Can satin be bred out of my silkie flock?

[juci]

Chick 5 (cream? no clue what color this one is)

 

[Debbie292d]

Thank you all for the advice and for sharing your knowledge about the silkie genes.

Here’s the silkies and satins and their wings. I was most excited about the little blue one (chick 1) but pretty sure it has the satin feathers. The good news is, I think all of them have black skin! Feet could definitely be better too but most have 5 toes.

I might keep a couple of the hens in the flock and just make sure it’s satin to silkie until the satin eventually disappears in next generations.

Chick 1

If you're trying to get closer to pure silkies, I'd not keep any that have 4 toes. Granted, some breeders will say four toes just happens sometimes, even six, but still, I personally would not keep them unless they're for your own personal flock. If you're planning to breed and sell, I would just not want to chance the four-toed one(s) is going to pass that on.

This one has fused and that must be okay as I've gotten chicks from a gal who shows her birds and had a couple like that.

 

[Cloverr39]

Chicks 3 and 4 (partridges?) these wing feathers look more like what I’d expect from a silkie.

3 and 4 are silked, yes. The rest are satins.
The blue chick is adorable

Out of curiosity, what color are your other silkies? Are you planning on keeping a mixed color flock or are there specific colors you're breeding for?

 

[Debbie292d]

Chick 2 (black)

This one's probably a satin.

 

[Debbie292d]

Chick 5 (cream? no clue what color this one is)

This one looks like it's trying to be a buff but isn't going to make it lol.

 

[juci]

If you're trying to get closer to pure silkies, I'd not keep any that have 4 toes. Granted, some breeders will say four toes just happens sometimes, even six, but still, I personally would not keep them unless they're for your own personal flock. If you're planning to breed and sell, I would just not want to chance the four-toed one(s) is going to pass that on.

This one has fused and that must be okay as I've gotten chicks from a gal who shows her birds and had a couple like that.

Yeah I think you’re right. Thank you for reminding me about that- I’ve been culling so hard for that in my existing flock, and weird toes still pops up even though my current breeders all have 5 distinct toes.
I agree that it’s important to make sure these basic traits are preserved in breeders.

 

[Debbie292d]

Chicks 3 and 4 (partridges?) these wing feathers look more like what I’d expect from a silkie.

3 could be mauve maybe, but yes, 3 and 4 are silkies. 4 is a partridge but don't think 3 is.

 

[Debbie292d]

Yeah I think you’re right. Thank you for reminding me about that- I’ve been culling so hard for that in my existing flock, and weird toes still pops up even though my current breeders all have 5 distinct toes.
I agree that it’s important to make sure these basic traits are preserved in breeders.

It's just that if I were to come buy a silkie from you and it had four toes, I'd say nope.

 

[juci]

3 and 4 are silked, yes. The rest are satins.
The blue chick is adorable

Out of curiosity, what color are your other silkies? Are you planning on keeping a mixed color flock or are there specific colors you're breeding for?

Yeah the blue one is just so puffy and bigger than the rest.

I’ve paired down to only 3 breeders right now. My rooster is from a good line but it was really hard to get him. I live in Hawaii and it’s almost impossible to get silkies here unless from a big hatchery, and shipping ruins most of the hatching eggs. he was the only one that hatched.
So for now I’m trying to focus on type and feet and the basics and sort of see what colors I end up with. I’d love to try for blue/black/splash in the future.

Here’s a photo of my roo and the 2 hens. I think he’s a silver partridge, but he could just be black with leakage. My white hen is okay but the black with gold leakage hen is pretty bad but has great feet. I’m replacing her with the best of her chicks with him asap.

If you have any advice about color or anything else I’d really appreciate it!

 

[juci]

This one looks like it's trying to be a buff but isn't going to make it lol.

Lol that’s a perfect description of it! I am sort of excited to see what color she’ll end up, if I don’t sell her as a silkie mix.