Buff Silkie Thread!

[jimnjay]

For me, my focus changes yearly as I progress. For the first couple of years I was looking for even color with as little black as possible. The next thing I looked for was wing position. In the process, I overlooked type. Now I am trying to improve on the overall type. I feel my birds, while lovely, are to long necked. I have incorporated several lines that have far better type and hope to hatch out better quality Buff silkies this season. I am also hatching twice as many in my very small operation. I am letting them grow out longer which puts pressure on the space I have but culling too early is something I have been very bad about.

I had given away some juveniles last summer that I did not feel would grow out to be acceptable. The lady could not keep them and I went back to collect them from her and offered to sell them at a show for her. I was shocked on how nice these 8 month old birds were. Just because they had lighter eyes or a few black feathers in the tail, or a slightly reddish comb, I ended up throwing the baby out with the bath water so to speak. I ended up keeping two of the 5 I brought home.

I don't think you need to look to far for samples of excellent Buff Silkies. The birds pictured here by Sundown, Horseshoecreek and Feather Leg Farms are excellent examples of what buffs should look like. I love them a bit on the lighter side and either will do well in show as long as they are typey and balanced.

 

[Celtic Hill]

Thanks guys! How early can you start making cuts and culling birds?

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

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Im with you on the wings. I can't stand bad wings.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

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I cull on on hatch day for any obvious dq's (4/6 toes, single comb, etc) Then once the birds start feathering out, if they have lots of off coloring (blue/black) in the wings, I sell those then. Im talking about a lot of smut in the wings, because its probably not going away. Other birds I will hold onto till they fully feather. Once in a while a single comb will pop up or a 4 toed bird, those I will not use so they are gone.

I like to try to hold on to them as long as I can, but space is limited, I probably let some of them go long before I should.

 

[Vanessabuffsnsilkies]

I have 2 trios of buffs. The first have nice type but (I thought) too much black so they were just pet quality. I was told that a clear roo bred to these pullets would produce clearer offspring, so I kept them. The first trio roo is darker, has black in his tail and too red of a comb, but I thought his type is nice and I think he is very pretty so I couldn't part with him just yet.

roo from group 1, he came from peachicks eggs when she had silkies,photo from back in december, he was about 6mos oldin the pic

pullets from group 1

The other group of buffs are from Catdance and bobbi

roo from group 2, he is approx 5mos

I need to get better pics of the other pullets.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

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Did you try breeding group 1 pullets & roo together to see what you got?

 

[Vanessabuffsnsilkies]

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Did you try breeding group 1 pullets & roo together to see what you got?

Yes, I did hatch one chick with alot of black and another that is a round buff puff ball with no black yet.

 

[ultasol]

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I'm harder on smut in the wings- I haven't kept those. I don't think it's as likely to go away, that and while I can pull a couple smutty tail feathers, I can't pull primaries.

 

[chikincrazee]

Hi I have a couple of chicks which hatched out with a little darker down under buff on their bodies but i have noticed as they start to feather out the darker fluff disappears..Is this something common in buff chicks. We have about 20 buff chicks and most appear to be clear but the parent stock is all clear.

 

[chickendales]

same buff rooster i cutft this spring