Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[ChicksNherps]

yep, that sounds perfect! You'll be buying a zero turn lawn mower with all of that! LOL We fenced in the back 7 acres of our property, and only mow the front 3 acres, and still takes a while to get it mowed. I want to turn another acre into a seasonal grass pasture so I don't have to mow it anymore.

I'm mulling the idea of sheep over... haha! My DH will want to kill me! The horses already eat $100 of grain each week.

I'm going to get some dairy goats, that will be my lawn mower hehe. I also want to get a horse, and grow my own hay.

 

[thedragonlady]

Dairy goats will not willingly eat grass. They want some brouse that grows above the level of their knees. Sheep will eat a lot of grass, and make lamb chops.

 

[peepblessed]

yep, that sounds perfect! You'll be buying a zero turn lawn mower with all of that! LOL We fenced in the back 7 acres of our property, and only mow the front 3 acres, and still takes a while to get it mowed. I want to turn another acre into a seasonal grass pasture so I don't have to mow it anymore.

I'm mulling the idea of sheep over... haha! My DH will want to kill me! The horses already eat $100 of grain each week.

Then you will have to worry about coyotes getting the sheep...

 

[littlecritters]

i think i well be AI ing next year too that way all my hens can run togeather and i just keep my boys in there own pens 

I've been considering this myself. I may be giving the girls an 8'x10' section of the coop floor and adding a second 3'x10' "story" for the boys...each with their own pen. If our boys continue to get along well, then we can just keep the boys in one larger pen on the second floor. That way we only have two feeders and waterers to maintain and clean. In the spring we can always section off the boys area into separate breeding cages/pens.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Well, many of the buffs I see are not nearly as dark/bright a golden buff as the standard calls for. They should be the colouring of a gold coin ("guinea gold," with a guinea being a very old-fashioned name for one pound sterling coin minted in gold rather than silver. (I don't know how to make the pound symbol, or I would use it). So darkening the skin in a buff will help with the shade of the plumage, but to the possible detriment of the undercolour. Buff is a VERY complicated colour, and there are a lot of genetic ways to achieve it.

If I had breeding experimentation space, I would try to breed E^Wh/e^b buffs on the theory that it might mesh the best of both: darker gold feathers and darker skin with less smutt in the undercolour. But buffs are not my current focus, and I already have too many projects without enough time to add another. So, your best breeding bet is to find birds as correctly coloured in all areas as possible and work with them.

As for barring/cuckoo, the gene does so much dilution to the skin that you need to make sure that as many melanizers as possible are bred in if you are ever to achieve skin that is even close to the standard. IMO, the boys should not be bred to be homozygous; that lightens the skin and comb even more.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: It's not so much that as that the barring gene itself dilutes skin colour (which translates into lightening comb colour as well).

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: I agree with breeding for porcelain or buff, but not for partridge. She has no penciling, and is much too dilute. If I were showing her, I would either call her porcelain or buff. Probably porcelain as then she is judged more on type than colouring. It would help to know who is the judge, and their thoughts on AOV silkies.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Without knowing exactly what you are doing, do not breed a white to anything except white.

For splash, breed blues and splashes. Splash is two copies of the blue gene, so

Splash X splash is 100% splash
Splash X blue is 50/50 splash/Blue
Blue X blue is 25/50/25 splash/blue/black

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: No way of predicting. White turns off the expression of all other colour or pattern genes in the bird, so every white is different.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I'm going to get some dairy goats, that will be my lawn mower hehe. I also want to get a horse, and grow my own hay.

Dairy goats are fed grains, not grass. They are pricey to keep! Just warning you, and you will be at their mercy-- no late nights out and no vacations. You have to be there to milk, unless they are dry or have a kid. Grain prices are astronomical right now. You can get horses for free around here-- because no one can afford to feed them! I've been slowly getting down in size-- I had 7 horses, and have slowly worked my way down to 3. Still, that is $400 a month. Then you buy your supplements that go in your grain, hay (which is running $80 a bale for round). Three horses eat a bale a week and a half. Sigh. Four acres isn't enough to row for hay. It won't even support one horse, hardly because I'm guessing the house takes up an acre or so of the land. You need 2 acres a horse for it to support a horse, and then it can't be weeds, it must be brome, prairie (less protein) or some other grass that is high in protein. My 7 acres is barren with only 3 horses. Sheep are easier! LOL

Dairy goats will not willingly eat grass. They want some brouse that grows above the level of their knees. Sheep will eat a lot of grass, and make lamb chops.

Then you will have to worry about coyotes getting the sheep...

ahhhh, very true! Sigh. The coyotes here are baaaaaaad, too.

Well, many of the buffs I see are not nearly as dark/bright a golden buff as the standard calls for. They should be the colouring of a gold coin ("guinea gold," with a guinea being a very old-fashioned name for one pound sterling coin minted in gold rather than silver. (I don't know how to make the pound symbol, or I would use it). So darkening the skin in a buff will help with the shade of the plumage, but to the possible detriment of the undercolour. Buff is a VERY complicated colour, and there are a lot of genetic ways to achieve it.

If I had breeding experimentation space, I would try to breed E^Wh/e^b buffs on the theory that it might mesh the best of both: darker gold feathers and darker skin with less smutt in the undercolour. But buffs are not my current focus, and I already have too many projects without enough time to add another. So, your best breeding bet is to find birds as correctly coloured in all areas as possible and work with them.

As for barring/cuckoo, the gene does so much dilution to the skin that you need to make sure that as many melanizers as possible are bred in if you are ever to achieve skin that is even close to the standard. IMO, the boys should not be bred to be homozygous; that lightens the skin and comb even more.

oh yikes. I don't think I need the hassle of Buff. BBS has enough challenges to it. Cuckoo is so pretty, but sounds like that is a nightmare as well. Blah. Just as well, I need to stick with what I'm doing and just do it better.