Silkie thread!

[Sonoran Silkies]

Just got new pics of my 8 week old partridge silkie. Not sure if I am going to keep Brindle (boy or girl?). Has very nice feet and straight body. What do ya'll think?

Boy

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Well, it's been a while since I posted a picture of my older girl. A whole 13 months old now. Is it still too soon to sex them at this age? I'm not seeing any type of comb coming in yet. Chucks, forgot to look for wattles.

Blue splash, but this camera went with a real blue hue, not sure why. Anyway, I think she is pretty. )

At 13 months I'd say a girl

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Technical name is cerebral hernia. It is basically a hole in the skull, through which the brain protrudes. Sometimes as the bird grows the skull grows over the brain, closing the hole up, and sometimes not.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Not necessarily. You can get good crests with non-vaulted birds, too

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Okay, you changed that to weeks...so not sure. However, it IS a very pretty bird

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: I do see one major fault...her address is in CA instead of AZ

Her wings (and the rest of her) look loverly!

 

[littlecritters]

I know this is probably going to sound stupid and has probably been answered somewhere, but I just hatched out my first silkies.  All four are from the same breeder.  Three had the big topknot on their head and one doesn't.  What is the difference?

Thanks.

Check out this excellent article with photos written by Nikki Stetson of Hat Trck Silkies---> http://www.hattricksilkies.net/articles_vaulted_skull.html

 

[peepblessed]

Just got new pics of my 8 week old partridge silkie. Not sure if I am going to keep Brindle (boy or girl?). Has very nice feet and straight body. What do ya'll think?

I no expert but I think your pretty little partridge is too young to evaluate though I don't see any obvious problems. Someone on the partridge thread might give you an idea of sex.

 

[peepblessed]

I do see one major fault...her address is in CA instead of AZ

Her wings (and the rest of her) look loverly!

Thank you for your huge compliment!

 

[littlecritters]

There are judges out there that IMO are not as tuff as they should be on wings. Im only speaking of silkies. If ever one can find a show where Glenn See is judging it would be a great thing to show under him. He is hard on them and he is a Master breeder as well. He'll give a silkie a fine tooth comb over.
And with all the hot colors out there and people selling like crazy I think people have forgotten the structure of the bird should be a primary issue. What good is the color if the frame under the bird is mediocre. And from a breeder stand point if other flocks carry issues and arent being dealt with for the better of the breed and are (many) being spread all over the country and with split wings being a major issue and you need to make outcrosses for what ever the reason and you buy stock. What are you really buying? Your birds w/i your flock could be fine and carry no recessive for splits and offspring look fine (but are now carriers) and you sell or your the buyer thinking you have clean wings and you dont know. what happens? Kinda see a snowball a effect? Like the falling of Rome. Or really like have a mouse live in the walls of your house. It mates and eventually you have an over population of a major issue and its not so easy to treat and get rid of... Sad.

Being new to all this, I recently joined the American Silkie Breeders Club and am trying to read everything I can get my hands on. In regard to the above post, I understand the concern of purchasing birds that appear to meet standards but may carry genes with "hidden" problems such as split wings. Would some of this concen be mitigated by utilizing a pedigree approach to breeding, where parentage of individual birds is tracked? Wouldn't this allow a breeder to be more educated about new stock where they can easily see 4-5 generations of parentage? Tina