Silkie Color and breeding questions

[alisoncr]

So we have 11 'silkies' (pretty sure one is a half breed based on feathering). They'll be staying in their own flock, although we probably will take Mudblood (the half-breed) out and put it with our other flock. We've been able to identify some of which are boys and girls, but have a few questions.

1.) Which are boys/girls? / Are we right?
2.) Which rooster would be best to keep? (for color and genetics as we plan to let them breed and self-perpetuate over time)
3.) Any way to breed and get other colors with the silkies we have now?
4.) For the half-breed.. will she lay eggs earlier like other chickens (20ish weeks) or later like a silkie? We weren't even thinking about it, but saw our main rooster we think trying to fertilize her..

ps. Sorry for the unfluffy looking pictures.. it was a wet day yesterday, so they're all a little scraggly looking.

Age is 20 weeks:

Roosters: Pink #1-5 (we've heard 4,5, and a gray crow already)

Half breed: Hen? Pink #6 - she was supposed to be a full white silkie, but we think she's 1/2 white silkie 1/2 brahma - we got 12 eggs to incubate from a local seller and most were infertile (only 2 started development, this one and one other that stopped shortly afterwards with a blood ring at 7days - we didn't want baby chick alone as it neared hatching, so hence 10 more baby silkies )

Hens: Pink #7-11 - we think these are hens? They're much scragglier than our only other silkie owned (kids favorite pet silkie) we had that got eaten by an owl earlier this year, hence the idea of getting a 'few' more silkies.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

I would not keep roosters 3 or 5 as 3 has a single comb and 5 have wrong color comb

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Rooster 2 looks like a possibly blue partridge and number one has allot of leakage for a blue

 

[alisoncr]

I would not keep roosters 3 or 5 as 3 has a single comb and 5 have wrong color comb

What color comb should it be? I thought it was pretty close

 

[Cloverr39]

Take the silkie mix out of the pen. You won't get any purebred silkies from her and her color also won't work with the ones you have. Buff is usually only bred to buff. My silkie mix (Bantam brahma/silkie) started laying at about 6 months old.

Out of your roosters I would keep 1 or 5.
#1 is a blue with a bit of gold leakage. His comb is the right color. His body type isn't too bad either. With your hens he would have blue, black and splash chicks. Most likely some will have leakage.

#5 is a black. Both 4 and 5 are pretty similar. Both are blacks with wrong color combs. He would still have dark comb color chicks because your hens have dark combs. Some will have pink, some will have dark. 5 looks a bit fluffier and has a bigger crest. 4 also has some leakage in his neck. That's why I would choose 5 over 4. With your hens he would have blue and black chicks.

But that's just my opinion. Which rooster you keep is up to you and what you want to breed for.

It looks like you're right with everyone's genders.

The only other color I think you can get from these is if you keep a blue rooster you will get splash chicks. It might be different if 2 is a blue partridge. Then I believe you could get regular partridge (black and gold), but I'm not very familiar with partridge genetics.

 

[Cloverr39]

What color comb should it be?

It should be black or a dark, purple-ish grey color.

 

[Rhodebar Lover]

1-5 are cockerels and 6-11 pullets like you thought. #6 does look closer to laying than the other pullets so I would expect eggs decently soon! As for the cockerel I would keep, I like the look of #1 personally. He has a better crest than some and the proper comb type and color. He's black with leakage that typically isn't desirable but if you're mixing varieties anyways, color shouldn't matter in the "show sense." You'd just be breeding more birds with leakage but that's also a pretty trait when breeding for fun.