My first Silkie ever! Is he Show Quality?

[jimnjay]

First let me say, I am not an expert at all. I do have some very nice Silkies and have been breeding for 4+ years. I love you boy's type. He has some very nice qualities. As to the continuing saga of Brassy hackles. I do believe your boy has inherited the color vs sunburn. With that being said, my first black Silkie pair came from a very notable breeder and the roo had bright red in the hackles. I NEVER had a pullet from that boy hatch with color. I quit using that rooster and I continued to use the female and never had color in the hackles of any of her offspring when bred to a different line. She was a awesome girl and produced awesome chicks. This is only experience and not scientific expertise. I have had this discussion with other breeders, some of whom know their stuff, and they have related to me that the color will not be passed by the female from such a breeding. This has proven to be true here.

If you are starting out and not planning to compete in big shows. Your boy may be fine. I think I would keep him and find a great little black lady to go with and see how it goes. Possibly plan on showing at the fairs while the offspring grow out and see what you get. As mentioned the learning experience is very important. At this point showing may be a bit premature.

I am the friend Robin refered to with the black pair. These were not the ones I refered to above but like I mentioned before I did not breed the little boy with color in the hackles and I do not have any bird here nor have I hatch any with color so it can happen that you will NOT continue to have problems if you breed carefully. DO NOT use any of the male offspring from your boy and replace him as your breeder ASAP. The females you get may be the foudation to a great line of birds.

Getting show quality birds is usually a time consuming process and that is part of the fun of it.

Best of luck to you in whateve decision you make.

 

[LilPeeps]

There is no point in showing him as AOV. He is clearly not a different variety from anything recognized (in this case, black). The judge will most likely mention that the bird is simply an off-colored black. If he didn't have the brassiness, he could most certainly be shown, as he does have many things going for him.

While that boy does have good type, that brassiness isn't something you want to breed, especially since he would be the foundation for your line. Since you're just starting out, you have the chance to start with some dark black birds without off coloring. Once you have off coloring in your line, you wont be able to get it out. You would be best off not using this boy for breeding and find a better-colored bird. I am fortunate in that I got my original blacks from a breeder with no off colored birds in their line, and so I don't get off-colored birds either. I would be pretty upset if i hatched out a bird with off-coloring, as it would be nearly impossible to figure out what female produced it, since it is very rarely visible in females.

 

[therealsilkiechick]

in aov class he would be shown against all other bearded feather legs, his color would not count against him and they would get expieriance in showing.

i agree the expieriances and learning is very important. no ur right he is not a different variety he is still a bearded black silkie however if they r just starting out u make do with the best birds u can afford and go from there and improve them, everyone has to start somewhere. by breeding and showing him it will teach them hands on expieriance, the politics involved, what to breed and not breed for, to learn the dq's of the breed and standards as well as many other important things.

 

[robin416]

Because of this topic I asked someone much more educated about genetics to answer a question about black birds with gold in their hackles.

My question was; can a male have a copy of the silver gene as well as the gold gene? The answer was yes. So if I have interpreted her answer correctly it is possible to have clear males with the bird if the female carries the silver gene.

 

[CrestedHorizonPoultry]

Robin, That is what I understand too.

 

[SpeckledPullet]

So, how would I know if a hen carries the silver gene?

Is it basically that the gold from the male and the silver from the female washes out the gold?

I was just told the the fairs use the Danish judging system. Does anyone know what the Danish rules are for color and bleeding through? Is that a DQ with the Danish system?

 

[CrestedHorizonPoultry]

See what you can find on here... http://sellers.kippenjungle.nl/page0.html

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Do they use just the Danish judging system, or the Danish Standard?

I believe Danish judging is where each bird is graded against the standard rather than compared with each other. Just like a spelling test in 3rd grade, multiple people (or in this case chickens

) can have the same grade.

 

[robin416]

Looks like I had it incorrect after all. The whole gold thing has to do with melanizers which led me to ask 14 other questions along with the original. I hate genetics, someone needs to writer a Genetics for Dummies book.

 

[CrestedHorizonPoultry]

I hear ya! I need one too