Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[CarolinaChickenKeeper]

I have a question about missing toe nails.....Ive read where it is a genetic defect. Also, not a DQ when showing. Most info gathered says a point deduction.
My question is if a missing toenail is a dominant trait? I understand to try to breed it out. Curious if anyone had any info as to how often it showed up in offspring?

 

[dwegg]

Thanks again Hawkeye...maybe I need to do a couple of trial runs before...do you do all this on the day of the show? Primp and fluff ect while they are in the cage? Are you allowed to mess with them during the day before they are judged?

Wow...there is a lot to think about and do for a show...

Do you all take your birds from their regular coops and put them up somewhere so they are off the ground and stay clean?

I think I might do that this weekend and give everyone a wash and primp and see how I go...

I am thinking of going to the show the morning of since it is only an hour away and get there 2 hours before last coop in...do you think that is enough time? Especially since I won't know what is going on...ignorance is bliss?

 

[Me & Jack]

I have a question about missing toe nails.....Ive read where it is a genetic defect. Also, not a DQ when showing. Most info gathered says a point deduction.
My question is if a missing toenail is a dominant trait? I understand to try to breed it out. Curious if anyone had any info as to how often it showed up in offspring?

Hey Nikki,

If you are talking about brachydactyly, which is the outer toe being shorter and either missing the nail or having a thin, short nail, you can, indeed, breed it out. If you breed a bird with brachydactyly (heterozygous) to a bird with non-brachydactyly you can expect the first cross to produce about 50% normal-toed offspring. Keep breeding to non-brachy birds and you will eventually see the problem go away, with maybe the occasional bird with the toe. Karen Larson said, if I recall correctly, that she was able to breed out the problem in 2 or 3 generations. For what it's forth, feather-legged breeds are not supposed to be penalized for a shorter outer toe and missing nail.

 

[aoxa]

Thanks again Hawkeye...maybe I need to do a couple of trial runs before...do you do all this on the day of the show? Primp and fluff ect while they are in the cage? Are you allowed to mess with them during the day before they are judged?
Wow...there is a lot to think about and do for a show...
Do you all take your birds from their regular coops and put them up somewhere so they are off the ground and stay clean?
I think I might do that this weekend and give everyone a wash and primp and see how I go...
I am thinking of going to the show the morning of since it is only an hour away and get there 2 hours before last coop in...do you think that is enough time? Especially since I won't know what is going on...ignorance is bliss?

I am not yet showing my silkies, but for my other breeds (Ameraucana Bantams) I prep nearly a week before show and keep them in cages until the show. This helps them get used to the cage before the actual show. I'm sure we've all seen those birds that are bouncing off the walls, or pacing. If they are used to it, they are less stressed through the whole ordeal.

 

[midwestchickenwrangler]

I am looking forward to my first show in October. I am planning on taking at least one white silkie hen. I have been looking for what to feed her prior to the show to help remove some of the yellowing in her feathers. I have found a couple of things to add to her diet, but I don't know if those are enough to help with yellowing. I want to get away from corn as much as possible, just don't know how. Any suggestions?

 

[Hawkeye95]

Thanks again Hawkeye...maybe I need to do a couple of trial runs before...do you do all this on the day of the show? Primp and fluff ect while they are in the cage? Are you allowed to mess with them during the day before they are judged?
Wow...there is a lot to think about and do for a show...
Do you all take your birds from their regular coops and put them up somewhere so they are off the ground and stay clean?
I think I might do that this weekend and give everyone a wash and primp and see how I go...
I am thinking of going to the show the morning of since it is only an hour away and get there 2 hours before last coop in...do you think that is enough time? Especially since I won't know what is going on...ignorance is bliss?

I only do the fluffing on the day of the show. I wash a day or two ahead of the show. Sonoran suggested that to me. I'm new to silkies, but not new to showing-- I've always shown WCB Polish. My dad used to raise them and I grew up grooming them. But since they have typical feathers, I would wash them a week or so in advance, and then we'd pen them or kennel them in clean deep shavings until taking them to the show. Now with the silkies, you can wash a day or two in advance with no adverse effects-- like waiting for the oil to be groomed back into their feathers isn't a big deal like it would be with a non silkie. I will try to fluff a bit before we leave, but nothing serious. But I do most of the grooming/fluffing at the show. You'll see everyone there doing last minute clean up of toes and feet. I saw someone carrying a dental tool to clean out the toenails-- I thought that was a great idea! I put a bit of oil on their beak-- but don't be too liberal with it or it gets into the beard. You'll even see people filing beaks there too, but I think that's pushing it a bit to leave that until the show. I do clean vent feathers if anything happened to them with baby wipes and you can use a carpet cleaner spray to help touch it up. Don't go spraying the whole bird-- the feather(s) that are effected. I have someone else hold the bird for me while I touch up, or you can sit down and rotate them head down in your lap.

For my first show this spring, I kept the birds I was going to show in large dog kennels for about 3 months. It was a great concept-- I used rabbit kennel cups that slip over the wires for food and water. And I'm not talking about the small kennels-- I can climb into these. I bought them cheaper on Craigslist and then stacked them in my garage. (I do have a couple smaller ones that I transport everyone in. I use the kennel divider to put the boys behind and the girls in front) Yeah, getting there a couple of hours ahead of time is a good idea. On the drive over, they WILL get poop all over their feet. Take along baby wipes and do spot cleaning. I wash the bottom of their feet and the feathers if needed. Try not to get them too wet, because it takes a long time to dry. Don't give them water right before judging, they will dribble it down their throat messing up their beard. I have a little waterer that fits on the end of a bottle of water (bought them on eBay, they come in a 4 pack)-- it is less messy and they can't really dunk their whole beak and head in it. Keeps them much cleaner. Take along some disposable gloves so you can pluck out poop in the show kennel. Keep it clean. I'm sure there's more but that's all I can think of for now. OH!! I know-- talk to everyone!! When you tell them how pretty their bird is and be really friendly, they'll probably open up and tell you more tips if you ask them.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

I am looking forward to my first show in October. I am planning on taking at least one white silkie hen. I have been looking for what to feed her prior to the show to help remove some of the yellowing in her feathers. I have found a couple of things to add to her diet, but I don't know if those are enough to help with yellowing. I want to get away from corn as much as possible, just don't know how. Any suggestions?

Dirt can be washed away with a few baths and a good whitening shampoo usually...but yellowing of the feathers can only be removed by molting and regrowing new feathers. Whites get yellow for 3 reasons : genetics (gold gene whites get yellow casts easier), diet (too much corn or marigold), and too much sun exposure (sun burn of the feathers basically)...

white birds you definitely want to feed them as little corn as possible and watch out for feeds that contain marigold in them as well.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I am looking forward to my first show in October. I am planning on taking at least one white silkie hen. I have been looking for what to feed her prior to the show to help remove some of the yellowing in her feathers. I have found a couple of things to add to her diet, but I don't know if those are enough to help with yellowing. I want to get away from corn as much as possible, just don't know how. Any suggestions?

the yellow won't come out before October. She'll need to molt. Also, I ran into a white silkie breeder (I don't breed white) at my last show and her birds were VERY white-- I mean, stunning!!!! And I asked her how she did it. She actually told me it's in the genetics and she used to have birds that would yellow out sunburn. And she's been breeding away from those lines for about 5-6 years now and has finally gotten into a line of white that doesn't yellow. Then of course, she said she washes with Blueing shampoo-- but she said you must start with a good white before the grooming tricks will work. Seriously though, you'd need sunglasses to look at her whites.

Yellowing can be caused by several things-- and I'm no expert. I know in my Polish I need their crests to be WHITE-- no yellowing. Food can be an issue. If you are feeding corn, stop!! I feed only a crumble layer feed for everyone and I supplement with BOSS. (black oil sunflower seeds). There are also conditioning feeds you can buy in the poultry section, they come in very small bags and are kind of expensive, but if you are worried about weight that would be a great idea to add. At that point, I'd be kenneling them separately so you can watch exactly what they are eating and give them the recommended amount per bird/weight.

The sun can "bleach" them out causing yellowing. I keep my silkies shaded this year and I still got sunburned silkies this year on my splash colors-- even a couple of my blues bleached a bit. I need to check further into if this is a similar issue as with whites-- do they do that because of bad genetics or is it a given in direct sunlight.

But right now for you, it's too late to get the yellow out, it's just going to be there. Maybe she will molt those feathers-- that will be the only way to lose the yellow. And you will be deducted for a yellowed bird. I clerked at the last show and learned so much on what he deducted on! The judge was pretty hard on yellowed birds--even going so far as to write "too yellow" on their cards. BUT-- even so, I say go ahead and show anyway and learn how to do it and just consider it a trail run for the next time. Don't be too discouraged by it. I'd use the blueing shampoo (don't use too much!) to get them cleaner and just don't worry about it for now. (be careful with the blueing-- I used to use it on my Paint horses before a show and they would turn purple if you use too much--if used correctly, you will have a fantastic white) From what the white breeder said about her silkies-- hers can be in the sun now and not yellow. She didn't say anything about base color, BUT I wonder if what she was glossing over was that maybe she switched her base color to silver instead of gold? I wonder if silver holds up better under the sun and stays whiter? She was en fuego-- one of her white silkies won grandchampion (best of breed) and then one of her featherleg cochins won best of variety. They were pretty awesome birds.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Dirt can be washed away with a few baths and a good whitening shampoo usually...but yellowing of the feathers can only be removed by molting and regrowing new feathers. Whites get yellow for 3 reasons : genetics (gold gene whites get yellow casts easier), diet (too much corn or marigold), and too much sun exposure (sun burn of the feathers basically)...

white birds you definitely want to feed them as little corn as possible and watch out for feeds that contain marigold in them as well.

ooh good to know about the marigold!! I must be doing something right, my Polish crests are staying pretty white even through the horrible sun this year.

we posted at the same time! Glad to know I wasn't totally off! LOL

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

the yellow won't come out before October. She'll need to molt. Also, I ran into a white silkie breeder (I don't breed white) at my last show and her birds were VERY white-- I mean, stunning!!!! And I asked her how she did it. She actually told me it's in the genetics and she used to have birds that would yellow out sunburn. And she's been breeding away from those lines for about 5-6 years now and has finally gotten into a line of white that doesn't yellow. Then of course, she said she washes with Blueing shampoo-- but she said you must start with a good white before the grooming tricks will work. Seriously though, you'd need sunglasses to look at her whites.
From what the white breeder said about her silkies-- hers can be in the sun now and not yellow. She didn't say anything about base color, BUT I wonder if what she was glossing over was that maybe she switched her base color to silver instead of gold? I wonder if silver holds up better under the sun and stays whiter?

Yes she most likely bred out the gold gene and bred in the silver into her whites. you don't notice it much between the two whites when say you visit a flock with gold gened whites and then go somewhere else to see silver gened whites...BUT put them together side by side and the difference is AMAZING. silver based whites hold up under the sun much better than golds, but they can still sunburn. they also hold up against yellow dyes in their food (corn and marigold)