Should I buy this Silkie rooster?

[msiler]

Ok so here is the problem... I am scheduled to pick up this guy up on Sunday! Good! And I found some nice of age breeder quality blue and splash hens for him... also good! The BAD news is that the two hens come with a Blue Silkie rooster. I agreed to buy him as well to get the hens because I didn't want to lose the chance. I don't have any photos of the blue rooster, but if he is breeder quality.
So now I have this dilemma... which one do I keep? I only have the 2 breeder quality hens that I would collect eggs from, but there are also three other hatchery Silkies for the boys along with a whole flock of standards. Do I keep both roosters? If not, which one should I keep?
The blue rooster would provide splash chicks over the splash and blue hen, while the black wouldn't. But the black would provide more black chicks and 100% chance of blue over the Splash! And I feel bad for canceling on the black boy...
Let me know your thoughts! What would you do?

 

[NNYchick]

I would ask for a picture of the blue boy. If you are breeding to blue and splash you want to avoid gold based blacks (which the black boy has) it cause leakage which is a default for blue and once its there very difficult to breed out. I know you are not showing but if you are going to raise chicks you cant keep them all so trying to breed for standard helps establish a customer base. I know people want to try for "calico" by mixing gold base into splash but rarely have I seen it look good usually it looks like a splash with ugly leakage. I've seen one line where it looked "calico" and it took her years to develop. Just some thing to think about. The black boy is nice and would do well if you were breeding black.

 

[msiler]

I would ask for a picture of the blue boy. If you are breeding to blue and splash you want to avoid gold based blacks (which the black boy has) it cause leakage which is a default for blue and once its there very difficult to breed out. I know you are not showing but if you are going to raise chicks you cant keep them all so trying to breed for standard helps establish a customer base. I know people want to try for "calico" by mixing gold base into splash but rarely have I seen it look good usually it looks like a splash with ugly leakage. I've seen one line where it looked "calico" and it took her years to develop. Just some thing to think about. The black boy is nice and would do well if you were breeding black.

Ok that makes a lot of sense! I'm glad you mentioned the thing with the gold leakage. I really wish that the person Im buying the trio from had black hens! No one seems to breed them

 

[NNYchick]

Ok that makes a lot of sense! I'm glad you mentioned the thing with the gold leakage. I really wish that the person Im buying the trio from had black hens! No one seems to breed them

I wish I had that problem about 75% of my hatches have been black. You are right though it is hard to find really nice blacks. I have kept all my girls because I know their background so I don't have to test breed them to avoid blue and I am limited on space so I only focus on paint variety.

 

[msiler]

I wish I had that problem about 75% of my hatches have been black. You are right though it is hard to find really nice blacks. I have kept all my girls because I know their background so I don't have to test breed them to avoid blue and I am limited on space so I only focus on paint variety.

Do you keep them until they are adults? One of my biggest concerns is what to do with the ones I think are hens but end up to be roos!

 

[NNYchick]

Do you keep them until they are adults? One of my biggest concerns is what to do with the ones I think are hens but end up to be roos!

That is a big issue with hatching silkies as it can take 6 months to know for sure pullet or cockerel so you have to have a grow out plan and you will always have more cockerels than you plan on having. I lost a large part of my flock last May to a fox so I went into winter with a lot of grow outs so right now I have 2 roosters and 5 cockerels in the coop. That many boys is not the best but it has been ok some squabbles but nothing serious and I have enough room for everyone to get away from each other and silkie roosters really aren't agressive fighters. Most of my eggs are not fertile because all the boys are too busy keeping each other away from the girls that no one is getting the job done. It is deep snow where I am from November - April everyone stays in the coop/run I will not go into winter with so many grow outs again. Once spring comes all the extra boys will free range until I find them homes. I know some breeders keep all boys in their own pen and some in warmer climates free range all extra boys.[/QUOTE]

 

[msiler]

That is a big issue with hatching silkies as it can take 6 months to know for sure pullet or cockerel so you have to have a grow out plan and you will always have more cockerels than you plan on having. I lost a large part of my flock last May to a fox so I went into winter with a lot of grow outs so right now I have 2 roosters and 5 cockerels in the coop. That many boys is not the best but it has been ok some squabbles but nothing serious and I have enough room for everyone to get away from each other and silkie roosters really aren't agressive fighters. Most of my eggs are not fertile because all the boys are too busy keeping each other away from the girls that no one is getting the job done. It is deep snow where I am from November - April everyone stays in the coop/run I will not go into winter with so many grow outs again. Once spring comes all the extra boys will free range until I find them homes. I know some breeders keep all boys in their own pen and some in warmer climates free range all extra boys.

[/QUOTE]
I will probably free range then until they find homes... Thanks for the help! Have you found a good market for extra boys of good quality?

 

[NNYchick]

I will probably free range then until they find homes... Thanks for the help! Have you found a good market for extra boys of good quality?[/QUOTE]
Not really, sadly nobody wants boys. I plan to try a local swap that is held by a local poultry club in the spring if no luck there I will try an auction. I have no problems with selling straight run chicks though.

 

[MROO]

I will probably free range then until they find homes... Thanks for the help! Have you found a good market for extra boys of good quality?[/QUOTE]
Free-ranging Silkies is a recipe for disaster! They are heavy and slow, compared to other birds. They can't see well enough to see a predator coming, and they can't even "flap-fly" to get to a high roost, so there's no way they can get away from a predator, even if they are lucky enough to see it in time. Save yourself some heartache, and invest in at least a rabbit hutch or small pen.

 

[msiler]

I will probably free range then until they find homes... Thanks for the help! Have you found a good market for extra boys of good quality?

Free-ranging Silkies is a recipe for disaster! They are heavy and slow, compared to other birds. They can't see well enough to see a predator coming, and they can't even "flap-fly" to get to a high roost, so there's no way they can get away from a predator, even if they are lucky enough to see it in time. Save yourself some heartache, and invest in at least a rabbit hutch or small pen.[/QUOTE]
I'll keep an eye out for one on Craigslist! I would rather that then have something happen to them... guess I didn't really think about it!