Silkie color breeding questions...

[Matilda Belle]

Currently I have the following silkies:

Roosters:
Partridge
Black with silver leakage
Red Buff with black tail
Yellow buff with gray tail
White
Red Pyle

Hens:
Partridge
Splash
Black split white
White split black

When it comes time to hatching in the spring, which would you put together? What sort of colors can I get from these combinations? I believe the best chance of getting red pyles is putting my red Pyle rooster with my partridge hen. Is that right?

 

[NNYchick]

This was copied from pine hill Silkie page, it is an excellent resource.
“Breeding Responsively:

There seems to be a lot of talk about what colors to breed together... or not... As a person who breeds to 'show', I tend to be a bit of a purest... But here's some tips on what happens when certain varieties (colors) are crossed and what that means later on down the line...

What NOT to cross:

Paint to Buff - Will most likely add black (smut) or Partridge traits to Buff chicks and red (DQ) into paints and/or black birds!

Buff to Black - Buff silkies should be a lovely even shade of orange / gold. [Think Buff Orpington]. It's very hard to breed black (smut) out of buffs, as it keeps popping up for multiple generations, ruining a buff line.

Buff to Blue- or Blue to Blue Cream. Blue Cream is a delicate balance of Lavender (Self Blue) and Buff. Self Blue is NOT blue.. So folks that are trying to get Blue Cream out of blue genetics (instead of Self Blue) are going to end up with Wheaton based Blue Partridge looking birds.

Buff to Partridge - Wheaton Partridge is okay, but not the SOP and more importantly, Partridge will add black into the buffs.

Paints to Blue - Will add diluters into the black spots of the Paints making Paints "look" like blue splash silkies. And again, most likely, will add the red gene into blue birds.

Any 'red gene' (Partridge, Red Pyle, Red, Red Buff etc).. into Greys, Blues or Pure Black or Paint - No, they are not "Calico's". It's introducing a DQ (red) into a solid line. This red may show back up many many generations down the line... It's a nightmare for SOP breeders.

Here's are some accepted crosses:

Paint to Silver based solid (recessive) White or Black

Black to Blue or Splash

Buff to Buff - breeding lighter to darker birds

Grey to Grey - breeding lighter to darker birds

These are just simple suggestions... I'm not here to police everyone's breeding program!

And even though you may fancy yourself as an amature backyard breeder.. no one keeps all of their chicks, year after year. So if you love the breed... it would help everyone on down the line, if folks were a bit more careful about what they are sending out into the "market" as a pure Silkie... Those hidden genetics will pop back up, and if a future buyer decides to get serious about a breeding program.. it could make a huge difference in how well they do...

Just something to think about...”

 

[Matilda Belle]

Thanks for the information. I guess my question is more like what sort of combinations would I get with these colors? I was thinking the following specifically:

Red pyle rooster to partridge

White rooster to white split
White rooster to black split
White rooster to splash

Black with white leakage rooster to splash
Black with white leakage to black split
Black with white leakage to white split

Any other fun combinations I should try? I'm not a professional, just in this for fun and eggs.

Also, how do I get more buffs without a buff hen?

 

[NNYchick]

I have never heard of "white or black splits" what is that? The term split is usually in reference to a bird having come from parents with a certain gene for example when paint silkies are bred you can get paint, black and white chicks from this mating the black and white chicks are referred to at black split to paint or white split to paint which means you want to keep them in paint breeding as they carry the paint gene.
If you are going to mix colors there is no way to predict what to expect and you will not get any true standard colors, you will get pretty fluffy non standard variety. If this is what you want to do it is very important that if you re home chicks or sell eggs you be completely honest with the person that they are from mixed color breeding so they have full disclosure, many people have had their breeding programs and years of hard work ruined because of non disclosure.
I think the black with white leakage you are referring to may be silver leakage if this is the case you want to keep him with black and splash. White you really want to keep with white. Red pyle would be ok with partridge because they are both gold based. Buffs only come from buff so there is no mixing to get them.

 

[Matilda Belle]

Great info! That helps! The person I got the black split told me it was black split because it has white spots when it was younger. She may have said black split to paint. Sorry if I said it wrong.

I will be very honest when selling the chicks. No worries there at all.

So there is no way to get more buffs if I don't have a buff hen?

One more question, how long do you have to have the rooster in with the hen to fertilize? My hens are currently in with two roosters that I don't plan on breeding together. My plan is to put the hen into a separate pen with the rooster I intend to breed with. When I put the hen in with the rooster she will obviously be fertilized. Should I dispose of the eggs for the first 30 days, then keep the eggs after then? Does that make sense?

 

[NNYchick]

I took a look at your Facebook page you have listed. You have nice birds. You have a lot of boys, which ones are the girls I saw a partridge girl and a black girl. A hen stays fertilized by a rooster for about 3-4 weeks after the last mating, so to get a specific pairing you would separate her from all boys for that time before being sure that the eggs are fertilized by your choice rooster. Another consideration I see your flock is young, it usually takes awhile for young pullets and cockerels to get it "right" before you start seeing fertilized eggs and it is also best to let a new laying pullet lay for a couple months before you hatch the eggs as her first eggs are usually small and the chicks will be less viable.

 

[Matilda Belle]

I do have quite a few boys, lol -- 6 to be exact. I have 4 hens. My birds are between 6-9 months.

My roosters are:
Partridge
Black with silver leakage
Red Buff with black tail
Yellow buff with gray tail
White
Red Pyle

Hens:
Partridge
Splash
Black split paint (I got it right now! )
White split paint

Three of my four hens are laying. One laid at 5 months old. I currently have one broody and I've been taking the eggs from her. It's winter and it just isn't the right season for babies. Poor girl. All three have been laying for about 2 months I think. I don't plan on breeding until the spring/summer (even though tempting with a broody).

I don't have a lot of space to work with, but I have two pens currently, and could add one more. In one pen I have four roosters, and in the other pen I have the four hens with two roosters (the roos are in there because they were getting picked on and I felt bad for them).

 

[NNYchick]

Lucky you having 2 pens, I need to figure out a good way to divide things up. You could do your set up 2 different ways. Boys in a bachelor pad and girls in there own space or silver base breeding pen (black w/ silver leakage roo with black and white spilt to paint girls, this will most likely give you black, white and paint chicks and pick one gold based boy and put your partridge girl with him and get more gold based girls. Now Red pyle in silkies is basically red paint, instead of white with black spots the red comes through. Your red pyle is nice and with some selective breeding (get him nice red partridge girls with dark combs) you could get some nice chicks down the road.
Broody is the name with silkies. I currently have 2 sharing eggs because I found their hiding spot after Christmas and did not know how long they had them so I let them keep them. My facebook page is Snow Angel Silkies on FB.

 

[Matilda Belle]

What do you do with the boys who are picked on? I can't stand watching it.

The red pyle is my favorite but he's got a real attitude towards other chickens.

 

[Matilda Belle]

My facebook page is Snow Angel Silkies on FB.

I love your big puffy white hen! I want to make one like that with my white rooster.