Silkie thread!

[Hinotori]

Weighed a few 3 month olds. The littlest pullet who is a normal size weighs 13 oz. The largest pullet (LF project) weighs 1 lb 9.75 oz.

I was going to find a few silkies at the big swap in Oregon today to add new blood. I'm a bit paranoid since there was a couple flocks in in SW Washington that tested positive for avian influenza. The show later this month was cancelled as a precaution. I'll just wait and try at the late November show.

Mom is trying to convince me to breed for tiny silkies as well. I told her I'll get her a few serama. Breeding larger silkies without crossbreeding is enough on my plate.

 

[FirstTimeClucky]

Can be genetics. Cockerels do get bigger than hens. All of my silkies will get in the nesting box. Roosters will check out spots and call hens over to see the nice nesting spot they found.

Is there red coming in on the wing bows of the partridge? At 4 months all my boys have a ton of red.

He doesn't have much red at all. His neck and chest feathers have come in straw coloured with a dark brown/black stripe in the middle. He still has the banded wing feathers. His underside ("bloomers") has turned pale grey.

This pic was taken about a week ago. He's pretty much the same now.

 

[Hinotori]

He doesn't have much red at all. His neck and chest feathers have come in straw coloured with a dark brown/black stripe in the middle. He still has the banded wing feathers. His underside ("bloomers") has turned pale grey.

This pic was taken about a week ago. He's pretty much the same now.
View attachment 1155195

Still say pullet because of coloring. Cockerel would have lots of red. I'll try and grab one tomorrow for a pic

 

[Hinotori]

Yeah. Too dark. He just wanted back in bed

 

[FishMtFarm]

So would you say this odd colored partridge is a cockerel cause of the red in it?

 

[Hinotori]

So would you say this odd colored partridge is a cockerel cause of the red in it?

View attachment 1155299

I'm iffy on it. Likely cockerel. Usually red leakage is a sign of male in any breed.

The partridge actually get red in a predictable way so fairly easy to tell.

Red is really red. Not brown.

This is a partridge bred pullet that first feathered in dark. She's looking more dark partridge as she gets the adult feathers in.

 

[Hinotori]

Ok. I got a few pictures of the now 13 week olds for reference. I had thought I'd gotten rid of the gene for the black heads a couple years ago, but two chicks hatched with it this year.

Cockerels. You can see what I mean by red.

Pullets. Once they are around 10 weeks or so they have the same coloring as adult hens. I hatch both the lighter and darker partridge as I haven't gotten that standardized yet even if I have pretty much gotten rid of the orange males.

 

[FirstTimeClucky]

Ok. I got a few pictures of the now 13 week olds for reference. I had thought I'd gotten rid of the gene for the black heads a couple years ago, but two chicks hatched with it this year.

Cockerels. You can see what I mean by red.

View attachment 1155594 View attachment 1155599 View attachment 1155601

Pullets. Once they are around 10 weeks or so they have the same coloring as adult hens. I hatch both the lighter and darker partridge as I haven't gotten that standardized yet even if I have pretty much gotten rid of the orange males.

View attachment 1155607 View attachment 1155613 View attachment 1155614

Yep - the pullet on the left in the second last pic looks a lot like my partridge. The one on the right looks like she's got a bit of banding on the wing feathers.

 

[Hinotori]

Yep - the pullet on the left in the second last pic looks a lot like my partridge. The one on the right looks like she's got a bit of banding on the wing feathers.

Some of mine do. The males get black wing feathers

 

[User395221]

How loud is a silkie's crow? Is it softer than "regular" cockerels? Just looking at those boys, they look so little compared to the heavy birds at the royal show.