Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[Hawkeye95]

I don't anyway

Haven't let a single one go lol. I am a silkie hoarder

LOL! I get rid of my culls on our local state poultry swap or on Craigslist and I always post them to my FB page. (nothing usually ever comes of it from my FB page.) But if they have major flaws, I list them as Pet Quality. I also post them on my home state thread right here on BYC, but I know my group, and they aren't into the frou-frou silkies.

 

[PNWGirl]

Just remember-- beaks won't show any issues until around 6-8 weeks of age... and sometimes even older. So you can't get rid of any chicks before they are at least 3-4 months old until you are sure they don't have that problem.

Not always. I have one that I noticed twisted beak at 10 days old. She is now around five weeks old and I just noticed, today, that her beaks are going out of alignment.
She will never be bred and kept only as a pet.
Sheila
PS~ I did not breed her and her breeder offered to exchange her for me.

 

[Chicken Frenzie]

These were my first silkies, the cockeral (blue partridge?) is Doe, and the Buff pullet is Ray. We rescued them, they both ended up dying. The buff a couple weeks after we got her, the blue partridge about 4 months after. =/... Wondering... were they show-quality? These are my only pics... just wondering .They had blue slatish legs.

 

[Hawkeye95]

These were my first silkies, the cockeral (blue partridge?) is Doe, and the Buff pullet is Ray. We rescued them, they both ended up dying. The buff a couple weeks after we got her, the blue partridge about 4 months after. =/... Wondering... were they show-quality? These are my only pics... just wondering .They had blue slatish legs.

How old were these guys? They didn't have the right size crests, so if you had shown them, they would not have done well. Here is a picture off of the ASBC site of a Buff. Take note of the crest and tail:

This one (below) has an even bigger crest... but she is lacking cushion and fluff in her tail.. Her wings are also loose and hanging low. But her crest is beautiful!

Your birds were either too young and hadn't developed their crests yet, which is possible if they were just 2-3 months old... or they just weren't going to meet that potential. Anyway, your goal is to have the look of the first Buff-- that nice chest that bumps out, and nice cushion and tail that stick up nice and soft (you don't want a tail that slopes down), with a nice round crest. You want everything to be round.


ETA (edited to add) I am very sorry to hear that your little ones died. Very sad indeed.

 

[Me & Jack]

For those who are wondering about how much a bird's weight will matter in showing, the Standard of Perfection calls for a one point loss for every 2oz a Silkie is underweight and a half point loss for every ounce the bird is overweight. To be honest, I've never seen a judge whip out the scales. But I have had judges tell me some of my boys were too big. I think a judge will have an easy time eyeballing a bird that is too large or too heavy, and certainly if they handle such a bird they'll have a good sense of a bird that's too big (and probably in terms of birds that are more like 8 ounces overweight). If a bird is underweight, chances are it'll be apparent in the bird's condition and the bird will likely lack a filled out appearance and the breast will be boney and sunken.

I like hearing breeders acknowledge when their birds are too big, especially to say they aren't planning to breed them. I have worried that some breeders are going too large with their lines.

 

[aoxa]

For those who are wondering about how much a bird's weight will matter in showing, the Standard of Perfection calls for a one point loss for every 2oz a Silkie is underweight and a half point loss for every ounce the bird is overweight. To be honest, I've never seen a judge whip out the scales. But I have had judges tell me some of my boys were too big. I think a judge will have an easy time eyeballing a bird that is too large or too heavy, and certainly if they handle such a bird they'll have a good sense of a bird that's too big (and probably in terms of birds that are more like 8 ounces overweight). If a bird is underweight, chances are it'll be apparent in the bird's condition and the bird will likely lack a filled out appearance and the breast will be boney and sunken.

I like hearing breeders acknowledge when their birds are too big, especially to say they aren't planning to breed them. I have worried that some breeders are going too large with their lines.

 

 

[Hawkeye95]

For those who are wondering about how much a bird's weight will matter in showing, the Standard of Perfection calls for a one point loss for every 2oz a Silkie is underweight and a half point loss for every ounce the bird is overweight. To be honest, I've never seen a judge whip out the scales. But I have had judges tell me some of my boys were too big. I think a judge will have an easy time eyeballing a bird that is too large or too heavy, and certainly if they handle such a bird they'll have a good sense of a bird that's too big (and probably in terms of birds that are more like 8 ounces overweight). If a bird is underweight, chances are it'll be apparent in the bird's condition and the bird will likely lack a filled out appearance and the breast will be boney and sunken.

I like hearing breeders acknowledge when their birds are too big, especially to say they aren't planning to breed them. I have worried that some breeders are going too large with their lines.

I only wish I had caught it sooner, because I'm kicking myself for breeding my "big" boy last year. I'm totally bummed about it. I'll never make that mistake again, for sure! And yeah, that was how it even occurred to me to check his weight, was when the judge lifted him up and immediately turned to me and told me he's too heavy. I wouldn't have found out, except that I was clerking for him on that show! LOL I could have blindly gone off to breed him again, ugh. He's 11 oz too heavy! That is a LOT of weight on him. And I knew he was a big boy, but since he's still small and nice around round and has great type, it just didn't cross my mind. And yeah--- I with YOU-- I sure hope no one else will breed too large of a bird "just because they have them". I just sold a boy on Craigslist last night (he is one of my grow-outs-- only 3 months old) and he is already AT the cockerel weight. He has a lot more growing to do. Yikes! I sold him as Pet Quality, but I can't say what the new owner will do with him.

Too big-- and I don't like his wings: (3 month old boy--he is out of my "too-large" cock)

Okay-- so I have some other grow outs from another line that are quite small-- like teeny tiny right now. They are well filled out. But they are just SMALL.... what do you think about that? I mean, I KNOW they will weigh in under (haven't checked their weight yet) but they don't look underweight or sunken. I am hoping they can offset some of my over sizing problem here. My birds are right on the verge of being too big. I'm going to be getting rid of a LOT of birds this Fall. Sigh.

 

[Chicken Frenzie]

How old were these guys? They didn't have the right size crests, so if you had shown them, they would not have done well. Here is a picture off of the ASBC site of a Buff. Take note of the crest and tail:

This one (below) has an even bigger crest... but she is lacking cushion and fluff in her tail.. Her wings are also loose and hanging low. But her crest is beautiful!

Your birds were either too young and hadn't developed their crests yet, which is possible if they were just 2-3 months old... or they just weren't going to meet that potential. Anyway, your goal is to have the look of the first Buff-- that nice chest that bumps out, and nice cushion and tail that stick up nice and soft (you don't want a tail that slopes down), with a nice round crest. You want everything to be round.


ETA (edited to add) I am very sorry to hear that your little ones died. Very sad indeed.

Yeah, they were pretty young. Around 2-4 months.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Yeah, they were pretty young. Around 2-4 months.

Okay, so there was no way you can guess at their potential. We can not label a bird show quality unless you are showing them and they are holding up well against other birds at the shows. I have shown a bird as young as 4 months of age. But she had great type, big crest, etc... She also did very well at the show. Won best in class, but a white silkie rooster beat her for best in breed. (he was really nice!) Anyway, I STILL would not call her "show quality"... if I took her to a BIG show, I don't think she'd fair as well, she is a bit too leggy and her tail could be a lot nicer.

But I'm getting there!

 

[Chicken Frenzie]

Okay, so there was no way you can guess at their potential. We can not label a bird show quality unless you are showing them and they are holding up well against other birds at the shows. I have shown a bird as young as 4 months of age. But she had great type, big crest, etc... She also did very well at the show. Won best in class, but a white silkie rooster beat her for best in breed. (he was really nice!) Anyway, I STILL would not call her "show quality"... if I took her to a BIG show, I don't think she'd fair as well, she is a bit too leggy and her tail could be a lot nicer.

But I'm getting there!

Haha, thanks! I wasn't going to show them, just wondered.