Self Blue (Lavender) Silkie Thread

[featherbaby]

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CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Do you think it's fertile? Here's hoping for lots more! My lavender cockerel from them is still young and hasn't figured out what to do yet. I've got hens in the pen with him that will squat if I just speak to them, HA! I can't even pet them without them imitating a pancake on a tripod!

Nope I know those boys arent doing there busniess (lol) So I put a lovely blk pheil roo over her.. So her comes some splits

Don't think splits are a bad thing, Dawn. They can be very strong and beautiful as I have found.

I've got a BIG black split lav. roo from Darling who has just started crowing (Arrrrrr!) and he is SQ+++ OMG! I know I shouldn't have crowers here, but I can't bring myself to sell him. Not only is he fantastic type, he's sweet and loves to be picked up and held. So, in addition to my over committed, over stressed life.....I bring him in at night, then pick him up and hold him on my lap while having coffee and computer time each morning to keep him from waking the neighbors for 6 blocks in all directions. He still gets off a crow now and then and wakes up my mom too early before my caregiver arrives. I KNEW BETTER than to fall in love with a roo!!!!!!! I sure wish I could find his 'mute' button.

 

[ultasol]

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It's because at this point most breeders have gotten down to only the keepers. Also, something raised to breeding age represents a substantial investment of time, labor, feed, etc etc etc,... oh, and did I mention time and labor?

Also, people always want SQ SQ SQ...

Now, I could pull almost any bird out of my growouts and call it SQ because it lacks DQs, but *I* don't consider it SQ because it isn't as competitive as my other birds. I've gotten emails asking for SQ birds, but if I have a truly competitive black I am not going to let go of it at this point. On the other hand, you can get perfectly nice chicks, and chicks that can win, from birds with small imperfections.

Look at the faults of your lavenders and look to compliment them in any blacks you may get. Examine their combs, eye color, skin color, cushion, toe feathering, crest, wings, etc etc and determine what is their strongest and weakest traits.

If you don't mind waiting, AmyJo has very nice blacks and sells chicks later in the season. I bought some of her 'culls' in the Fall of 2009 and some chicks last spring and it really helped me get some good stock.

 

[Freckle Face Farm]

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Nope I know those boys arent doing there busniess (lol) So I put a lovely blk pheil roo over her.. So her comes some splits

Don't think splits are a bad thing, Dawn. They can be very strong and beautiful as I have found.

I've got a BIG black split lav. roo from Darling who has just started crowing (Arrrrrr!) and he is SQ+++ OMG! I know I shouldn't have crowers here, but I can't bring myself to sell him. Not only is he fantastic type, he's sweet and loves to be picked up and held. So, in addition to my over committed, over stressed life.....I bring him in at night, then pick him up and hold him on my lap while having coffee and computer time each morning to keep him from waking the neighbors for 6 blocks in all directions. He still gets off a crow now and then and wakes up my mom too early before my caregiver arrives. I KNEW BETTER than to fall in love with a roo!!!!!!! I sure wish I could find his 'mute' button.

Ok as of 5 minites ago I saw the bearded lav roo doing his BIZ... So looks like some lav babies after all.. Shocked today is the 1st time I ever saw him get it right

I am still shocked

 

[destiny_56085]

So true Jen....

Fall rolls around and most of the major shows are up here are done with in October. Its at that point when we decide to get rid of any 'breeding age' birds. They can be some really nice birds but we just don't have room for that many in the breeding pens. Any extras are sold off then. Especially up here, we have extreme temps and lots of snow. We have to worry about how we are going to feed/house them and how many heated waterers we can run without blowing the circuits in the barn. So yeah...getting rid of quality breeding age birds just going into the heart of hatching season is ridiculous. The only ones you might see for sale right now are the ones throwing faults, the egg eaters, the really old, the infertile, culls from the growout pens, or day old chicks.

SQ....one of the most overused and abused words. Show Potential yeah.... Breeder quality yeah... But until you already have that bird in a few shows (and I'm not counting local fairs either) and it has proven itself, you really can't call it that. A person's definition of SQ that has just gotten into the breed is probably going to vary alot from someone that has been working with them for a decade or more. Even after a bird has been in the show ring, its not always a guarantee of quality. Example.... I have a buff pullet that took BV at both shows I took her to last year. I thought she was far too young and lacked in type. However since there might have been only 5-6 buffs at each show, she still did very well.

I also think there are alot of newbie breeders out there that place far too much importance on small details rather than the whole package of the bird. Alot of birds with very minor faults can be picked up cheaply and still be used. Some worry so much about color that they forget the basics of body type too. Take your pick.... If you want a true SQ bird, expect to pay accordingly. For that same price you can probably buy 10-20 started youngsters out of the same exact bloodlines. Now these are usually the much younger, unproven birds OR birds with minor faults. Another option is to buy 40-50 chicks for that same price, grow them out for a year and hope to get a few of those show potentials. I don't even consider eggs a probable option... They are nothing more than a slim chance at a chick period. Your odds of getting the next show winner out of bought eggs is slim.

 

[Hennypen]

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It's because at this point most breeders have gotten down to only the keepers. Also, something raised to breeding age represents a substantial investment of time, labor, feed, etc etc etc,... oh, and did I mention time and labor?

Also, people always want SQ SQ SQ...

Now, I could pull almost any bird out of my growouts and call it SQ because it lacks DQs, but *I* don't consider it SQ because it isn't as competitive as my other birds. I've gotten emails asking for SQ birds, but if I have a truly competitive black I am not going to let go of it at this point. On the other hand, you can get perfectly nice chicks, and chicks that can win, from birds with small imperfections.

Look at the faults of your lavenders and look to compliment them in any blacks you may get. Examine their combs, eye color, skin color, cushion, toe feathering, crest, wings, etc etc and determine what is their strongest and weakest traits.

If you don't mind waiting, AmyJo has very nice blacks and sells chicks later in the season. I bought some of her 'culls' in the Fall of 2009 and some chicks last spring and it really helped me get some good stock.

I didn't say I wanted sq. Lol. I said nice quality. Nice quality in my mind means worthy of breeding. At this point in my "newbie" career as a silkie breeder I'm looking to get started. Anything wrong with that? This is no different than breeding sporthorses.

 

[Northwood Silkies]

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For the dollars invested, you would be far better to purchase live birds and hatch from your own eggs. One reason I will not sell eggs.

Your absolutely right... I have some eggs that I just got from sonew so hopefully I'll hatch some Lavenders this time..

I did buy a lavender cockerel so I'm set as far as that goes.

 

[Northwood Silkies]

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Yep, Your right.. I'll never buy pure Lavender eggs again. It was very disappointing

 

[ultasol]

Quote:
It's because at this point most breeders have gotten down to only the keepers. Also, something raised to breeding age represents a substantial investment of time, labor, feed, etc etc etc,... oh, and did I mention time and labor?

Also, people always want SQ SQ SQ...

Now, I could pull almost any bird out of my growouts and call it SQ because it lacks DQs, but *I* don't consider it SQ because it isn't as competitive as my other birds. I've gotten emails asking for SQ birds, but if I have a truly competitive black I am not going to let go of it at this point. On the other hand, you can get perfectly nice chicks, and chicks that can win, from birds with small imperfections.

Look at the faults of your lavenders and look to compliment them in any blacks you may get. Examine their combs, eye color, skin color, cushion, toe feathering, crest, wings, etc etc and determine what is their strongest and weakest traits.

If you don't mind waiting, AmyJo has very nice blacks and sells chicks later in the season. I bought some of her 'culls' in the Fall of 2009 and some chicks last spring and it really helped me get some good stock.

I didn't say I wanted sq. Lol. I said nice quality. Nice quality in my mind means worthy of breeding. At this point in my "newbie" career as a silkie breeder I'm looking to get started. Anything wrong with that? This is no different than breeding sporthorses.

I wasn't attacking you. I was trying to point out that anyone can go to sell a bird or list an auction and put the moniker SQ on it, but it may be a bird that a breeder like AmyJo would sell as a cull. I've bought birds that weren't as nice as the birds I bought from amy in Fall of 09 as culls. You can start out without breaking the bank.

Now,.. I will have some pullets for sale at the spring shows that I held back because I knew we were having the Western Silkie National this year, and I wanted to have a couple birds to donate to auctions at the shows this Spring. They aren't egg eaters, throwing faults, etc... just extras and purposefully held back for sale in the Spring. Unlike AmyJo, I don't have to worry about heated waterers etc generally as I keep mine inside an insulated, although unheated, building. However, they have meant additional pen space, cleaning, shavings, food, water and time and I don't know if I would do it again. Novice error.

 

[kasey08]

Here is my story. I got a Blue roo, Blue hen, and a Black hen last year. Ive hatched out 10 chicks sold 4 and also sold eggs. Out of those eggs I've got a partridge chick which died young. 3 splash chicks that turned out to be almost an off white color. A few ppl have told me they may have the Lav gene. I'm not sure I was just told they was from a breeder that shows silkies.

Could they be Lav? Do lav just show up like that?

 

[BetsyOK]

These aren't lavenders, and lavenders don't just show up. That being said, if you acquired two birds that were split to lavender, you could get some Lavenders. Since many of us use blacks to make our lavenders stronger and sometimes used other colors in the past, you could possibly acquire a black or a "mutt" without anyone knowing for sure that bird was split to lavender. In that case, lavenders COULD show up