I would like your opinion on these Silkies.

[paddock36]

My son is going to show these birds in our local youth fair in February. Just wondering what some of your opinions of the birds were. I believe there to be three hens and one roo, which is the darkest blue. One of the birds did not grow as well as the others and we are debating on submitting her for the show. The birds where hatched in August this year. I know better photos would help but this is all I had time to snap for now, and of course they are a little camera shy.

 

[TinyChickenLady]

I'm no pro on showing birds YET but I must say they are very beautiful!
I'm subscribing and bumping so that I might learn a few things as well

Good luck!

 

[paddock36]

Quote:
Thank you TinyChickenLady any help is appreciated.

 

[acid_chipmunk]

Definitely need better pics to know. You need full frontal and side shots.

I can say, I'm not sure if it is the picture or if they were spooked, but the light blue one in the first pic, next to the dark blue, seems to have rather loose wing carriage.

Other than that, better pics are needed.

 

[allmychickens]

please add pics of face, body, feet

xhibiting Silkies - The Breed Standard
| Print |
Written by Laurence Beeken
Sunday, 30 January 2011 00:00

Silkie-WhiteProbably one of the most popular of the exhibition breeds and certainly one of the best suited for showing, silkies are normally found on championship row of the larger shows, and have a history of being a good ladies exhibit (popular with female exhibitors as opposed to only shown by women!). Preparation is an art in itself, and clever washing and drying at the correct time before a show will fluff a bird up beyond expectation, and certainly is worth the effort if you wish to compete: a badly prepared bird will fail to do well regardless of its genetic quality.

When showing your silkie, you should remember that a judge will look to grade your bird on 5 main points:
Type (20 points)

This is how the bird looks, the features that make it a silkie. It should look broad and stout and the back should be short and rise through to a short, rounded, fluffy tail. The body should be covered in abundant fluff and the wings ragged. There should be a lack of hard feathering, even in the males, where you will sometimes get harder tail feathers (which will be penalised). Silkie-BeardedIn the female, the underfluff should nearly touch the ground. The overall shape is cobby and rounded. Large birds should weigh 1.8 kilo (4lb) for males and 1.3 kilos (3lb) for females. In the bantam size, males should be 600g (22oz), females 500g (18oz).

There is a bearded type (left) which should have full ear muffling and a beard which covers the lower part of the face with reduced wattles.

Remember too that the bird should be alert and lively; a sick or lethargic bird will be disqualified and you may find a note on the cage to see the breed secretary!
Head (30 points)

A feature in its own right, the head should be short and neat, and topped with a pompom like a powder puff which in the male will have shiny ‘streamer’ feathers pointing backwards. The crest should not obscure the eyes. The beak should be a slate grey (black in a black bird), short and neat and complimented by black eyes.

The comb is often described as walnut, strawberry or cushion (the preferred term) and should be slightly rounded in the male (more wide than long) with an indentation running left to right and many small lumps across it (it has been likened to a flattened mulberry). In the female the comb should be very small and hidden by the crest (although the comb should not split the crest). The comb should not be of the single type. The ears should be small and neat and preference is normally given to turquoise blue ear lobes, although mulberry lobes are permitted. The wattles in the male are small and neat, and a dark mulberry colour. In the female they should be nearly absent and black. The face should be black in both sexes, tending to a deep mulberry in the male.
Legs (10 points)

The legs should be short and wide set but not bowed. They should be well fluffed at the thigh and moderately feathered along the shank (no hard feathers). The toes, which are also feathered, should be 5 in number, with the fifth toe coming off of the fourth. Pincer toes (like a crab claw) are a fault. Each toe should have a full nail. Legs and feet should be a dark slate colour.
Colour (10 points)

Silkie-BlackBlack birds should be even although a small amount of colour is permissible in the hackle but not desirable.

Blue birds should be an even colour, no patchiness or splashing.

White birds should be a brilliant white

The partridge should be as follows:

(Male)

Head and crest dark orange
Hackles orange/yellow with a black stripe down the centre
Back and shoulders orange
Wing Bar and primaries black
Secondaries (outer web) dark orange, (inner web) black.
Tail and sickles, leg feathers and breast black

(Female)

Neck and breast lemon striped with black
Hackle lemon with a black centre
Head and crest lemon and black
Body soft partridge brown with black barring


In all colours the skin should be dark, almost black.
Plumage (30 points)

Silkie-PartridgeThis is what makes the silkie a silkie! It should be silky and fluffy with hair-like feathers throughout. The feathers should be profuse and thick, and cover the thighs, run down the shanks and cover the middle and outer toes. There should be an absence of hard feathering. The wings are describes as ‘osprey’ feathered which can confuse people; the wings should certainly not be like those of an osprey – they should be ragged with some of the flight feathers hanging loosely down, almost tattered.

Defects which will reduce points are:

Hard feathers
Green in the beak
Horns on the comb
Red face, comb or wattles
No crest or poor crest
Crest obscuring the eyes
Split crest
Poor colour to either plumage or skin
Green soles
Split wings (where there is a gap between the primaries and secondaries)
Light eyes
Reduced toe size or absence of a nail

Defects resulting in a disqualification are:

Single comb
More or less than 5 toes
Green legs
Featherless legs or feet
Vulture hocks (hard feathering in the hock which points down as in a Sultan)

For further information, see the British Poultry Standards in association with the Poultry Club of Great Britain.​

 

[NYREDS]

Quote:

The birds in question are in Florida. The British Standard, while interesting I'm sure, is of little use here. There are significant differences between the British Standard & the American Standard.

 

[paddock36]

Thank you everyone. I will take more photos tomorrow of each bird and post them. I'm wondering however, I noticed it mentioned two sizes as if there is a standard and bantam Silkie. I thought all Silkies were considered bantam. Keeping that in mind, one of the Silkies is half the size of the the others. They were all from the same flock of Silkies. I thought the smaller bird had some type of growth issue. It eats well and does not get picked on by the others. It's just smaller.

 

[acid_chipmunk]

Silkies in the US are Bantam. Overseas, they are LF. The person that posted above is from overseas.

 

[paddock36]

For those that are watching this thread I was not able to get the photos this weekend as promised. Hopefully I will get them this week. Just been working too much.

 

[paddock36]

Ok my son and I took some more photos. Keep in mind the birds have not been prepared for show and due to it being cold the past couple nights requiring them to be cooped up a little longer they are not as clean as usual. First photos are of the roo. We named him Moe. (He still has some pin feathers around his head)

Next we believe is a blue hen, second to the largest of the birds. We named her Meeni.

More pictures soon of Eenie and Mynie (two more hens)