Silkie breeding pens suggestions

[Shared Acres]

When I originally got Silkies last summer hubby said 10 max. I think I'm at 19 right now. Hubby isn't happy, but I do expect this herd to grow, lol.

When all are breeding age, I want to seperate them into maybe 2 pens. 3 temp pens MAYBE, But hubby is not going to be happy for seperate pens as it is. LOL, so help me out...

(Colors I have: black, blue, splash, Lavender Splash?, White, Partridge, buff)

What I'm thinking of doing:
I'm thinking if my Splash from Bobbi Porto is a Roo keep him in with the blacks, blues, splashs and buffs.

Put Helmet, my White naked neck SG in with the whites.

Where would you put the Partridge?

I'm also thinking of TRYING to get another lavender and testing the Lav. Splash to see if it is a lavender.

If I had a 3rd pen, what color should I put in it? How would you seperate these pens?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Which are males and which are females?

 

[Shared Acres]

Most are young and I can't tell yet.

I have one NN SG roo.

I Think I might have:
Buff SG roo (too pink of a comb though)
Splash Silkie Roo
Lavender Splash SG Roo
White BT SG Roo

Ideally they should all get about breeding age about the same time and I should have about 19 all together.

Hoping that 2-3 boys could live happily in one big pen with all those girls, but I kind of doubt it.

 

[StrawberryHouseMouse]

I would put the buffs and partridge together in a seperate pen. And have the whites alone in a seperate pen. So personaly I would have 3 pens. Right now I have 2 pens for silkies. I keep my blues, splash and silver hen in one pen. Then my other pen is for my buffs. Soon as I get the chance I want to go get some silkies from Bobbie too. (I can't have any shipped to me so I have to drive to south FL where she lives or buy eggs to hatch.) When I get some of her's I'm going to be getting a pair of partridge, blacks and whites (if possible). So I will be getting a couple new pens. Its always good to keep your colors seperated that you don't want mixing. If you get mixing then your birds are going to be impossible to show if that's what you plan to do in the future. Cause the ones you hatch will have disqualifying colors. (except for the mixing of like blues, blacks and splashes) And no one will want to buy eggs from you for hatching if they know your birds are all mixed up.

 

[featherbaby]

I'll get you the number of a good divorce attorney.



HAHAHAHAHAH Just Kidding!!!!!!!

 

[GardienneWings]

I have to laugh! My husband actually walked out to the barn last night and was asking where the pen full of silkies came from. I explained that they had been consolidated into the one big pen so I could have my small pens for this year's growing chicks. He looked sceptical but believed me I think That's what he gets for stepping into MY DOMAIN!!! lol

Val

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I think before you decide who to pen together, you need to know the genders, and you also need to assess the quality of each bird. Do you want to breed from that bird? Be very selective about which birds you decide to breed from--you want to use birds with as few faults (including DQs) as possible, and you want the faults to be ones that are relatively easy to correct.

Partridge and buff will not be a good mix--you'll get buffs with smutty undercolour and partridge with poor penciling and too dilute a colour.

A lavender splash plus lavender (both birds having two copies of lav) will give you lavender blue offspring, you'll need to breed back to the lavender parent to get lavender without black; and then it will be 50/50.

Ideally you want a separate pen for each colour, although you can group the black, blue & splash.