Silkie thread!

[destiny_56085]

 

[destiny_56085]

I borrowed these pics from feathersite. They are not silkies, but they show good examples of what the partridge color SHOULD look like. The pencilling is a bit blurred on the silkie feathering.

 

[Teresaann24]

Quote:
Thanks for the information I meant to say penciling I don't know why I said barring.

 

[NewToFarming]

Great info! Thanks!!!

 

[Cargbrock]

I am so excited. I just got 6 white silkie chicks from cackle Hatchery in yesterday.

One isn't the same color as the others. It's more of a grayish brown color. it also has a toe that curves inwards. Is that a problem?

 

[CarolinaChickenKeeper]

Quote:
I live in Syracuse. It's rained here for most of the last 6 weeks. All my silkies are alive & well.

You can get them get wet AND feed them after midnight, too!

HaHa... I'm sure they can get wet, but for an inexperienced chicken owner whom might not know any better, a chicken can get chilled or even drown in the rain if they aren't put up. I experienced this personally and lost "several" chicks this week.

 

[tgrlily]

Quote:

HaHa... I'm sure they can get wet, but for an inexperienced chicken owner whom might not know any better, a chicken can get chilled or even drown in the rain if they aren't put up. I experienced this personally and lost "several" chicks this week.

I think making sure they're securely in their coop for the night is a necessity regardless of the weather. Sorry you lost some. That happened to us last summer when our niece was house-sitting. She left them out overnight. We lost two beauties. It wasn't raining.

They're chickens -- they can go in the rain with no problem.

 

[matthewschickens]

Well, I'm happy to say that I'm joining the ranks of Silkie owners at last! I came home from a swap today with a black roo, a black hen, and a white hen. Is that an okay ratio? (I also have another bantam with them).

 

[robin416]

Quote:
OK, you've confused me. Which birds are supposed to be carrying the lavender gene?

If any of them are carrying it you have to breed the offspring back to the parents to see who might be carrying a copy of lavender. The problem is you said, blue and splash. Those are two of the worst colors to breed lavender to. Even if you got one to hatch out light you can't know for certain its lavender since the lighter tone of blue of some Silkies is visually very much like the lavender.

Kasey08 has a pic in the lavender section of a light blue hen. If you see it you think lavender. But I know who the breeder is and know that there is no lavender in that bird.

Ok, I bought a bunch of eggs and got about 7 chicks to hatch. All where dark in color. They are a year old and spent the winter laying and hatching eggs. The parents I have are blue, blue splash, black and the roo is black with white on his head to his shoulders. Looks like paint was poured over his head. Anyway the person I got the eggs from that some of them came from lav splits. The blue one and the roo actually where the ones that had lav split on the eggs. They apparently are siblings and I bread them and got alot of pullets and cockereals form them but only kept a few. I kept a blue cockereal and a pair of blacks.

The other 2 splash hens I got from the auction, they look to me as if they are lav splash. There may not be such a color but that's what color they appear to be. They aren't a blue splash. I don't know their background.

I did see the pics your talking about and I did think that one was lavender. Silkie colors are so confusing to me. They are very complicated. I can put them together to find out what they produce, I guess. I doubt I would get a lavender. If I could get my hands on a lav roo that would solve the issue. I was told if I put those 2 hens with a lav roo I would get lav chicks. But not 100% of course.

Without two copies you can not see lavender. So those splash that look like lav in the background probably are not carrying a lav gene. The background color on a splash can vary widely. From a nearly white to a medium blue.

 

[tgrlily]

Quote:
Ok, I bought a bunch of eggs and got about 7 chicks to hatch. All where dark in color. They are a year old and spent the winter laying and hatching eggs. The parents I have are blue, blue splash, black and the roo is black with white on his head to his shoulders. Looks like paint was poured over his head. Anyway the person I got the eggs from that some of them came from lav splits. The blue one and the roo actually where the ones that had lav split on the eggs. They apparently are siblings and I bread them and got alot of pullets and cockereals form them but only kept a few. I kept a blue cockereal and a pair of blacks.

The other 2 splash hens I got from the auction, they look to me as if they are lav splash. There may not be such a color but that's what color they appear to be. They aren't a blue splash. I don't know their background.

I did see the pics your talking about and I did think that one was lavender. Silkie colors are so confusing to me. They are very complicated. I can put them together to find out what they produce, I guess. I doubt I would get a lavender. If I could get my hands on a lav roo that would solve the issue. I was told if I put those 2 hens with a lav roo I would get lav chicks. But not 100% of course.

Without two copies you can not see lavender. So those splash that look like lav in the background probably are not carrying a lav gene. The background color on a splash can vary widely. From a nearly white to a medium blue.

I am so glad I'm not the only person trying to express that Lav over BBS is a bad BAD idea.

My advice -- and this is for all breeds, not just silkies. If a seller is offering lav/bbs birds - Don't buy them. If you buy Lavender birds but only have blue & splash - don't breed them - Buy yourself some black birds, or black split to lavender. You can easily tell a black chick from a lavender.