Silkie breeding questions....toes, eyes & more

[possumhunter]

I have my first little flock of silkies that are about 2 months old and I've begun thinking about what I will want to breed for and such. My question is this; I have a pretty small flock (7 birds) and of those one has the wrong color eyes and another has an extra toe. They are looking very lovely other than that (pretty decent crest, imo and nice bearding). If I breed the bird with too many toes, am I guaranteed to get birds that all have an extra toe? Or how about the eye color? In theory I suppose I should get a couple more birds that are "perfect" but I'm just trying to start with what I have. I guess the other thing I want to know...if you don't have the "perfect" bird, would you breed the bird that has better fluff or has perfect toes/eye? What is easier to fix or breed out. Hope that all makes sense!

 

[possumhunter]

Oh and color....would that be more important than toes/eyes/fluff? I would love to see how someone would rank the features and then the importance in considering for breeding, if that makes sense.

 

[possumhunter]

Anybody?

 

[CelticMoon1]

I think you just need to be patient - any time one of the Silkie experts will log on and answer all your questions and more

I'm sorry I have NO idea about silkies - can hardly tell one end from the other

 

[possumhunter]

LOL...I think I have a hard time with that too

With all that fluff, its hard to tell!

 

[CelticMoon1]

I know

Makes you wonder how the roos do it

Just a tip, if you put "silkie" in the heading it'll be more likely the silkie people will find it

 

[possumhunter]

Haha...I wonder. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Fay at Frizzled Feathers]

I can understand starting with what you have , we all have to start somewhere.

In my oppinion I would always pick the silkie with the darkest skin , correct 5 toes/ dark eyes to put in my breeding pen , over the Better fluff silkie with not so good toes.

I would never use a 6 toed silkie in a breeding pen , you wouldnt want your chicks to inherrit that gene.

Always use your best to standards of the breed you have , you can work on fluff later.

Fay

 

[possumhunter]

That is very useful info, thank you. What about eye color? I have one bird that looks very nice to me, except it has lighter colored eyes (which I actually find very pretty, but I know that isn't the standard). Would that carry into the next generation if I use this bird for breeding?

 

[Elite Silkies]

I spoke to a very reputable breeder about toes. Here's what she told me. A bird with 4 toes can throw offspring with correct toes. She told me that she will not cull for toes alone.

The roo that I had did not have the black eyes, however, alot of his offspring did. Another very reputable breeder told me you have to start somewhere. So, work with what you have. So, maybe breed the light eyed one to one that has very dark eyes and see what that produces. Breed the one with incorrect toes to one that has correct toes and see what you get from that pair.

If you do not get any correct chicks that way, then I would start culling.