Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[Hawkeye95]

wow ur birds beak isnt that bad i breed a bird like that with a roo that had a good beak and all chicks came out fine. mine did anyway i would never atteampt to breed scissor beak but urs seems to have the upper and lower beak togarther

OH no, Zack!! I wonder if I should keep her???? I have lots of little pullets I am not keeping I can sub her out with for the lady that is coming out to get her. I wonder if I should reconsider and at least try her out and then if it doesn't work, then re-home her..??? OH what to do??? I know, she doesn't look bad now at all! And no, she is NOT cross beaked like you said. She is a twisted beak. Both upper and lower fit together perfectly-- no over-hang. I've read this can be a problem from positioning in the shell... and then there are so many debates on that, I gave up looking for the cause. No one can agree on twisted beaks. But everyone agrees on cross beaks-- that they are genetic and will carry on.

Zack-- was your bird a twisted too? Was it this severe?? Was it worse or less than this twist???

 

[KMHunter]

Thanks Peeps and Hawkeye!
That is the kind of info and advice I was looking for.
I was thinking of starting with pairs. And maybe moving to trios or quads later if I get some nice birds going.
I really appreciate you responding.
I have articles from someone on FB that I am reading too.

Lots to think about!

Kim

 

[Hawkeye95]

Peep and Hawkeye, thanks for sharing your breeding tips. Your willingness to share your experiences is appreciated....

Be strong! In my opinion, I would rehome her. Thats what we are doing with the black girl shown below. (Hopefully she is going to her new home tomorrow night.) If i were breeding purebred dogs, i wouldn't breed a dog with an overbite. Crooked beak to me is the chicken equivalent of bite problems in dogs.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

OH wow-- you have the same thing going on there!! Yes, I need to be strong! Ugh... but I worry that she could produce something with really fantastic type..... the "what if".

Thanks Peeps and Hawkeye!
That is the kind of info and advice I was looking for.
I was thinking of starting with pairs. And maybe moving to trios or quads later if I get some nice birds going.
I really appreciate you responding.
I have articles from someone on FB that I am reading too.

Lots to think about!

Kim

No problem! I know another breeder who is kind of a big deal in our tri state area with black Rosecombs-- and she works in trios. She has a lot of them, but swears by that method. I think working in pairs is a great way to start, too. Then you just have more control over what you are doing and aiming for.

 

[KMHunter]

Quote: I met with Karen Larson(Catdance Silkies) this past weekend and we talked for 2 hours about type and what to look for when choosing silkies, and how to compensate for this and that when breeding. I just never got around to asking her about breeding specifics.
Her set up now is AMAZING! just like her birds.
But she did tell me to try to find birds with nice type, over everything else to start. And then just go for it! She actually had some birds that weren't SOP, but were nice in so many other ways.
She kept preaching type. So that is what I am going to focus on first. Can't forget the other stuff, but she said you can get to caught up in it too.
She did make me feel better about jumping into this though.

 

[KMHunter]

Took some pictures of some of this years grow outs that I'm *hoping* might turn out pretty nice! These are all from my own birds.

I love this girl-- she has it going on. When she stands up, nice short back, but I did catch her eating, so it's hard to see on the second picture of her. She is 4.5 months old

This cockerel is right about 4.5 months old and I'm just ify on his wings. Worried I may have a split or slip problem on them. He is the one I need to get a picture of his span to get opinions on it. But he is sooooo pretty, I love him! He has a nice smooth comb, good dark color, but he moved here and it blurred out. But if his wings aren't good, then what a bummer!! I'll try to get something better tomorrow for feed back!

This Blue boy is 4.5 months old. I could not get this little Blue cockerel to STAND STILL or to pose nice to show off his type. Sigh. But maybe you can just see enough. He has great wings (although they don't look great in these pics?! ) and I'm really excited about how he looks. He is likely going to be my go-to boy for this coming year. (or at least, one of them)

I have a blue boy that looks alot like yours at the same age! I am hoping he turns out nice. I think I may have one splash pullet, but she has this head nod thing going on since shortly after hatch. Vitamins have not helped. But she is cute, so I will hopefully get to use her as a broody.

 

[littlecritters]

Hawkeye, I sent you a PM.

 

[sager:)silkies]

OH no, Zack!! I wonder if I should keep her???? I have lots of little pullets I am not keeping I can sub her out with for the lady that is coming out to get her. I wonder if I should reconsider and at least try her out and then if it doesn't work, then re-home her..??? OH what to do??? I know, she doesn't look bad now at all! And no, she is NOT cross beaked like you said. She is a twisted beak. Both upper and lower fit together perfectly-- no over-hang. I've read this can be a problem from positioning in the shell... and then there are so many debates on that, I gave up looking for the cause. No one can agree on twisted beaks. But everyone agrees on cross beaks-- that they are genetic and will carry on.

Zack-- was your bird a twisted too? Was it this severe?? Was it worse or less than this twist???

hawkeye i was in the same boat as u i wanted to sell her but she was my best hen with type,crest and feathering feet and i decided as u said ill breed her worst thing to happens is they all come out with beak problems and i have to sell the chicks and her so i breed her to my white roo make sure u have a roo that u know had no beak problems in the past generations and mine came out fine to be honest i was shocked i didnt get the results i expected i expected atleast a few beak problems i was ethier really lucky or maybe the twisted beak is a recisive gene and u need 2 copies to be present not sure if thats the case maybe my chicks are carrying 1 copy of the recisive gene maybe one day ill have to breed them to a bird that has twisted beak or in a line that had it and see if it pops up if i was u if type and that is amazing i say *** ill breed it thats just the way i am i dont like to be what if i would of breed her 4 or 6 months down the line when u have other chicks on ground. so i guess im a go ahead kind of guy

 

[sager:)silkies]

actually hawkeye i have pics of 2 of the chicks that i hatched from my hen the rest i got rid of as these are the best 2

 

[Hawkeye95]

I met with Karen Larson(Catdance Silkies) this past weekend and we talked for 2 hours about type and what to look for when choosing silkies, and how to compensate for this and that when breeding. I just never got around to asking her about breeding specifics.
Her set up now is AMAZING! just like her birds.
But she did tell me to try to find birds with nice type, over everything else to start. And then just go for it! She actually had some birds that weren't SOP, but were nice in so many other ways.
She kept preaching type. So that is what I am going to focus on first. Can't forget the other stuff, but she said you can get to caught up in it too.
She did make me feel better about jumping into this though.

I would like to hear more about her set up. Did she have a large barn with pens running along the inside? Or did she have small coops outside? We are going to build a bigger barn next year (my horse barn is 30 X 50) and move all the stuff out of my horse barn into the new barn. The back half of my horse barn is all horse stalls, and the front half is where we pull in our truck and tractor, etc... I'm going to build silkie pens on either side of the breeze way and I figure I can get about six 12ft wide pens in there. My plan is to have a couple of bachelor pens, another grow out pen, and then color pens for only black and then blues and splash. Should make my life easier. Too bad you didn't take a picture of her barn set up! What kind of faults was she keeping?? Are we talking about like too-red of combs, wrong # of feet... or what?? I'd love to know. Thanks!

hawkeye i was in the same boat as u i wanted to sell her but she was my best hen with type,crest and feathering feet and i decided as u said ill breed her worst thing to happens is they all come out with beak problems and i have to sell the chicks and her so i breed her to my white roo make sure u have a roo that u know had no beak problems in the past generations and mine came out fine to be honest i was shocked i didnt get the results i expected i expected atleast a few beak problems i was ethier really lucky or maybe the twisted beak is a recisive gene and u need 2 copies to be present not sure if thats the case maybe my chicks are carrying 1 copy of the recisive gene maybe one day ill have to breed them to a bird that has twisted beak or in a line that had it and see if it pops up if i was u if type and that is amazing i say *** ill breed it thats just the way i am i dont like to be what if i would of breed her 4 or 6 months down the line when u have other chicks on ground. so i guess im a go ahead kind of guy

Yes, what if it crops back up later? Sigh. Ah well, I think I'll go forward with her re-homing. I already am kicking myself for using a weak wing. I've got to be tougher on my "keeps". I woke up this morning like, no I can't do it! LOL!! I've read everything I can get my hands on about twisted beaks and there just isn't any anyone that has nailed it down on whether it is genetic or from something like positioning in the egg.. I know cross beak is genetic and is a big no-no to breed. Such a bummer because her type is really, really incredible!! If I were going to go with what KMHunter said to concentrate on type-- she has it in spades, BUT... what kind of foundation would I be setting myself up for later on. And I just don't know on that one.

It's just too bad.

 

[sager:)silkies]

I would like to hear more about her set up. Did she have a large barn with pens running along the inside? Or did she have small coops outside? We are going to build a bigger barn next year (my horse barn is 30 X 50) and move all the stuff out of my horse barn into the new barn. The back half of my horse barn is all horse stalls, and the front half is where we pull in our truck and tractor, etc... I'm going to build silkie pens on either side of the breeze way and I figure I can get about six 12ft wide pens in there. My plan is to have a couple of bachelor pens, another grow out pen, and then color pens for only black and then blues and splash. Should make my life easier. Too bad you didn't take a picture of her barn set up! What kind of faults was she keeping?? Are we talking about like too-red of combs, wrong # of feet... or what?? I'd love to know. Thanks!

Yes, what if it crops back up later? Sigh. Ah well, I think I'll go forward with her re-homing. I already am kicking myself for using a weak wing. I've got to be tougher on my "keeps". I woke up this morning like, no I can't do it! LOL!! I've read everything I can get my hands on about twisted beaks and there just isn't any anyone that has nailed it down on whether it is genetic or from something like positioning in the egg.. I know cross beak is genetic and is a big no-no to breed. Such a bummer because her type is really, really incredible!! If I were going to go with what KMHunter said to concentrate on type-- she has it in spades, BUT... what kind of foundation would I be setting myself up for later on. And I just don't know on that one.

It's just too bad.

yes hawkeye it is hard to know what will pop up and what my foundation will turn to so i came prepared and have 2 other seperate white line incase something pops up u are making a good decisin tho so dont beat urself up. i mainly breed her as she was the best i had to work with so i went for it u have easier acces to very nice birds then i do also u may already have super back up pullets