings from my old silkie roo who passed early this year, and a frizzle hen who I rehomed. She had a prolapse and I did not want her to be with a rooster after that, so she went to live with my mum.
The three babies I kept and the one I have access to not in my flock (a friend's flock) are all adorable. I just love how they came out, their natures, how their tails look, how their crests and neck feathers look ext.
So I want to make more chickens that look like this, but don't want to breed frizzle to frizzle. I also want them to lay blue/green eggs.
Once I have test bred Luci to see if he carries the gene, I will know how easy this will be.
I plan to cross Luci with the smooth feathered sister who lives with my friend (she said I can borrow her) to hopefully get some more blue/green layers as the smooth feather lays green.
I also want to get some babies from Luci and my silkies, and the girls and Stolas, and retain any that have the same body type I am looking for. I also plan to keep a smooth feathered son of Luci and my Araucana to cross with the frizzle girls who don't lay blue/green, as that rooster would 100% carry the blue/green egg gene. And as my Araucana is a blue-lavender, that would introduce lavender and possibly blue, both of which I would love on my tiny babies. Next year once my Faverolles pullet is fully grown I might put her in with Luci (Stolas is more gentle and Luci is still a young boy who hasn't got the best manners), and see how their babies look. Only one of the frizzle hens has a beard and I love it, so I might include my Faverolle to get some more of that.
Overall the traits I want to breed for are
-Frizzle/Silkie
-That deep round body shape
-wider backs
-Tail on frizzled looking like the grandmother and my current girls tails
-The over the top neck and crest feathers on the silkies
-Black skin (all the girls have it and Luci carries)
-Blue ears
-Attractive colouring (not so fussed about exact colours yet, but around 50% of all Luci's babies will be paint)
-Friendly natures and behaviour, especially from the roosters
-Blue/Green eggs
I know this was a huge ramble, but what does everyone think?
I'm sorry if this is a huge ramble.
The change in question is my two Frizzle hens, who are half silkie, not laying the same colour egg (green) as their mother. Due to this, their eggs are IDENTICAL to my silkie eggs. And as they are half silkie and their mother is a mixed bantam, their babies if fathered by my silkie roo might pass as silkies and I don't want to accidentally sell crosses as pure silkies.
So far, I have acquired a 3mX4m pet run that I will be setting up in my yard, and am having a second coop built to put in it. I will be able to separate two breeding flocks, and thus separate the silkies from the frizzles to avoid confusion.
Breeding and selling chicks helps me on my low income to support my chickens, which I got initially as Therapy. I make it perfectly clear that my birds are not purebred unless they ARE, and last season I had lots of people who were very happy with the chicks I hatched and sold them. I also have a huge passion for genetics, and love my rainbow flock. When I first got my chickens I did not intend to breed, and once I realised I really enjoyed it I went out and got pure silkie eggs to hatch out to be able to produce pure silkies this year.
For this year, my basic plans are to have the two groups as follows.
August to Jan
Stolas (Silkie roo)
-3 silkie hens
-Leghorn Pullet
-Faverolles Pullet
Luci (Half Silkie Frizzle Roo)
-2 Frizzle hens (not going to hatch these as I don't want to hatch any Frazzles)
-Araucana Hen
-Wyandotte Hen
-Mix Breed Hen
Feb to May
Stolas (Silkie roo)
-2 Frizzle hens
-Leghorn Pullet
-Faverolles Pullet
-Wyandotte Hen
Luci (Half Silkie Frizzle Roo)
-3 silkie hens
-Araucana Hen
-Mix Breed Hen
The idea is to produce pure silkies at the start of the season, and then early next year I'd like to produce 3/4 silkie sizzles (frizzle AND silkie) from both pens. I also need to test breed my frizzle roo against the non blue layers to see if he inherited the gene or not.
Next year I might get another silkie roo and replace Stolas, he is a very small boy and a bit short in the back. He has a beautiful personality and is great with the hens, and I don't want to take the risk on a new rooster this close to breeding season. I don't like breeding from nasty roos.
The silkie hens I have are also very small (I think this is an issue with most of the silkies in my area), but all have massive crests, great feet and are sweet girls.
I want to grow out some silkies to see how the cross goes.
My longer term plans for my frizzles are a bit more complicated. All of them are full siblings from my old silkie roo who passed early this year, and a frizzle hen who I rehomed. She had a prolapse and I did not want her to be with a rooster after that, so she went to live with my mum.
The three babies I kept and the one I have access to not in my flock (a friend's flock) are all adorable. I just love how they came out, their natures, how their tails look, how their crests and neck feathers look ext.
So I want to make more chickens that look like this, but don't want to breed frizzle to frizzle. I also want them to lay blue/green eggs.
Once I have test bred Luci to see if he carries the gene, I will know how easy this will be.
I plan to cross Luci with the smooth feathered sister who lives with my friend (she said I can borrow her) to hopefully get some more blue/green layers as the smooth feather lays green.
I also want to get some babies from Luci and my silkies, and the girls and Stolas, and retain any that have the same body type I am looking for. I also plan to keep a smooth feathered son of Luci and my Araucana to cross with the frizzle girls who don't lay blue/green, as that rooster would 100% carry the blue/green egg gene. And as my Araucana is a blue-lavender, that would introduce lavender and possibly blue, both of which I would love on my tiny babies. Next year once my Faverolles pullet is fully grown I might put her in with Luci (Stolas is more gentle and Luci is still a young boy who hasn't got the best manners), and see how their babies look. Only one of the frizzle hens has a beard and I love it, so I might include my Faverolle to get some more of that.
Overall the traits I want to breed for are
-Frizzle/Silkie
-That deep round body shape
-wider backs
-Tail on frizzled looking like the grandmother and my current girls tails
-The over the top neck and crest feathers on the silkies
-Black skin (all the girls have it and Luci carries)
-Blue ears
-Attractive colouring (not so fussed about exact colours yet, but around 50% of all Luci's babies will be paint)
-Friendly natures and behaviour, especially from the roosters
-Blue/Green eggs
I know this was a huge ramble, but what does everyone think?
