Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[Brookiesbrooder]

After seeing all you guys' fluffy amazing silkies I'm embarrassed to post mine But alas, it'll be a good learning experience. They are all about 6 months old and the hens just started laying. (Don't worry, I've been eating the eggs, not hatching!)


My black hen. Way too many hard feathers but her earlobes are good! I think she has a cute little body.

My white? hen. Her head fuzz (you can tell I'm new...head fuzz?) is too small. Her toe nails are white. I can see she's a chicken! All of yours look like a giant fluff ball and can't tell if there is a chicken in there!

And my rooster. I like his comb- I've seen some at fairs where it looks like a giant tumor on their face.
They all have 5 toes and blue earlobes though! I've been looking on ebay for hatching eggs. I think I'm going to sell these guys eventually. Obviously they aren't breeding quality.
Please be gentle! I know they aren't as beautiful as you guys' but they were my first silkies that I got on cragslist. Live and learn right? They may be silkie abominations but they are MY abominations!

Thank You for sharing....your white? Is actually a PAINT which that color is hard to get.If you are looking for eggs to hatch,there are some very good breeders here who are kind enough to sell very good quality hatching eggs here on BYC .Mbrobbins and Catdance have nice stock. And 6 months is still kinda young give them a little more time,silkies mature very slowly Good luck

 

[peepblessed]

Thank you, they are brats.

After seeing all you guys' fluffy amazing silkies I'm embarrassed to post mine But alas, it'll be a good learning experience. They are all about 6 months old and the hens just started laying. (Don't worry, I've been eating the eggs, not hatching!)


My black hen. Way too many hard feathers but her earlobes are good! I think she has a cute little body.

My white? hen. Her head fuzz (you can tell I'm new...head fuzz?) is too small. Her toe nails are white. I can see she's a chicken! All of yours look like a giant fluff ball and can't tell if there is a chicken in there!

And my rooster. I like his comb- I've seen some at fairs where it looks like a giant tumor on their face.
They all have 5 toes and blue earlobes though! I've been looking on ebay for hatching eggs. I think I'm going to sell these guys eventually. Obviously they aren't breeding quality.
Please be gentle! I know they aren't as beautiful as you guys' but they were my first silkies that I got on cragslist. Live and learn right? They may be silkie abominations but they are MY abominations!

First of all they are very pretty birds and will make wonderful pets. My first silkies were pet quality and I loved them! Your black pullet and roo appear to be grays. And, as mentioned, your white is a paint. Your roos comb should be very dark and it is pretty big for his age. It will continue to grow till a least a year. They seem to have pretty good wing carriage and I like their high tails. I don't believe they will develop much more crest but possibly some. I'm not seeing much in the way of foot feathering but possibly they are muddy. Your gray pullet appears to be non-bearded and the other two are bearded. Hope this helps some. Have fun with them!

 

[Adoravachick]

Thank You for sharing....your white? Is actually a PAINT which that color is hard to get.If you are looking for eggs to hatch,there are some very good breeders here who are kind enough to sell very good quality hatching eggs here on BYC .Mbrobbins and Catdance have nice stock. And 6 months is still kinda young give them a little more time,silkies mature very slowly Good luck

X2. I was thinking the same thing about that little paint. She's cute. I agree, give them some time. It's amazing how they can change.

 

[Adoravachick]

We lost our Black show hen this morning. She was a little quiet yesterday, more so than unsual. I went out to feed this morning and she has passed away in her pen. We are just sick

R.I.P. Isadora.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

After seeing all you guys' fluffy amazing silkies I'm embarrassed to post mine But alas, it'll be a good learning experience. They are all about 6 months old and the hens just started laying. (Don't worry, I've been eating the eggs, not hatching!)


My black hen. Way too many hard feathers but her earlobes are good! I think she has a cute little body.

My white? hen. Her head fuzz (you can tell I'm new...head fuzz?) is too small. Her toe nails are white. I can see she's a chicken! All of yours look like a giant fluff ball and can't tell if there is a chicken in there!

And my rooster. I like his comb- I've seen some at fairs where it looks like a giant tumor on their face.
They all have 5 toes and blue earlobes though! I've been looking on ebay for hatching eggs. I think I'm going to sell these guys eventually. Obviously they aren't breeding quality.
Please be gentle! I know they aren't as beautiful as you guys' but they were my first silkies that I got on cragslist. Live and learn right? They may be silkie abominations but they are MY abominations!

You have two greys and a paint. The grey pullet looks pretty good for a non-bearded. The cockerel unfortunately seems to have red/orange leakage, a DQ. Otherwise he is okay, although his comb is too light in colour. Pigment "holes" are common in paints. And the head fuzz is properly called a crest. Enjoy your "abominations." (I wouldn't have called them that, but you did.

)

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

We lost our Black show hen this morning. She was a little quiet yesterday, more so than unsual. I went out to feed this morning and she has passed away in her pen. We are just sick

R.I.P. Isadora.

 

[Keric]

You have two greys and a paint. The grey pullet looks pretty good for a non-bearded. The cockerel unfortunately seems to have red/orange leakage, a DQ. Otherwise he is okay, although his comb is too light in colour. Pigment "holes" are common in paints. And the head fuzz is properly called a crest. Enjoy your "abominations." (I wouldn't have called them that, but you did.

)

Hahaha! Yes he does have a lot of red/orange on him. Good to know that's bad! I guess my idea of a "crest" was like on a cockatoo or something along those lines. I didn't know his comb was too light either. Wow I've learned so much already!

Thank you. Pigment holes? I thought she was just a white silkie... with "pigment holes"? I think her crest is very small. I had a partridge one (she just died Monday, Marek's we are thinking but not 100% sure) her crest was so fluffy we trimmed it. She had the nicest fluff of all of them. Definitely thought her "feathers" were the best and could maybe come close to all the ones here!
So good getting this information. THANK YOU!!!!
Also- what is show quality vs breeding quality? What makes the difference? and if one is better than the other why not just get rid of the other one? I think I read somewhere the SQ ones were better looking....so why not breed those and call it good?

 

[Keric]

Very sorry to hear that. It's always sad when stuff like that happens, of course.

 

[peepblessed]

We lost our Black show hen this morning. She was a little quiet yesterday, more so than unusual. I went out to feed this morning and she has passed away in her pen. We are just sick

R.I.P. Isadora.

Heartbreaking! I'm so sorry!

Hahaha! Yes he does have a lot of red/orange on him. Good to know that's bad! I guess my idea of a "crest" was like on a cockatoo or something along those lines. I didn't know his comb was too light either. Wow I've learned so much already!

Thank you. Pigment holes? I thought she was just a white silkie... with "pigment holes"? I think her crest is very small. I had a partridge one (she just died Monday, Marek's we are thinking but not 100% sure) her crest was so fluffy we trimmed it. She had the nicest fluff of all of them. Definitely thought her "feathers" were the best and could maybe come close to all the ones here!
So good getting this information. THANK YOU!!!!
Also- what is show quality vs breeding quality? What makes the difference? and if one is better than the other why not just get rid of the other one? I think I read somewhere the SQ ones were better looking....so why not breed those and call it good?

I have a blue hen that I don't consider show quality even though she does not have any show disqualifying feature. She would not do well in a show because her crest is on the small side, she is somewhat lacking in the S shaped type we often talk about and she has too many hard feathers in her tail. But, she has awesome wings and wonderful feet and always out produces herself. One of her pullets won Best of show in the Bantam category this fall at our very large fair. So I consider her breed quality and a very important part of my flock. Hope that helps.

 

[littlecritters]

We lost our Black show hen this morning.  She was a little quiet yesterday, more so than unsual.  I went out to feed this morning and she has passed away in her pen.  We are just sick

 R.I.P. Isadora.

Oh Danielle! I am so sorry. I'm sending you a PM.
Hugs, Tina