Breeding silkied Cochin bantams to the Standard

[3KillerBs]

Hen is better than nothing. At least she is working in your favor even if no one else wants to

Yes.

I'm now beginning to evaluate a blue and 2 blacks as temporary juniors until I can hatch a good Splash.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

So saying all that if you can get your hands on a splash to add to the breeding pen then you should get a lot more splash

Oh, yes, Splash always passes a blue plumage gene to offspring, so just one Splash in a group of Blues will certainly raise the odds of hatching more Splashes in the future, and better yet for what I'm working towards, more Blues. Here's hoping!

I've managed to get one splash. I was hoping it was male because I want a splash as jr. flockmaster but, alas, it's a hen.

Rats! Isn't that always the case? I had a bit of the same with Athena when she was still tiny and not yet clearly female. She's always been a lighter Blue than the others, just what I've been looking for in my Blues, so I had actually been hoping she would be male. As a male, those 'lighter' blue genes (in theory) would be passed to all of the chicks hatched from his flock... but as a female, only her eggs will have the benefit of containing those genes and the other hens' eggs obviously will not. As they say, the male is half the flock! That our respective birds have turned out to be female is not the most ideal, but Jacin is correct, it's a step in the right direction and a place to start working from at least.

 

[3KillerBs]

She's always been a lighter Blue than the others, just what I've been looking for in my Blues

I have several super-dark blues that I'm favoring.

That and excellent lacing.

There doesn't seem to be a standard shade for blue so we can favor our preferences.

Silkier feathers don't show the lacing, right?

Do silkier males have the dark backs?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

No, no lacing visible on silkied feathering. That's at least one less thing I have to look for in my breeders, but of course is replaced by the fact that darker shades of Blue tend to look Black with the silkied feathering. I do wonder now, if I took a silkied feather and maybe wet it so that I could stick it together like a normal feather, how much lacing would be on it, though! With Harley molting, I have plenty of silkied Blue feathers to pick from to try it out.

The males do have the darker back! It's visible in person, but difficult to capture in pictures, mostly because my Blues are so darn dark! Zeke's picture from the first post kind of shows it, though, especially on his wing:

As for shade of Blue, my ABA standard does say 'slatey blue' for the ground color, and 'bluish black' for the male's darker back patterning. From what I've seen and read, a lot of it is definitely personal preference, though.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

No, no lacing visible on silkied feathering. That's at least one less thing I have to look for in my breeders, but of course is replaced by the fact that darker shades of Blue tend to look Black with the silkied feathering. I do wonder now, if I took a silkied feather and maybe wet it so that I could stick it together like a normal feather, how much lacing would be on it, though! With Harley molting, I have plenty of silkied Blue feathers to pick from to try it out.

The males do have the darker back! It's visible in person, but difficult to capture in pictures, mostly because my Blues are so darn dark! Zeke's picture from the first post kind of shows it, though, especially on his wing:

View attachment 3346752

As for shade of Blue, my ABA standard does say 'slatey blue' for the ground color, and 'bluish black' for the male's darker back patterning. From what I've seen and read, a lot of it is definitely personal preference, though.

I'd love pwrsonally to see a.laced silkie. Any kind. Just to see what it looks like

 

[3KillerBs]

I can sort of see the darkness on Zeke's back.

I don't really know what a Cochin ought to look like, but to my untrained eye he's a really adorable fluffy pillow of a bird.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

@Overo Mare

 

[NanaK]

Zeke is a really handsome guy!

Following along because I am interested in the breeding of BBS too.

I have a blue laced silver Wyandotte cockerel and 4 black laced silver pullets I hope to hatch from in spring. I have not seen but one BLS group of Wyandottes in person and very few photos online. Lot's of blue laced reds around.

One of the pullets keeps me guessing is she really black or just really dark blue. Maybe another reason to breed her with the BLS male and see what happens???

Your birds are just lovely!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Zeke is a really handsome guy!

Following along because I am interested in the breeding of BBS too.

I have a blue laced silver Wyandotte cockerel and 4 black laced silver pullets I hope to hatch from in spring. I have not seen but one BLS group of Wyandottes in person and very few photos online. Lot's of blue laced reds around.

One of the pullets keeps me guessing is she really black or just really dark blue. Maybe another reason to breed her with the BLS male and see what happens???

Your birds are just lovely!

Look at the down by the tail. It should be a blue shade even if she's practically black. If it's black then she is

 

[3KillerBs]

Look at the down by the tail. It should be a blue shade even if she's practically black. If it's black then she is

It's mist visible in direct sun.

Also, most non-silkied black birds will shine with either green or purple iridescence but blues won't.