Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[chisNchickens]

Taking a break from getting our new home (and barn!) ready and have silkies on the brain so I thought I would post some pics....where is everyone?

 

[Caitlin_VT]

Wow, amazing! I can only hope that my birds look that nice one day.

 

[thedragonlady]

Taking a break from getting our new home (and barn!) ready and have silkies on the brain so I thought I would post some pics....where is everyone?

Right here ! Love those Blacks, and that Partridge girl is a smasher !

 

[chisNchickens]

Wow, amazing! I can only hope that my birds look that nice one day.

Right here ! Love those Blacks, and that Partridge girl is a smasher !

Thanks! All of those beauties are Donna McCormick's birds. The whites are my favorite of course, but Partridge is a close second. I showed all of them two weeks ago (along with two grays not pictured),with Donna's approval of course. I was hoping for some competition in partridge but it was not to be as "Pennie" was the only one. The gorgeous white hen (first pic) probably should have done better but she is super skittish and screams bloody murder when you try to pick her up so I am trying to work with her and she is on my lap right now.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

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Penciling doesn't show on boys unless they are henny feathered. Leakage is generally just on the hackles. I'm thinking your boy is young because of the small amount of red/gold on his shoulders, wings and back. I've had some boys develop primary patterning fairly rapidly, and some that took many months. (Primary patterning is different areas f the body being different colours, as compared with secondary patterning which is patterns on individual feathers.)

Your boy appears to be blue partridge, but you'll have to wait awhile to assess the quality of his patterning.

 

[Jharper]

My paint rooster isn't quite sure where he is.

 

[RockerHen]

Taking a break from getting our new home (and barn!) ready and have silkies on the brain so I thought I would post some pics....where is everyone?

Love them all, especially those whites!

Whites are my favorite as well.

 

[Caitlin_VT]

Penciling doesn't show on boys unless they are henny feathered. Leakage is generally just on the hackles. I'm thinking your boy is young because of the small amount of red/gold on his shoulders, wings and back. I've had some boys develop primary patterning fairly rapidly, and some that took many months. (Primary patterning is different areas f the body being different colours, as compared with secondary patterning which is patterns on individual feathers.)

Your boy appears to be blue partridge, but you'll have to wait awhile to assess the quality of his patterning.

He is still quite young, I think MAYBE 6 months. I noticed yesterday that he is starting to develop some horns in his comb. He also has wattles. Does this sometimes occur in bearded birds?

 

[emvickrey]

Does anybody know why a roo wouldn't have any interest in breeding? I have one that was not interested in all with a hen. I put him in a pen by himself thru the summer. Maybe he's changed his mind, IDK. I need to put a hen with him to see if he has changed his mind but if not the question still stands. Why would a roo not want to breed?

 

[ChickNmamma]

Does anybody know why a roo wouldn't have any interest in breeding? I have one that was not interested in all with a hen. I put him in a pen by himself thru the summer. Maybe he's changed his mind, IDK. I need to put a hen with him to see if he has changed his mind but if not the question still stands. Why would a roo not want to breed?

I have heard of some Silkies that are so "dandified" that they have gender problems. They aren't interested in breeding because they think they are too beautiful to mess themselves up...

I actually think that some of them might have testosterone problems. Low levels because of being chosen for small combs for generations.. going to AI to produce more show quality birds who don't know how to breed and don't care. Birds that have so much fluff they can't find where they are going or even see there are other birds around them..

Personally there is a line I draw with any breeding. The bird must be able to procreate naturally and be able to see its where its food and water is. If it can't do that, then I don't care how cute it looks it isn't going to be used in my breeding program. There is a fine line between show quality birds and useless birds, and to my way of thinking there are too many over the other side of the line already - I am not going to join them.