Giant Silkie Project.

[MysteryChicken]

Are the F2 off springs close to a brahma chick the same age? What s the next step into creating the Giant Silkie?

They seem to be faster to grow then Brahmas, at 10 weeks.

The next step is I'm going to breed the F2s to pure LF Silkie Hens, their mothers.

I'm also gonna breed an F1 Female to breed to the F1 rooster, for more F2 offspring. Then take the F2s, of that crossing, & back cross to LF Silkie Hen, or Rooster.

 

[Darius123]

They seem to be faster to grow then Brahmas, at 10 weeks.

The next step is I'm going to breed the F2s to pure LF Silkie Hens, their mothers.

I'm also gonna breed an F1 Female to breed to the F1 rooster, for more F2 offspring. Then take the F2s, of that crossing, & back cross to LF Silkie Hen, or Rooster.

And how many generations/years do you think this is going to take?

 

[MysteryChicken]

And how many generations/years do you think this is going to take?

Shouldn't take anymore then 3 at least. The longest would be 4 generations, but I don't think it'll take that many though.

For years, I do breeding once to twice a year, so maybe 3 years, maximum unless I run into an issue.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Well my project is slowly coming together… still no Silkies or Showgirls to add to the breeding program, and the breed that I had planned to use to add size was not delivered. However I do have a start on collecting the genetic pool of traits we are interested in. Hopefully next spring I will be able to establish a start towards the crosses.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Well my project is slowly coming together… still no Silkies or Showgirls to add to the breeding program, and the breed that I had planned to use to add size was not delivered. However I do have a start on collecting the genetic pool of traits we are interested in. Hopefully next spring I will be able to establish a start towards the crosses.

I'm most likely gonna be culling the white skinned birds that were produced. If you want them, they're free for the taking.

So, what are you seeing so far with your project?

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Well I am raising the start of the base stock…

We want a variety in egg color, so currently raising olive eggers and Legbar for the blue gene.

Black skinned birds Sumatra and Swedish Black Hens.

ordered… Marans for dark brown egg genes, naked necks for naked neck gene… waiting on these chicks to be delivered. (Hopefully all will go well with this order… one hatchery we ordered from just resulted in dead chicks, the other one’s chicks are healthy but some breeds cancelled… so fingers crossed we get what ordered alive and healthy from the third company).

The Silkie gene needs to be added to the flock.

We have several other breeds. Not sure if they will be part of the project yet.

Size wise we were planning on using the Saipans but they were canceled off our order. Thus a lot of the large flock are probably going to be smaller breeds… so I will have to see how the chicks mature, and choose off of that. So I figure our first crosses will be towards creating naked neck blue egg gene carrying large flock that then will be crossed with Silkie carrying birds…

I do think the Legbar Xs for green eggs are the biggest chicks so far, so they may turn out larger than anticipated. (Cross the fingers).

I am in California. I am thinking what might be good is getting some hatching eggs for Silkie genes. Really undecided yet on that... just taking this step by step.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Well I am raising the start of the base stock…

We want a variety in egg color, so currently raising olive eggers and Legbar for the blue gene.

Black skinned birds Sumatra and Swedish Black Hens.

ordered… Marans for dark brown egg genes, naked necks for naked neck gene… waiting on these chicks to be delivered. (Hopefully all will go well with this order… one hatchery we ordered from just resulted in dead chicks, the other one’s chicks are healthy but some breeds cancelled… so fingers crossed we get what ordered alive and healthy from the third company).

The Silkie gene needs to be added to the flock.

We have several other breeds. Not sure if they will be part of the project yet.

Size wise we were planning on using the Saipans but they were canceled off our order. Thus a lot of the large flock are probably going to be smaller breeds… so I will have to see how the chicks mature, and choose off of that. So I figure our first crosses will be towards creating naked neck blue egg gene carrying large flock that then will be crossed with Silkie carrying birds…

I do think the Legbar Xs for green eggs are the biggest chicks so far, so they may turn out larger than anticipated. (Cross the fingers).

I am in California. I am thinking what might be good is getting some hatching eggs for Silkie genes. Really undecided yet on that... just taking this step by step.

Black Sumatras have Yellow skin, Gypsy Face, & Dark Shanks.

Did they explain why the Saipan order got canceled?

California is a far. Getting Silkie hatching eggs might be a good idea. Just avoid the SQ type since those are all Bantams.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Yeah the Sumatra’s have the dark on yellow… but the Swedish are solid Black.

Low hatch of Saipans is what the hatchery said.

Yeah I am thinking eggs maybe best bet for the reason you pointed out.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Yeah the Sumatra’s have the dark on yellow… but the Swedish are solid Black.

Low hatch of Saipans is what the hatchery said.

Yeah I am thinking eggs maybe best bet for the reason you pointed out.

Okay.

You could also order Silkies from Hoover's, they keep both Bantam, & Largefowl Silkies together. The LF Silkies, are most commonly beardless, but with the bantam blood in some, some will have beards.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Good to know on Hoover’s