Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[CarolinaHen]

We have a beautiful young silkie cockerel that we hatched in January. He will be shown this fall. The chicks we are getting from him are all dying before they reach a month old. The hens are over a year old and experienced broodies. They are on high quality feed, free range in the garden area, and the brooder is three feet off the ground. This has happened with chicks hatched in the incubator as well as those hatched by a broody. Any ideas why these chicks are dying? Mostly they appear as failure to thrive chicks. Is there anything we can do, or should we get a different rooster?

 

[AZChiknGoddess]

We have a beautiful young silkie cockerel that we hatched in January. He will be shown this fall. The chicks we are getting from him are all dying before they reach a month old. The hens are over a year old and experienced broodies. They are on high quality feed, free range in the garden area, and the brooder is three feet off the ground. This has happened with chicks hatched in the incubator as well as those hatched by a broody. Any ideas why these chicks are dying? Mostly they appear as failure to thrive chicks. Is there anything we can do, or should we get a different rooster?

I would take one of the dead chicks to a veterinarian for a necropsy. I would also change roosters and see if the problem is resolved. There could be a lot of things at play here. Having the dead chick examined will rule out or confirm disease and at least temporarily switching roosters would eliminate potential genetic problems in future chicks and get some viable chicks for your farm.

 

[TeddyBearSilkie]

I'm looking for some breeding advice. I need to choose a breeder for my buff pen next year. I have two candidates. One appears to be a blue partridge/buff ginger mix, the other a buff who's a bit on the light side with a reddish comb. Would it be possible to hatch a percentage of all buff or possibly ginger buff chicks without the blue partridge markings if I use the the first boy? Three of the buff hens I have are close, if not standard buff, the other is far too light, and the fifth is a blue partridge with a buff head. Both boys are too young to breed so I can't do any breeding experiments just yet. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Debs55]

Hi all I have a question about silie genetics and thought I would get more answers here than by starting a whole new topis. Basically I have been bredding white silkies for about 3 years now. I've always been curious about adding some other colors but wasnt exactly sure how it works. For example, if I bred a white rooster with a black hen would the babies be solid white or black or would they be splash? same for a blue or grey color. I just do not understand chicken genetics lol thanks!

 

[groundpecker]

If you want to add new varieties, you will want to order some "purebred" varieties "colors". when breeding any color to white, you can never know what will be the outcome, unless you have bred the bird(s) before. There is a "variety' breeding chart I once took a look at online, but i cannot remember the link. Maybe some else will know the link.

I strongly suggest just buying hatching eggs or birds of the varieties that you want and start breeding from there.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Freemebean- which of your cockerels has better type (and you'll also have to consider that their type can/will change since they're young). There's a saying around here, "you have to build the barn before you paint it." I think that's a very accurate statement. Type is most important, color can always be worked out later. Personally, I'd keep them both, let them mature and do a couple of test breedings to see what comes from them, but I can also understand not wanting to keep feeding extra cockerels you don't intend to keep. If I had to pick one, I'd probably go with #2. His light comb and skin can be easily balanced out by breeding him to a hen that isn't lacking in that department. Then, I would keep a clean colored, dark skinned cockerel from him and breed him to mom and other hens. But, that's just me
Good luck!

 

[TeddyBearSilkie]

Thank you both very much for the advice. Because they are still maturing it's hard to say for certain who has the better type. So far they are both fairly decent. I wish I had the room to experiment, but sadly I do not. I will most likely keep searching for another roo that would compliment my girls better. I'd love a ginger buff roo with nice type. If anyone knows of any if you could let me know I would appreciate it. Thank you.

 

[AZChiknGoddess]

Anyone ever had a Silkie chick born with yellow down and black zebra stripes down its back?

 

[TeddyBearSilkie]

Could be silver partridge

 

[nayeli]

I love the look (and feel!) of silkies. I just ordered a white and a blue from a hatchery (straight runs). Just to have as pets. I'm curious though if I let them have babies what color would they be? Assuming I end up with opposite sexes.

I know this is way late but you will get splash silkies that way! I soo want splash silkies! You will also get whites!