Silkie Standard of Perfection

[Tropical Chickies]

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He is spectacular!

I second it

 

[ultasol]

Bubba is good looking. Amy, love that hen now owned by Premier. Have you been able to replace your white premier cock?

I loaned one of your white boys to Sheryl Butler. Both the white boys stayed nice and tiny.

 

[destiny_56085]

Most of the older cockerels I had held back had wing issues so they were sold locally at swaps. I have the youngest batch which are just starting to show who are the boys. I held back 2 of my older cocks and also bought 3 cockerels from Beth Sevinich this year. They will be a Premier/Linton cross so should be interesting to see how they mix with mine.

This is an example of the really young cockerels out of my incubator this year:

This is those 3 from Beth:

Here are some shots of pullets from this year..... only 1 of the white gals might not make the cut to go back in the breeding pen due to wings.

Good news on the blacks.... yesterday I just went and bought back 4 pair from a 4-H girl that bought from me in January. Almost 9 months old and not a single off-colored feather on them. Wooohooo! Still need work on getting comb size down, but correct shape and color at least. So now I have the 3 I held back for myself and 4 extra cocks on the blacks.
This is an example:

My buff and splash are another story. Only 1 buff cockerel has met by standards all year so far. The rest have been too dark, too light, too much smut, too light of skin, etc. The splash cockerel I held back is better than his father so I kept him and sold all the elder ones.

 

[blaundee]

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Cara, they are beautiful! Thanks for posting!!!

 

[averytds]

Such cute pics of the girls and their fluffies.


I think I remember Connie posting about the thefts.

Ours are locked up at the house, but I worry now when they have to be left at shows. Our last one there was a security guard or superintendent there when the building was open and it was locked up every night. One of our locals though I don't think it's even possible to lock the building.

Is that one of the white hens Connie showed at Sedalia? I spent all all day there

over the Silkies.

 

[blaundee]

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Would you mind posting a picture or description of the "wing issues" you are talking about for us newbies who are trying to learn?

 

[destiny_56085]

I think this is becoming more of a problem in silkies in the last few years. The wing is supposed to be held tight to the body and tucked up under the cushion.
Sometimes you just get loose wings where they are lazy and not horizontal to the body. This is not one of my birds, but a good example of what I am trying to show here. See how the wing is more perpendicular. You want that wing up horizontal and tucked under the cushion.

You get another circumstance where the primaries actually overlap the secondaries. Sometimes those primaries are twisted and sometimes they just don't lay flat to the body. It makes it almost like angel wing in geese sometimes. These are my birds and obviously there was a reason they were sold. Here are some examples.

Split wing is another problem. It is usually seen along with the twisted wings too. Spread out the fan of the wing in a natural position. There should be a flow of the feathers through the primaries and secondaries. If there is a noticeable break in the flow of the feathers, you are dealing with split wing. I don't have any pics of this. I know Hattrick has a good article with pics on their website about this.
Hope this helps....Amy

 

[TinyBirds]

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WOW!!!

Breathtaking!!

 

[TinyBirds]

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WOW! Gorgeous birds (even w/ the wing issue - they're so pretty!!!)

 

[blaundee]

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Thanks for posting those pics- and your birds are beautiful even with the wing thing!

I know what a split wing looks like, so no need to post pic, but thanks so much for the others!!!