Need info on breeding silkies - NEWBIE!

[askjcm2005]

I was hoping to get some info from the more experience chicken owners on here. I have soon to be 10 silkies. I have white, buff and lavender so far and tonight will be getting blue, blacks and partridge...

I was just informed most of them cann only be bred with the same colors but the black and blues could breed. Can anyone tell me why that is? And also, what other colors should I look into getting if I want to get into breeding them? I saw some show quality eggs being sold so I want to look into that...

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

First, there is NO such thing as show quality eggs, any breeder advertising show quality eggs or chicks should be avoided.

Blue, Black, and Splash can go in a breeder pen together. Other colors you want by themselves. Lavender you can breed to black to get lav splits, but I dont breed those so I have no idea how that works.

 

[blackclownfish16]

If your not interested in show quality birds then your buff, white and partridge can go together. I've seen some very nice offcolor silkies.

Your black and blues can go together.

As for lavender if you cross with your blacks you will get f1 all black chicks carrying lavender, if you cross these back to the lavender or among themselves you will get a percentage of lavender chicks.

 

[ShysCreations]

askjcm2005,
You can breed any color silkie together that you'd like if you're not looking to show birds. Otherwise, the reason for breeding like colors (generally) is for the standard show colors. You make the choice what to do with your time & money. And whatever you choose--enjoy the silkies!

 

[askjcm2005]

Thanks for the info. We went for 6 and left with 12!! We got some blue, black, white, partridge and a splash. She was telling us that if we breed the blacks with lavenders they will have lavenders and we have 1 so hopefully that can work out. I need to do alot of research and look at picture of other peoples chicken areas so I can get some ideas for some individual pens...We still have a while though our oldest are 2 months and the yougest are sooo tiny!! Like a few days old I think (she didnt tell us and I forgot to ask)

 

[CheshieChick13]

Quote:
From one newbe to another......I did the exact same thing, LOL! My original flock consisted of a blue, a white, a buff, a gray, and a few splash.

I guess I was trying to start my own line of muddy water silkies? The more I read up on genetics, the more I realized that just wasn't going to work. My blossoming understanding of genetics in silkies is like painting. If you mix to many colors you end up with muddy colors. I have recently been culling down. I want to focus on Lavenders. I love splashes as well so I am going to build a seperate pen for them. My buff is going to my brother in law along with my gray (he has no interest in breeding, just eating eggs).

Best of luck!
~Steph

 

[askjcm2005]

Thanks for the info!! LOL I have since learned what colors can be in the same pen with each other and a good way to make some inexpensive pens... At first I was under the impression that you absolutely CANNOT breed certain colors or there can be genetic issues or something like that. LOL