Silkie Breeding

[austincoopersilkiesies]

Im Thinking About Starting To Breed Silkies!I Have 2 PQ Silkies And 1 Im On Edge About Better Than Others But Still Poor Middle Toe Feathering. I Am Thinking About Lavender Or Porcelain Silkies Im Not Sure Would Be Great For Pros And Cons In Each Of Those Varieties.Any Tips Or Info.Thanks

 

[austincoopersilkiesies]

come on i know there are tons of you out there

 

[robin416]

That's because your question is too broad. No one knows what your set up is. Both colors you mentioned are going to require quite a bit of room since you will need to have other colors to prefect either one you choose. You will need grow out room so you can see what needs fixing.

If you are looking for what challenges there are in the colors you mentioned then ask that. I know challenges for self blue are hatching, blindness, feathers issues. Needing to have blacks to cross back to to improve on hardiness and hatchability.

Porcelain is stability of color and having a name that can be recognized for acceptance in to the APA/ABA. Having to have both lavender and buffs.

 

[austincoopersilkiesies]

thanks what about an already stable variety like black

 

[robin416]

Are you looking for a color to focus on?

Black is a fantastic color, just stunning when the bird is in the sun. The challenges for black is color in the hackles of the males. A clear male is still pretty rare but the color is not a DQ, its points off. Getting a male with silver rather than gold is my preference if I can't find a clear one.

White is pretty easy and if you have silver gene whites all the better.

Buffs are challenging for keeping the black & smut out or getting too light in color.

Start with high quality, with a breeder who has focused solely on the color you are interested in. The birds are liable to be pricey but will get you where you need to be quicker than buying hatching eggs or buying inferior birds that need work.

Most of these project colors you are seeing are breeders who have gotten their feet wet years ago when it comes to raising Silkies.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

Lavender or Porcelain?

Go with Lavender (self blue) is a recognized variety. You can improve the type of lavenders with blacks, though lavenders have come a long way in just a couple years and are improving by leaps and bounds.

Porcelain is an AOV and there is no written standard for the breed, it is not a color I'd suggest a first timer to work on until you've gotten your foot in the water with another color. Porcelain will be a great 2nd color because you can use lavender to cross Porcelain birds back to. Most porcelains are still in the development stage, they are still a very wide variety of shades and color differences out there.

Blacks are a great color to work on, nowadays its gotten so dilute (people using them in BBS pens then breeding the black offspring back around to get blacks that aren't 'pure' and true black anymore) Breed Black to black, weed out color in the hackles. There are many good breeders out there for blacks, so you'll have an easier time coming across black birds.

 

[austincoopersilkiesies]

I am now thinking about breeding black i am thinking about useing my pq/bq girl and will buy a male with good foot feathering scince that is my girls down fall may add another girl but idk for sure does anyone know a black silkie breeder in pa i know of cj silkies and rilly 10 but thats it.

 

[joe17]

Quote:
I would cull what you have and just start with nice stock from the same bloodline. When I first started I was told to stick with the same bloodline and breed those for a while first. When crossing strains, a lot of problems surface.

 

[austincoopersilkiesies]

dont know her bloodline she is a bq from hatchery parents so i dont know the bloodlines i posted this before people said i should just use better stock on my best girl or boy i will hopefully getting the new boy in the spring with the new coop

 

[Debbi]

I agree with Joe! Scratch what you have now, and invest in good quality birds. Even with two top show birds being used, there is NO guarantee that the chicks will be show quality, although you do stand a much higher chance. If you have a bird whose background is unknown to you, and you introduce another line, there is no telling what will pop up. Odd colors, faults, DQs that the breeder of the good bird has worked years on to breed out of his/her flock! Save your money up, and plunk it down on a trio (1 roo, 2 hens) of show quality, ADULT birds. It takes just as much time, work, and money to feed good birds as it does poor quality birds!