Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[Sonoran Silkies]

I have been hatching out silkies for 2 days now. My SG roo must have super Show Girl genes because every single eggs so far (8) from him has been Show Girls. I have never had this happen before. Usually it is a ratio of around 3 regular to 1 SG. This happen to anyone else?? Pictures are soon to come

Is he pure for Na? If so, all his chicks should be showgirls.

 

[Feathersprings]

Porcelain SHOULD breed true. If it does not, one of the parents is not porcelain.

I had just talked with some breeders that told me Porcelain ( as in the silkie porcelain , self blue cream ?) doesnt breed really true and that you need to breeding in both buff and self blue to work on the color of the cockerels ,depending on the color boys you have, which isnt really right at this time and that it is a work in progress for that reason. I was interested in the color and was hoping to be able to just get a few to add to my breeding program but decided since I dont have porcelain, self blue or buffs I didnt want to add 3 new colors. Now Im confused...

 

[Sanna]

Absolutely agree.

THIS is duckfoot. His feet actually look better with him on his back and gravity kind of flattens them out:










Unfortuntely, this bird has it on both feet. Otherwise he would be a decent (for a project bird) chocolate tailed red.

What makes it a duck foot?

 

[PaintedFeathers]

What makes it a duck foot?

Notice how the 4th and 5th toes are both pointing forward rather than inward?

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote: the inside toes (4th and 5th) point towards the front of the feet, instead of pointing inward and backwards like they should. These toes are actually tucked under the foot when walking and it shows in their gait. They probably walk like a duck too....

 

[moomoodiddy]

I would assume those are for members only so dont feel comfortable sharing their pictures without permission and they were submitted by different people. You can go to the site and see if you have access without joing but it is only $15. to join if not and tons of great info. http://www.americansilkiebantamclub.org/standard.asp

thanx!!!!

 

[Sanna]

Notice how the 4th and 5th toes are both pointing forward rather than inward?

the inside toes (4th and 5th) point towards the front of the feet, instead of pointing inward and backwards like they should. These toes are actually tucked under the foot when walking and it shows in their gait. They probably walk like a duck too....

Ah, got it! Thanks.

 

[JacquiJ]

Absolutely agree. THIS is duckfoot. His feet actually look better with him on his back and gravity kind of flattens them out: Unfortuntely, this bird has it on both feet. Otherwise he would be a decent (for a project bird) chocolate tailed red.

Sorry for your bird! But I am so happy mine doesn't have it!! Thank you for the pictures of what it looks like.

 

[peepblessed]

Thank you, that was exactly the information I was looking for. My Buff and my Partridge are very close to type, both have larger crests than I have seen in some non-bearded pictures so I want to use them. I was hoping to keep the good crest from them both and not loose it when breeding to the bearded one.

I have read the whole Silkie partridge thread too and it has lots of bearded Partridge (over which I drooled for the colorings), but I didn't see many non-bearded ones. Actually, I don't remember one. I think the closest was some Showgirls.

The blue I have has an average crest, but I want to loose that beard and possibly up the crest using the better crested non-bearded rooster.

From the chicken calculator I understand the first crossing to the Buff would be all smutty buff. It would be crossing back to the partridge rooster when I could possibly get some partridges (12%), as well as a whole bunch of other colors. These would be black partridge unless that Buff carries blue by some really odd chance. I am hoping the crossing to the blue will give me a few skimpy bearded blue leakage girls to cross back to the dad for the possibility of blue partridge non bearded. All girls will probably go in with my pet silkie for playing momma, the roosters.. well I guess I will have to find out if they really taste like chicken. From these crosses I do not want any to get out into the general population unless they are strictly pets. I am mixing genetics here - and I don't want that to mess anybody else up.

I realize this might take a few years, but I love that color and I really like the alertness of the non-bearded ones. I went to a show recently and all the Silkies I saw were bearded. Some looked like pure fluff balls. That is a bit too much for me - I like to see their faces, they are really alert looking black skinned birds with pretty blue ears, when you can SEE them.

You've got a great start. Just keep in mind that the color calculator doesn't take into account any hidden genetics that you don't know are there.

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote:
Thanks. I think that might be the fun part, trying to see what is hidden under that Buff. The Partridge rooster (Owl) came out of a BBS breeding pen so his genetics are probably rather straightforward. Since he shows no blue, he doesn't have the Bl gene. The Buff (Poppi) appears to have a few marks on her wing feathers, so there might be something else hidden in there. She does have a really pretty gold collar and good body type as well as great foot feathering. No split wings on either one.

This is what I am working with

Poppi, the buff


Owl on alert and Poppi

I can't find any good pictures of the blue girl or the frizzle (sizzle?). I will probably hatch a few from the blue frizzle while working on this project, just for fun.