Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[gojira]

First bird is definitely the best of the three. It's hard to be completely sure what to keep and what to cull at this age. I don't do a first cull on my birds until they're like 10 to 12 weeks old actually. Unless they hatch with the wrong markings/color for whatever color they're supposed to be, then they get marked then.
Cuckoo chick is a bit lacking in fluff. Like you said, and crest needs something to be desired. Cuckoo birds in general sometimes have lighter toe nails or even toes when young. It may go away as it gets older? The lighter beak tip is normal too and may also darken with age. It looks to maybe only have one barring (cuckoo) gene because it's so dark in color. Last bird being dominate white may always have the light patches on the skin. You're right about the body typing looking more like some other breed. Most likely again, as you said, from whatever breed was used to transfer the dominate white coloring? No way to determine what breed that might of been. Going to have to maybe work on the body typing I think more with this one's offspring? Really only time will tell because they're so young now.

Just curious, what effect does cuckoo (barring) have on fibromelanosis? The poster previously stated she felt the chick was female, so that would explain the single barring gene, as it is sex linked. What effect does dominant (not dominate) white have on fibromelanosis?

 

[Winterwolfbane]

My last post was for "irishsilkie", sorry I should of quoted his post. This is what happens when someone has been away from social media for 6 years. LOL! Working on their birds. I'll get it eventually. LOL!

 

[irishsilkie]

please can someone tell me what to expect if i breed these two will the chicks be bearded or non bearded what colour will they be and will they be classed as purebred ( sorry im new to this so please bare with me!!)

 

[Tammylr]

   First bird is definitely the best of the three.  It's hard to be completely sure what to keep and what to cull at this age.  I don't do a first cull on my birds until they're like 10 to 12 weeks old actually. Unless they hatch with the wrong markings/color for whatever color they're supposed to be, then they get marked then. 
   Cuckoo chick is a bit lacking in fluff.   Like you said, and crest needs something to be desired.  Cuckoo birds in general sometimes have lighter toe nails or even toes when young.  It may go away as it gets older?  The lighter beak tip is normal too and may also darken with age.    It looks to maybe only have one barring (cuckoo) gene because it's so dark in color.    Last bird being dominate white may always have the light patches on the skin.  You're right about the body typing looking more like some other breed.  Most likely again, as you said, from whatever breed was used to transfer the dominate white coloring?  No way to determine what breed that might of been.    Going to have to maybe work on the body typing I think more with this one's offspring?   Really only time will tell because they're so young now.

I agree the first bird looks the best. I wouldn't even worry about backs and crests at this point, as previously stated, they're too young. I wouldn't start judging them too harshly until all of their pin feathers are gone and then I'd still give them more time to grow.
Silkies mature slowly, and a juvenile that looks to have a long back can loose that as an adult. I've had some really homely, gangly youngsters turn out to be stunning adults. The hen in my avatar was one of those birds, she wasn't the prettiest chick...

Thank you both so much for the feed back! I was hoping that I was seeing their faults well. They still have time to turn in to "swans" from their "ugly ducklings". Again thank you so much for the helpful feed back and sharing your experience.

 

[Tammylr]

I couldn't remember where I had seen that barring had an effect on skin color. Finally found the site for anyone else that wants to look at it, great information. Thanks for the reminder!

http://www.extension.org/pages/6536...backyard-flocks:-an-introduction#.VRLwQob3bCR

 

[gojira]

I couldn't remember where I had seen that barring had an effect on skin color. Finally found the site for anyone else that wants to look at it, great information. Thanks for the reminder!

http://www.extension.org/pages/6536...backyard-flocks:-an-introduction#.VRLwQob3bCR

Read that carefully. The barring gene does not have an effect on skin color, and does not affect fibromelanosis. Barring only has an effect on dermal melanin in the shanks. The dermis is only one layer, and fibromelanosis affects all layers (including connective tissue, etc.), not just the dermis. It may be confusing since the author used the term skin, but it refers to skin of the shanks, not the entire bird. The loss of pigmentation you are noticing is a result of the crossing to other breeds, and the lack of the fibromelanotic gene, or heterozygous at best.

 

[Tammylr]

This link also talks about the barring gene affecting the shank color and mentions white silkies but didn't elaborate on what they used the white silkies for. They talk mainly on RIR and barred rocks. Very interesting.
http://www.genetics.org/content/20/6/529.full.pdf

 

[Tammylr]

http://sellers.kippenjungle.nl/page2.html

Another site that is stating barring has affect on foot color or lack thereof. Genetics are so interesting. David has done so many studies and they are the easiest to read that I'm seeing. JMO.

 

[Tammylr]

They talked about this exact thing on the Java thread too on BYC. Here is the link:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/292829/java-thread/1560

 

[gojira]

This link also talks about the barring gene affecting the shank color and mentions white silkies but didn't elaborate on what they used the white silkies for. They talk mainly on RIR and barred rocks. Very interesting.
http://www.genetics.org/content/20/6/529.full.pdf

This is different than what you would find in Silkies.

http://sellers.kippenjungle.nl/page2.html

Another site that is stating barring has affect on foot color or lack thereof. Genetics are so interesting. David has done so many studies and they are the easiest to read that I'm seeing. JMO.

What studies has "David" done? Who is "David"? The studies that were referenced were not done by anyone named "David". Are you referring to your "close friend David Hancox"?

They talked about this exact thing on the Java thread too on BYC. Here is the link:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/292829/java-thread/1560

This isn't the exact thing. Javas are not fibromelanistic.