First time breeding my silkies, please help :)

[chicksplus6]

Hello!

I am just about to start breeding my silkies, yay! I have done a lot of research but I would love to get some advise/opinions from my new friends here I am trying to decide what is the best way to sort my pens. I have roos and hens of the following colors: Splash, White, Black, Blue, and Partridge. What is the best color combination? I will have a total of 4 pens. Is it best to stick to a few colors or keep them all? Also, how many roos to hens do you think is the right number? Thank you in advance for all of your help...any other suggestions on breeding silkies is also greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I am not a breeder but maybe I can give a bit of assistance.

I did speak with a silkie breeder once about how many roosters should be with hens for silkies. The breeder replied that she keeps one rooster in with 5 hens. For other breeds I have heard one rooster with 10 hens is optimal.

Now the white color is one that you don't want to cross with your black blue splash chickens (if you are trying to keep pure colors and not just have wild and varied mixed colors). The white color hides what is in the past historical genetics of the bird. If you cross white with another color the historical colors will come out is what I have read. Please do keep in mind that all I know on this white color subject is what I have read on BYC so take with a grain of salt.

Partridge I have no idea.

You can keep your BBS (black blue splash) together. You may want to look over these threads for ideas:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/newsearch?search=silkie+color+genetics

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

If I had 4 pens, and all the colors you've got, I'd stick the blue, black and splash in one, partridge in another, white in another and leave the last as a brooder/bachelor pen. If you have an extra pen, you can put extra broodies in there, babies or all of your boys to give the girls a break.
As for how many roosters to keep with your hens, that's up to you. I have a main coop for my Silkies and 2 separate smaller breeding pens. I've kept pairs, trios and quads in my breeding pens. They're not really big enough for more than that. All of those combos have worked out well. My breeding pens currently contain some chicks that are growing out and a hen sitting on eggs. My main coop has 2 roosters and about 15 hens. My Silkies are used to being moved around, and when the babies grow up and move to the big coop and the hen is back there too, I'll split them up into the breeding pens again

Good luck!