Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[Hawkeye95]

A buff cannot leak silver. Buff must have gold. However, dominant white or splash can replace black pigment, clearing up the appearance of a smutty buff.

Good to know! Hey, how do you think her bird is sporting both buff and white? Just curious what is happening there genetic wise. I obviously came up with a flop for a shot in the dark guess! ha! Would her bird really be a buff even though it's half white? Could it be bred to other buffs to help clear up smut?

 

[aoxa]

Your bird looks like a buff with a LOT of silver leakage (which BTW, is gorgeous). Or maybe it would be a silver/white bird with gold/buff leakage.... hehe! I don't know. It's a really beautiful oops color. Well, I have to keep reminding myself about this when I get a beautiful bird but something is wrong with it. I have to pry my fingers off of it and sell it. LOL I actually gave two of my culls to a friend of mine who wanted broodies and they were both stunning-- amazing type, better than my others, which I could just cry. Of course that beautiful type would happen on birds that also had that wing issue I fell into (no thanks to myself) this year. SO YEAH... if you don't want to see it later, don't breed it! Boy did I eat that one this year. Good lesson I guess. I'll never do it again and I'm having a much easier time letting go of birds and being pickier.

How do those wing issues pop up? Even my really poor quality ones had awesome wings and feet. The issues with those were 1 didn't have much of a crest to speak of, 1 had a crooked beak and 2 had light skin (fathered by my sizzle). I can definitely get better type, but I do believe my wings are where they should be

They all have wings like this girl.

and here... I only have 3 girls to add to my breeding program right now. The rest are too young to be sexed. I have a white silkie female that I am sending to the sizzle project. I don't want to breed whites.

She's not great at all, so I'm a little embarrassed about posting it here I think she has the poorest wings of all of the girls, but they are not split.. just seem 'loose'..

I'll be pairing her with this male to get some darker skinned sizzles. I've sold off all the other sizzles at the show/sale. They went really well. Weirdly enough all my rough feathered birds were males, and all but one of the smooth were females.

 

[Hawkeye95]

How do those wing issues pop up? Even my really poor quality ones had awesome wings and feet. The issues with those were 1 didn't have much of a crest to speak of, 1 had a crooked beak and 2 had light skin (fathered by my sizzle). I can definitely get better type, but I do believe my wings are where they should be

They all have wings like this girl.

and here...
I only have 3 girls to add to my breeding program right now. The rest are too young to be sexed. I have a white silkie female that I am sending to the sizzle project. I don't want to breed whites.

She's not great at all, so I'm a little embarrassed about posting it here

I think she has the poorest wings of all of the girls, but they are not split.. just seem 'loose'..

I'll be pairing her with this male to get some darker skinned sizzles. I've sold off all the other sizzles at the show/sale. They went really well. Weirdly enough all my rough feathered birds were males, and all but one of the smooth were females.

This one here looks like the best wing-- none of them look bad. I ended up with wing issues because I used a male that just had "ify" wings. NOT split. I figured they were over shredded and just had some issues, but not bad. My girls had beautiful wings-- perfect fans. So good wings + so/so wings will give you mostly good wings??? Nope!.... that so/so wing ended up creating a HUGE problem for me! I went with type over the so/so wings at that point. His type is great! He has a huge crest and tons of cushion. He put on big crests onto all of my offspring out of him, and better feathered cushions than my girls that I started out with. So they did end up looking better birds than the parents.... except for those darned wings!! This is what both of his wings looks like--- and BTW, if you ever see anything like this-- RUN!!!!!! LOL! But you know how some people will tell you type over (fill in the blank with the fault)? Nope! Don't do it! At least, not with wings!

And here's an interesting thought about what I had happen... ALL of my boys ended up with split wings. However, only a small number of the girls did. Most of the girls were fine and their wings look as nice at their mother's. Not saying it was a sex linked gene, but it sure did lean towards the boys and not the girls. And the girls that had the best and biggest crests and cushions got the bad wings. Anyway-- here is father bird:

 

[aoxa]

This one here looks like the best wing-- none of them look bad.  I ended up with wing issues because I used a male that just had "ify" wings.  NOT split.  I figured they were over shredded and just had some issues, but not bad.  My girls had beautiful wings-- perfect fans.  So good wings + so/so wings will give you mostly good wings???  Nope!.... that so/so wing ended up creating a HUGE problem for me!  I went with type over the so/so wings at that point.  His type is great!  He has a huge crest and tons of cushion.  He put on big crests onto all of my offspring out of him, and better feathered cushions than my girls that I started out with.  So they did end up looking better birds than the parents.... except for those darned wings!!  This is what both of his wings looks like--- and BTW, if you ever see anything like this-- RUN!!!!!!  LOL!  But you know how some people will tell you type over (fill in the blank with the fault)?  Nope!  Don't do it! At least, not with wings!     And here's an interesting thought about what I had happen...  ALL of my boys ended up with split wings.  However, only a small number of the girls did.  Most of the girls were fine and their wings look as nice at their mother's.  Not saying it was a sex linked gene, but it sure did lean towards the boys and not the girls.  And the girls that had the best and biggest crests and cushions got the bad wings.  Anyway-- here is father bird:

Noted!

I never have anyone to take the picture while I spread wings, and with the size of my camera, it's impossible to do it one handed

They do match up to the SOP pictures in the wings when I spread them. I just got my book in a week ago. So much to read

 

[Adoravachick]

This one here looks like the best wing-- none of them look bad. I ended up with wing issues because I used a male that just had "ify" wings. NOT split. I figured they were over shredded and just had some issues, but not bad. My girls had beautiful wings-- perfect fans. So good wings + so/so wings will give you mostly good wings??? Nope!.... that so/so wing ended up creating a HUGE problem for me! I went with type over the so/so wings at that point. His type is great! He has a huge crest and tons of cushion. He put on big crests onto all of my offspring out of him, and better feathered cushions than my girls that I started out with. So they did end up looking better birds than the parents.... except for those darned wings!! This is what both of his wings looks like--- and BTW, if you ever see anything like this-- RUN!!!!!! LOL! But you know how some people will tell you type over (fill in the blank with the fault)? Nope! Don't do it! At least, not with wings!

And here's an interesting thought about what I had happen... ALL of my boys ended up with split wings. However, only a small number of the girls did. Most of the girls were fine and their wings look as nice at their mother's. Not saying it was a sex linked gene, but it sure did lean towards the boys and not the girls. And the girls that had the best and biggest crests and cushions got the bad wings. Anyway-- here is father bird:

That is interesting. The good thing is, you bird breed instead of pen breeding, so you know who is throwing the monkey wrench. That leads to my next question, which negative traits can be overlooked for breeding purposes?

 

[aoxa]

That is interesting.  The good thing is, you bird breed instead of pen breeding, so you know who is throwing the monkey wrench.  That leads to my next question, which negative traits can be overlooked for breeding purposes?

VERY good question!

 

[Hawkeye95]

That is interesting. The good thing is, you bird breed instead of pen breeding, so you know who is throwing the monkey wrench. That leads to my next question, which negative traits can be overlooked for breeding purposes?

I'm working in trios or pairs. I have several roosters, but I'm trying to match up colors and offset faults with each other. Like if I have a blue hen, I'm most likely picking a splash boy for her so I can get more colors from her-- BUT I still want to pick something that will offset any faults.. like if her crest is on the smaller side, a rooster with a larger crest. Right now, I have a hen that has an interesting toe situation, I'm going to go ahead and use her, it's a single toe with a double nail. I'm hoping with the right rooster, it might breed out. Or at least get 50% good and cull the others and move on. Her type is so good, I want to go ahead with her. I have a couple of other boys that throw amazing feet every time, seems like no matter what. But honestly, it's all trial and error! But of course, you want to try to work with the best you have, so if you have some big faults, they probably aren't worth messing with. Like with leakage-- I just don't ever breed it or try it-- ever. I'm just not sure, it comes down to seeing how they grow out, seeing what else is there and if I have better. This would be a better question for Sonoran or Me and Jack! They have been doing this a lot longer and probably have a plan of attack for certain situations! Maybe even PeepBlessed has some ideas on how she is breeding hers and pairing them, etc. She is doing an excellent job-- her birds are fantastic looking.

OH! But wanted to add, I'm ditching all of my original boys, I really didn't like what happened, and they had the most faults. I'm having a new rooster shipped to me and I'm hoping to pick up another boy at Nationals that I've worked out a deal with. So, I guess don't be afraid to ditch it and do something different! And as someone pointed out a while back-- your rooster is half your problem or solution.

 

[Adoravachick]

I have a white pullet that has popped some interesting traits. She is now sporting 2 grey feathers in her crest and her comb has a pink tinge to it. There is no comb growth, just a change in color. She is 5 months old. Now am am debating on whether or not sell her. It is possible that whatever is happening here will be passed on to chicks?

 

[Me & Jack]

I have a white pullet that has popped some interesting traits. She is now sporting 2 grey feathers in her crest and her comb has a pink tinge to it. There is no comb growth, just a change in color. She is 5 months old. Now am am debating on whether or not sell her. It is possible that whatever is happening here will be passed on to chicks?

I'd be very willing to bet that she is a white chick out of a white/paint breeding somewhere down the line. I have hatched a few chicks from a white to paint or white to white/paint pairing and have had chicks with any combination on lighter skin, pinker combs, stray dark feathers, and lighter eyes or eyes with light blotches. It's the paint genetics throwing its weight around. That'd be my guess, anyhow. Will she throw it on to her chicks? Probably, but presumably it would get weaker with each generation, and you'd probably hatch some good-colored birds along the way, too.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Not must, but should.