Buffs... my stubborn project that are almost impossible to get right. I'll try and keep it simple.... The standard itself is self up for failure. They want the gorgeous golden buffs like in other breeds, however they forget that silkies have black skin to deal with. Genetically speaking, you are dealing with 2 main bases for buff: wheaten and partridge. Wheaten bases are those pure golden buffs that we all desire to get. That however goes hand in hand with the lighter skin color, which is a disqualification if you get the red combs, lighter eyes, etc. Add in the partridge base and you get back to the dark combs, eyes etc. That is also responsible for the dark in the tails, wings....aka smutty coloration. You aren't DQ'd like for the red combs, but you are faulted if there is a lot of smut. You pretty much need the perfect balance of the 2 genes and raise ALOT of babies to get those few perfect ones. Deal with all those color issues on top of basic conformation (type, wings, toes, etc), depth of feathering, etc and you really have your work cut out for working with this color.
Paints are pretty and have come a long ways in the past few years. They just aren't in the standard yet and can only be shown as NSV - non-standard variety. They can't compete for overall breed classes and thus can't get on champ row.
I actually found that article on Show Bird Bid forum and I think there is some discussions back on TheCoop.Org on the topic.....
My silkies don't roost at all either... My bantam polish can sometimes fly up to try and roost, but can't figure out how to get back down. Fun dealing with crested/bearded breeds....
THEY ARE so cute! How did you dye them??
so funny! Is it okay for them? Food coloring cause cancer! 
