Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[peepblessed]

Picture day today.the babies are 2.5 months old. Still weeding out chicks, kinda hard with them all molting..sigh. Would love to hear comments, still working out some of their sexes. Here is the first group, 2 blue, 1 black, splash, and 2 black/lav split:


Black/lav split, 2 blues, black



blue and black/lav split



splash



splash



splash



blue #1



blue #2



black/lav split #1



black/lav split #2



black

Here are the next group: two buffs:



Sunny & Creamsicle



Sunny (pretty sure a boy)



Creamsicle (pretty sure a girl)



Sunny



Creamsicle

Two Porcelains: pretty sure both are boys



#1



#1



#2



#2

The partridges: pretty sure both are boys.



#1



#1



#1



#2



#2



#2

Last group, the whites:



Snowball



Snowball



#2 (sorry about the dirty head, he likes to play in the water and food..sigh) & #3



#2



#2



#3 (he has poor foot feathering, but I love his type...thinking about growing him up and seeing how he produces with hens with good feathering)



#3

Your juveniles are just beautiful! They show a lot of promise. I am not able to really evaluate mine until they are about 4 months or older. I have 5 that are 3.5 - 4 months right now. I have only determined the sex on one of them. Some times the boys make their sex known early and some times they don't. I think partridge # 1 is a gray. Partridge #2 looks like a boy.

Beautiful!

What does "type" mean? I've seen it a lot on this site and I'm in the dark.

I would like to add to Sonoran's great comment, that good type in a silkie shows a bird with rounded chest protruding in front of the head and a very short back. I like to see the tail and the hackles touch. Also, the round crest, round body and round tail should be balanced. For instance the crest should not be bigger than the tail..

Back from vacation

Got some pictures of my baby girl. How is she growing up?








Also, I have a question about her feet.Her outer toe on each side is VERY short pretty much just a nub, is this normal or a flaw?

She's a pretty girl! The missing toe nail might cause a small loss of points in a show but it is not a DQ.

 

[ChicksNherps]

Her crest is a bit lacking, and I can't see her feet feathers or wings but other than that she looks good. About the toe, that is a flaw. I would suggest not breeding her as it could be genetic.

Well she is only just hitting 3 months, her feet are very well feathered it's just her one toe that is messed up. I don't plan on breeding her just showing. Her crest is usually better looking than that but her feathers are growing in. Which reminds me, is there anything I can do for the whole shedding of the waxy feather coating? It's coming off like crazy and I like to bring her places with me. I want to make her a certified therapy animal but it doesn't look good when white flakes are falling all over the place.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Back from vacation

Got some pictures of my baby girl. How is she growing up?








Also, I have a question about her feet.Her outer toe on each side is VERY short pretty much just a nub, is this normal or a flaw?

The wings don't look like they fold right... don't know if that is accurate or not, but I'd check those. They could be fine, but pull them out and look at them (check for gaps, etc) and then see how she tucks them up. The type looks more like a girl, but that crest looks like a boy-- all "brushed back". I doubt age will fix that or make it rounder. Unless this bird is much older and is still molting? I have a couple of birds right now that have lost their crests and are just now growing them back. They look a mess. Sonoran answered your toe question-- and it should be fine. I have a few with brachydactyly and it will pass on in some of the chicks, but so long as the toe is there, it should be fine. You want it to have a toenail. Interesting you have a couple of white toe tips.

Thanks for the complements on my buff and blue hens.
I'm also wondering what you think of my black pullet?
Her crest was trimmed in this picture.

Does she have gold coming through on her wings? Could be off coloring in the photo, but I did notice it on several of the pics. If you can get a chance, snip those toe nails a bit, they are really long! She's kind of lanky, but she's decent. She's also not black. I'm pretty sure she is blue. If she's young, she could really fill out more and look a lot nicer in a couple more months! The last picture I left up there of your bird is more how you want her to look-- more round and shorter, with her chest out.
For comparison-- this is one of my very dark blues:

She looks black, but she is not.


MystDogs-- great looking birds. But they are all too young to really be saying much about them at this point. They can still develop issues or go on to be great looking birds. Really, they can go either way. I had a bird that did not develop an obvious wry tail until he was 4 months old. And now he is so severe he walks with a waddle. (I've kept him, he was from shipped eggs and I felt bad for him) So stuff can crop up. You have to grow them all out and then select. Unless you can see obvious faults right now, then that makes it easier to let them go. But it looks like you have a great start. But I did see "heavy" wings on a few of them. That is something they can grow out of or it can get worse and look like a slipped wing. They should be tucked up nice and high on the tail. So, no way to tell how that will turn out.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Well she is only just hitting 3 months, her feet are very well feathered it's just her one toe that is messed up. I don't plan on breeding her just showing. Her crest is usually better looking than that but her feathers are growing in. Which reminds me, is there anything I can do for the whole shedding of the waxy feather coating? It's coming off like crazy and I like to bring her places with me. I want to make her a certified therapy animal but it doesn't look good when white flakes are falling all over the place.

that is the covering the pin feathers grew in with. No way to stop that. Don't pull them, you can pull the feather out. You can twist them and squeeze and get them to loosen up, but that would be a big job. A mature bird won't have that. Just needs some growing out.

 

[City farm]

Earlier I mentioned my partridge silky roo, about his comb getting bigger and bigger. Today I looked at it, again it does seem to be getting larger even more. Is that something I should be concerned with? I do not have the ability to take photos and put them on this forum. The size of it is about a quarter.. Also my husband was telling me that roosters and how the challenge humans. What you think about that?

 

[ChicksNherps]

She's a pretty girl! The missing toe nail might cause a small loss of points in a show but it is not a DQ.

Thanks =) She can only get better I think

The wings don't look like they fold right... don't know if that is accurate or not, but I'd check those. They could be fine, but pull them out and look at them (check for gaps, etc) and then see how she tucks them up. The type looks more like a girl, but that crest looks like a boy-- all "brushed back". I doubt age will fix that or make it rounder. Unless this bird is much older and is still molting? I have a couple of birds right now that have lost their crests and are just now growing them back. They look a mess. Sonoran answered your toe question-- and it should be fine. I have a few with brachydactyly and it will pass on in some of the chicks, but so long as the toe is there, it should be fine. You want it to have a toenail. Interesting you have a couple of white toe tips.

I think it is just how she was holding them then. I did check them and she doesn't have gaps, she will hold them normal most of the time and hold them out like that other times. But my other girls were the same way when they were young.

 

[ChicksNherps]

She's a pretty girl! The missing toe nail might cause a small loss of points in a show but it is not a DQ.

Thanks =) She can only get better I think

The wings don't look like they fold right... don't know if that is accurate or not, but I'd check those. They could be fine, but pull them out and look at them (check for gaps, etc) and then see how she tucks them up. The type looks more like a girl, but that crest looks like a boy-- all "brushed back". I doubt age will fix that or make it rounder. Unless this bird is much older and is still molting? I have a couple of birds right now that have lost their crests and are just now growing them back. They look a mess. Sonoran answered your toe question-- and it should be fine. I have a few with brachydactyly and it will pass on in some of the chicks, but so long as the toe is there, it should be fine. You want it to have a toenail. Interesting you have a couple of white toe tips.

I think it is just how she was holding them then. I did check them and she doesn't have gaps, she will hold them normal most of the time and hold them out like that other times. But my other girls were the same way when they were young.

 

[ChicksNherps]

Earlier I mentioned my partridge silky roo, about his comb getting bigger and bigger. Today I looked at it, again it does seem to be getting larger even more. Is that something I should be concerned with? I do not have the ability to take photos and put them on this forum. The size of it is about a quarter.. Also my husband was telling me that roosters and how the challenge humans. What you think about that?

A small comb is prefered, but many have very large combs. It sounds normal to me. Also, some roo's can be agressive, but Silkies tend to be docile and loveable rather than kujo

not all roosters are alike, my polish is a sweet heart and so was a barred rock I had once. If he starts to try and intimidate you, just hold him down gently but firmly to tell him who's boss. worked for me when my roo started picking on my silkie girls.

 

[ChicksNherps]

that is the covering the pin feathers grew in with. No way to stop that. Don't pull them, you can pull the feather out. You can twist them and squeeze and get them to loosen up, but that would be a big job. A mature bird won't have that. Just needs some growing out.

Yeah she's probably just still growing in her big girl feathers.

 

[littlecritters]

We have three cockerels that are approx 6-7 months old and I am concerned about their wings. Can you please advise as to whether these guys should or should not be used for breeding and if you would keep them or rehome?

Bird #1

Bird #2 has identical wing carriage and here are his wings...

Bird #3