Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[peepblessed]

i was thinking it be cool to go through each color take week per color and talk about do's dont's

Excellent idea! Pick a color!

 

[chickendales]

lets start with black and talk about black for a while, do you have blue black splash pen? just black pen? black paint pen? what faults do you knotice most in your black, size combs leakage?

 

[Hawkeye95]

lets start with black and talk about black for a while, do you have blue black splash pen? just black pen? black paint pen? what faults do you knotice most in your black, size combs leakage?

This is something I am researching right now! I've been privately talking with people about blacks. I have none, currently! But I am building a black pen next, and that is the color I am most interested in besides blue and splash. I do not want to buy (or breed) blacks out of blue pens. I've seen so many blacks that have silver/gold leakage in the hackles (boys) and around the beard and chest on girls. It looks like a difficult color, simply because of the fact that the black must go all the way down the feather shaft. I have blues that look like black-- but they are indeed blue and their underfluff is light.

How great of a black CAN you get from a blue pen, though?? Can you actually get really great blacks from blues?? I'd love to hear thoughts on that, as well. Here is a blue I have--- if I were to breed blue X blue (all of my blues are this dark) would it really be possible to get a great black???

Sorry I keep posting this picture-- but it just shows how dark of a blue she really is. VERY dark blue.

Here you can see her underfluff a bit:

So I have Blue cockerels that are just as dark as her. Thoughts on Blue X blue on getting black?? Good idea or bad idea???

 

[Hawkeye95]

Okay, here is one of my blue 4 month old cockerels-- I have 3 of these guys, and one of them is better than the others (this guy is not my best one) Sorry it's blurry, but it shows his color. He's dark, but not quite as dark as my hen. I've always heard that blacks out of blue pens are not ideal. This is why I wasn't going to go this route. But anyone have thoughts on this to get a black? None of these have leakage, but you can see the lighter under fluff. Combs on all of these are nearly black.

 

[ChicksNherps]

Quote:
Honestly, I have no idea

I got her from a new breeder near me, who got her from hatching eggs from some other breeder. She won't answer me, I asked her if she could give me their lineage

 

[Adoravachick]

He could anywhere from 1 to 3 years old.

 

[littlecritters]

Hawkeye, you posted earlier that you have bad luck and I'm right there with you. My husband says that if I didn't have bad luck...I wouldn't have any luck at all.

lets start with black and talk about black for a while, do you have blue black splash pen? just black pen? black paint pen? what faults do you knotice most in your black, size combs leakage?

This is a great idea...we have been trying to start a pure black pen since springtime...we were able to purchase silkie chicks in June from a blk x blk pen...the rooster is from several generations of black...not sure about the hens...all of our youngsters have a lighter underfluff.....which perplexes me...I drove several hours to another state to get these and was told they would feather in as pure black.

DragonLady commented in an earlier post about some blacks having blue underfluff, which is what I believe our blacks may have. I would love to know how to eliminate this blue underfluff? Do I need to start over with new birds from blk x blk pens?

This is something I am researching right now!  I've been privately talking with people about blacks.  I have none, currently!  But I am building a black pen next, and that is the color I am most interested in besides blue and splash.  I do not want to buy (or breed) blacks out of blue pens.  I've seen so many blacks that have silver/gold leakage in the hackles (boys) and around the beard and chest on girls.  It looks like a difficult color, simply because of the fact that the black must go all the way down the feather shaft.  I have blues that look like black-- but they are indeed blue and their underfluff is light.  

Hawkeye, can you fill us in on what info you have gleaned about black....please?

 

[dwegg]

sorry to butt in BUT can someone tell me how I come to hatch two partridge looking chicks form a paint pen?

with paint roo, black hen, blue hen, paint hen?

or black (split to paint) roo, white hen, 2x paint hens?

 

[chickendales]

Hawkeye, you posted earlier that you have bad luck and I'm right there with you. My husband says that if I didn't have bad luck...I wouldn't have any luck at all.

This is a great idea...we have been trying to start a pure black pen since springtime...we were able to purchase silkie chicks in June from a blk x blk pen...the rooster is from several generations of black...not sure about the hens...all of our youngsters have a lighter underfluff.....which perplexes me...I drove several hours to another state to get these and was told they would feather in as pure black.
DragonLady commented in an earlier post about some blacks having blue underfluff, which is what I believe our blacks may have. I would love to know how to eliminate this blue underfluff? Do I need to start over with new birds from blk x blk pens?
Hawkeye, can you fill us in on what info you have gleaned about black....please?

start with best you can and breed for the better

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: BBS versus blacks only has nothing to do with leakage. It may have something to do with over generations diluting black pigment, even in genetically black birds.

Blackest blacks are either E or E^R based. e^b based based blacks tend to have a brownish tint, even with lots of added melanizers. Ron Okimoto said the best exhibition blacks would be E^R based. He didn't really state his reasoning for why E^R versus E, and he doesn't participate in discussions at The Coop any more, so I can't ask.