Silkie thread!

[tgrlily]

Quote:
You mean the rooster that is light colored on his top half & darker on the bottom half? That's not a split lavender. A black split to lavender looks black, solid black. Split means the chicken carries but doesn't display the lavender gene. Split doesn't mean half & half. Your "half & half" rooster could however father mixed color chicks like itself.

I know we're all on here to learn & I certainly don't know it all.
But I breed Project Lavender Orpingtons so I understand lavender. I really breed them selectively --- not just produce lavender chicks. I also breed BBS & White Silkies & only keep the best ones as my breeders. And I show & do very well. I find it extremely frustrating to see people call their silkies SQ on a swap thread when they clearly don't understand what they're doing or breed SQ Silkies or even know what they have!

Sorry if you think I was harsh --- but if I traded for those, I'd be really upset. Please figure out what you have before breeding them & passing them off as SQ.

I understand what your saying. We all start from somewhere and learn as we go. Maybe not all of us but in my case that's what i'm doing. I post pics to ask the experts questions because I don't know the answer and need to know because I want to learn. I take in what is told to me by those that know more and try to learn as much as I can. What I would just love is for somebody that knows silkies to come out and take a look and give suggestions and info. Pics don't help that much when somebody can see for themselves in person.

Ok, as far as the roo. The person I got the eggs from marked them as to what color they where (suppose to be) I had 1 chick hatch from the lav split egg. He turned out black and as he got older he started turning a whiteish around his neck and it spread to his head and sholders. This is him
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/1067/p1101101615.jpg
By emvickrey at 2010-11-02
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/3470/blacksplash.jpg
By emvickrey at 2010-11-01

Would this hen be a blue?
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/4701/chickens007.jpg
By emvickrey at 2011-03-20

He has produced offspring to look just like him. I even have a sizzle that the mother is a white sizzle and he is the father. The pullet/cockerel is a shiny black and around it's neck the feathers are black but lightly lined with white. Very pretty but i'm sure not a color one would concider correct. But I like the different ones.
I sold all the silkie and sizzle pullets and cockerels except for a few. I kept a black pair and a blue and 4 partridge silkies and the black sizzle with the white lacing 2 blue ? and 1 I have no idea what the color would be called but I just think it's beauiful. I have no idea if the sizzles are boys or girls right now. They aren't old enough to worry about it right now anyway.

The one up front is one of the blue? sizzles/frizzle and the one behind it that you can hardly see is the blue cockerel. The other blue sizzle/frizzle is lighter in color and has a crest.

I'm always up for info. Anybody have any for me.

Uhhhh... Please re read what I said. That is the bird I was referring to!

It doesn't matter if the egg said he was a pterydactyl (a winged dinosaur), writing on an egg doesn't make it so. Sometimes breeders aren't separated long enough to clear the previous roos genetic material from the hen. The person you got the eggs from might have thought it would be carrying lavender, but it was still mixed. Or they could've been blowing smoke... it happens. Not everyone is reputable. Not all who call themselves "breeders" are breeders --- some just put some chickens together & produce chicks. There's a difference.

People also breed lavender to BBS which is not a good idea --- particularly if you're learning. Not sure I could tell a lav silkie from a splash or a very light blue. Especially if the splash or blue is a product of 2 lav split BBS parents. I don't know why people put themselves through this.

 

[LeasureChix]

Quote:
Congratulations on your 9 so far. How long since your last chick hatched? Last time I had eggs hatching, I left the last ones for 2 extra days. Nothing happened but I have a real hard time just tossing them. Especially when they developed all the way up to that point. I haven't been brave enough to open them up like Colie does.

So... what do you have so far? (colors?)

See you Saturday,

Julie

 

[country freedom]

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[ultasol]

Quote:
I understand what your saying. We all start from somewhere and learn as we go. Maybe not all of us but in my case that's what i'm doing. I post pics to ask the experts questions because I don't know the answer and need to know because I want to learn. I take in what is told to me by those that know more and try to learn as much as I can. What I would just love is for somebody that knows silkies to come out and take a look and give suggestions and info. Pics don't help that much when somebody can see for themselves in person.

Ok, as far as the roo. The person I got the eggs from marked them as to what color they where (suppose to be) I had 1 chick hatch from the lav split egg. He turned out black and as he got older he started turning a whiteish around his neck and it spread to his head and sholders. This is him
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/1067/p1101101615.jpg
By emvickrey at 2010-11-02
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/3470/blacksplash.jpg
By emvickrey at 2010-11-01

Would this hen be a blue?
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/4701/chickens007.jpg
By emvickrey at 2011-03-20

He has produced offspring to look just like him. I even have a sizzle that the mother is a white sizzle and he is the father. The pullet/cockerel is a shiny black and around it's neck the feathers are black but lightly lined with white. Very pretty but i'm sure not a color one would concider correct. But I like the different ones.
I sold all the silkie and sizzle pullets and cockerels except for a few. I kept a black pair and a blue and 4 partridge silkies and the black sizzle with the white lacing 2 blue ? and 1 I have no idea what the color would be called but I just think it's beauiful. I have no idea if the sizzles are boys or girls right now. They aren't old enough to worry about it right now anyway.

The one up front is one of the blue? sizzles/frizzle and the one behind it that you can hardly see is the blue cockerel. The other blue sizzle/frizzle is lighter in color and has a crest.

I'm always up for info. Anybody have any for me.

Uhhhh... Please re read what I said. That is the bird I was referring to!

It doesn't matter if the egg said he was a pterydactyl (a winged dinosaur), writing on an egg doesn't make it so. Sometimes breeders aren't separated long enough to clear the previous roos genetic material from the hen. The person you got the eggs from might have thought it would be carrying lavender, but it was still mixed. Or they could've been blowing smoke... it happens. Not everyone is reputable. Not all who call themselves "breeders" are breeders --- some just put some chickens together & produce chicks. There's a difference.

People also breed lavender to BBS which is not a good idea --- particularly if you're learning. Not sure I could tell a lav silkie from a splash or a very light blue. Especially if the splash or blue is a product of 2 lav split BBS parents. I don't know why people put themselves through this.

First, in all black, doesn't matter if it's split for lav or straight, getting silver or gold off coloring in the hackle is not unusual. Those of us to choose to breed black are very familiar with this tendency, which is a fault, but a common one. It's a challenge particular to the color black in silkies at this point.

 

[tgrlily]

I breed BBS, not pure black in silkies. That's a LOT of silver leakage.

So the easiest way to test if he's a split would be to breed him to a pure lav girl.

 

[Teresaann24]

I get my Lav babies in less then two weeks now!!!!

 

[Colie <3]

Quote:
Congratulations on your 9 so far. How long since your last chick hatched? Last time I had eggs hatching, I left the last ones for 2 extra days. Nothing happened but I have a real hard time just tossing them. Especially when they developed all the way up to that point. I haven't been brave enough to open them up like Colie does.

So... what do you have so far? (colors?)

See you Saturday,

Julie

I thought I would barf the first time I did it

I got over it though since I really want to know what the heck is happening with my eggs that don't hatch. I'd recommend at float test at least before tossing them I only open the ones I'm 99% sure are dead already.

 

[Colie <3]

Quote:
Thank you for finally saying this I wanted to jump in but I wasn't sure what exactly was going on because you seemed pretty revved up for a couple of posts

I can understand what you were saying though especially about SQ egg swaps and sales. I think her roo *might* be a split even if he's a mixed color or just truly has a lot of leakage but who knows until he's bred back to a lavender or at least a confirmed split. I'd like to say I trust the people who I buy eggs from and I try and only get them from legit seeming people that can show me plenty of pictures of their stock but who knows sometimes....

 

[marquisella]

Quote:
Who are you getting the Lav's from? I am looking for them and it looks like I will have get them shipped if I can find someone who is willing to sell some to me!

I am willing to purchase outright, or trade. I have sq Marans, blue laced red Wyandottes and blue wheaten Ameraucanas. I'm in New York.

A chick from #7 dark egg

A few of my breeding blrws

A typical bw Ameraucana hen

Eggs I put in the incubator last weekend

 

[emvickrey]

I want to thank all of those that have been helpful. Although i've gotten different answers to my questions, I do my best with the info and suggestions I get. I'm new with silkies. I've only had them a year. I do have plans to change the roo in that pen. I have a cockerel that will replace him but of course he's not old enough. I have a black one and a blue one. But of course, i've been told that true black is hard to find. I'm sure the one I have isn't a true black because the roo in question is his father. But his mother is black. She looks black. The person I got the eggs that my adult silkies come from is a big egg seller on this site. So to a new silkie wanna be breeder that means they must know what they're talking about. I don't know any of you personally. I've never personally seen anybody's birds in person. So it would be impossible for me to know for sure it what i'm getting is actually what they say it is. I just trust that they are being honest with me.

When I post that I have this or that, it's because i've been told thats what it is. Although I can see what white is and black is i've been told that those colors are bsically a cover up of another color.

So what I would like to know is how do any of us really know that what we have doesn't have something else hidden in the genes? I still have a hard time with sexing these difficult birds.

I have eggs I got from somebody else on this site and have more due to be shipped to me. So hopefully I can get new blood to add to my flock and hopefully straighten all this out. I'm not in this for the money. It would be nice if they paid for themselves though. My goal is to have all SQ silkies in my pens and separated by color. Not that I want to have the prestige of owning such beautiful birds but because I enjoy them. I do want to have some win in shows and not so I can brag about it but just to be able to participate in the shows. Good quality silkies are hard to find in my area. So I depend on ya'all for the eggs to hatch out and breed to improve the flock. I know it takes time and i've just started.

What would be nice is those of you that do have those beautiful fluffy chickens to share some eggs from time to time with those of us that are actually trying to learn and improve the breed. I did get an offer from somebody to sendme some of their eggs. That was very nice of you and I would of course accept them and do my best to use them to improve the quality of my flock.

The previous conversation ws getting a bit heated and I figured it was time to just let it be and stop responding. I realize the roo in question is not what I was originally told it was. He is still a favorite no matter if he's bad quality. I think he's beautiful and I enjoy his company when I go out for my visits to the coop. And so does he. He will be a permanant resident of our household. He will most likely get a pen with the sizzles but he will still be breeding.

I will move the splash over to the bbs pen knw that I know that breeding them to a white won't lighten the color in their chicks. Thats what I was told. I don't want to misrepresent what I have thats why I ask you all questions.

If anybody is willing to help me out a little by send me some better quality eggs I would greatly appreciate it and when my flock is a better quality I will return the favor to somebody else that wants to improve theirs. I certainly won't turn down free eggs.
If nobody does then thats fine too. I'll just continue in the one and only one swap thread when my girls pick up the pace with their laying.

It would be nice if those that do owe me eggs from the swap to either notify me as to why they haven't been sent or let me know when they will be sent. I still have eggs hatching in one bator and duck eggs in another. And the third bator is half full. I'm only owed 6 silkie eggs and 12 duck eggs. I have room for somemore silkie eggs. It's pointless for me to hatch my own becaue I would just be replenishing what I already have instead of improving it.

I've probably rambled on long enough. Time to go and cuddle my silkies.