Choosing Silkie Colors ~ Help please!

[CK Chickadilly]

I got my bator in the mail today. Very exciting!

I want to get Silkie eggs but I am undecided on colors. A local person has some for sale & I definately want some red & blues.

I was wondering if any of you Silkie lovers have any good pics showing Silkie colors? Like what is a splash? partridge? or multi-colored?

If someone could post some pics I would be most grateful.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

These are some of my 4 week old buff silkies.

 

[hatchaholic]

I have a couple of red silkies. I think this one was 4 weeks old in the picture?? Anyway, not the best picture, but maybe it can give you an idea...

 

[hatchaholic]

Quote:
Those are really cute chicks. They look a lot better than my poor little buddies... LOL!

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

For a good sampling of colors, take a look at the video/slideshow of my birds. I raise white, blue, black, buff, and lavender.

You also need to consider a few things if you are only wanting a few colors. Like... are you wanting to do some hobby showing? do you want to sell eggs/chicks/birds later on? are you only wanting pets?

Each color has its own advantages/disadvantages...

For instance, white is the easiest to breed. White x White will always give you a white bird, guaranteed. But they are the most common color out there and almost everyone has white Silkies.

Buff is probably the hardest color to breed because of the extra coloring in the tails and wings. One of the goals of the buff breeding program is to produce the clearest buff bird possible, meaning no black anywhere in the bird.

Blue/Black/Splash are the most versatile colors to breed because you can breed them three different ways, and keep 3 different colors without having to keep everything exclusively separated.

Partridge is another difficult color, and probably one of the least common colors. Depending on who you talk to you can get a different interpretation of what they should look like. But I find they are one of the most hardy varieties of Silkies.

Gray is basically a partridge carrying a silver gene instead of the gold. They too aren't very common.

Varieties like Lavenders, Cuckoo, Reds, and others aren't recognized by the APA/ABA and are still in the working stages. Sometimes these can be rather expensive, and illusive because only a few breeders have them in quality form.

 

[Teresaann24]

I have 2 grey that have gold though out there bodies.
I also have 2 beautiful very dark black silkie pullets.

I love all the different colors!

 

[Renee]

Hey, Chris, I tried to see your video and it said it was no longer available...
Renee

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

I dont know what the problem is then... I just clicked the link above and it works.

 

[herechickchick]

Splash, Splash, Splash!!!! Can you tell it is my favorite color in Silkies! I hope to have a flock of them one day.

Check out Alan Stanford's site for great photos.

 

[CK Chickadilly]

Silkies truly are such beautiful birds! Thanks for the pics!

Boy, that makes it harder now to decide

I am not really sure what I want. Of course it would be nice to sell fertilized eggs some day. I am afraid if I hop into this so quickly I will become frustrated. Plus the fact that I will need more pens/cages/runs. The DH is going to have heart failure if I ask for much more! Yikes!

I would love to have lavender & blues for sure. The splash are gorgeous too.

How do you breed to get better coloring? How is it done...does that makes sense? It would be awesome to get some of the more rare colors & then try to get better coloring but I wouldn't know how to do it. UGH!

I am going to check out Chris' link now.
Thanks!