Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[littlecritters]

Just so sweet!

 

[jrosemoore]

The first thing you must, and I mean MUST, if you want to be successful, is purchase BOTH the APA standard and the ABA standard and study them. Then get yourself to some shows, and see what is winning. You should develop a picture of the ideal Silkie in your mind BEFORE buying any birds. Once you are sure of what you want, and have talked to enough winning breeders to be sure your vision is correct, you can start looking for birds. Not before.Remember that the Silkie is a very feminized breed. The girls almost always win, and many of the really pretty boys do not breed well. I would never select a cock bird who is too feminine, but I want one from a gorgeous mother and grandmother. The girls should be the best that you can afford to buy, and should all resemble one another, no matter where you buy them.Type is key.Without type, you are lost.The obvious faults in the breed today, such as bad wings, bad toes, and reared back stance should be avoided in all your starter birds. Stick to Black and White until you know enough to fool with the complicated colors...No made up named colors should be bought, pretty as some are. If the color is unrecognized, and you want to show, what is the point?Take your cock bird, and breed him to all 3 hens. See what you get .Is the type there? If it's not there in all 3 hens' offspring. Go find another cock bird. A cock is 1/2 your flock. A good one will stamp his offspring.Once you have consistent typy off spring from your 4 birds; never keep a bird who does not conform ...I don't care who it is related to.That's the biggest mistake that novice breeders make. All your birds should have the SAME shape, no matter if Black, White,or Grey, which you might get . Anybody who does not conform leaves.NO exceptions.Once you have all your birds looking alike in shape, keep a good cockerel, or two, on ice.You can breed back to the original cock bird for at least 6 generations if you are very picky about what you keep. If a fault pops out , use one of your cockerels, and see what you get. As a last resort, due to faults, or infertility, go looking for a cock bird who has your type. Use him once, and breed back to your original line of males.This certainly worked for me. I never pedigreed my birds. I breed what I see. I have done the same thing with champion horses, Belted Galloway cattle, Mastiffs, Nubian goats, African Geese, SLW Lf, and BWys, Butterfly Koi, as well as the Silkies.You must train your eye!

Dragonlady~ Very well said and appreciated!

 

[aoxa]

Just so sweet!

I love the hairdos

 

[jonhlawless18]

this is my cuckoo silkie cockeral three months old. i think his coloring is off( am i right). he has some dark spots.

 

[ChicksNherps]

We were talking about wings not too long ago, and I caught a picture of my smutty buff (or buff partridge) or whatever you want to call the colour.. Is this how a wing should be held? I'm noticing everyone starting to hold their wings like this as the weather gets colder

I swear this pullet looks a lot like mine, but mine has a bit more white. So would she be considered a "wheaten" based? I still have NO idea what to call her and the show is coming up and I want to change the variety on the cage card.

 

[aoxa]

I swear this pullet looks a lot like mine, but mine has a bit more white. So would she be considered a "wheaten" based? I still have NO idea what to call her and the show is coming up and I want to change the variety on the cage card.

I think what you put her as is fine. She will be judged AOV, so I'm pretty sure they won't DQ you based on your description.

 

[Hawkeye95]

this is my cuckoo silkie cockeral three months old. i think his coloring is off( am i right). he has some dark spots.

At 3 months, this bird will continue to change in color. So I wouldn't worry too much about their coloring until they hit closer to 4-5 months old. I'd be more worried about the red comb and light beak he has going on. Do you have his parents? Looks like he's going to get a good crest on him. But he's still too much of a baby yet to make any decisions on color and type.

 

[peepblessed]

At 3 months, this bird will continue to change in color. So I wouldn't worry too much about their coloring until they hit closer to 4-5 months old. I'd be more worried about the red comb and light beak he has going on. Do you have his parents? Looks like he's going to get a good crest on him. But he's still too much of a baby yet to make any decisions on color and type.

I may be wrong but I think all silkie cuckoo males have red comb. Maybe Sonoran will discuss this as I think she is the one who mentioned it.

 

[aoxa]

I may be wrong but I think all silkie cuckoo males have red comb. Maybe Sonoran will discuss this as I think she is the one who mentioned it.

That was my thought as well. I thought Cuckoo affected the pigment. :/

 

[Hawkeye95]

I may be wrong but I think all silkie cuckoo males have red comb. Maybe Sonoran will discuss this as I think she is the one who mentioned it.

Yeah, I was thinking about that, too! Kind of like the buff-- going too red. But I know with my blue partridge and my other blues-- they kept changing color (feathers-- not comb) <---added that in since that sounded wrong! ... until they were closer to 5 months. I love the look of cuckoo, but I would be really discouraged with the red combs.