Silkie thread!

[LadiesAndJane]

Any of you silkie experts wanna take another stab at my Gmork? Like 6 or 7 months old now. Not crowing. I sorta suspect a late blooming rooster. Pretty certain my other 2 silkie have streamers. But I have no idea what I'm looking at with a frizzle? View attachment 2258420View attachment 2258421View attachment 2258422View attachment 2258423View attachment 2258424View attachment 2258425View attachment 2258426View attachment 2258427
Here is the other 2, they are only about 11 weeks old.View attachment 2258438View attachment 2258439View attachment 2258441View attachment 2258440View attachment 2258442

I’m guessing all three are Roos! I am no expert, though your first one has a significant comb and the other two look like they have a broad comb space. They are all so adorable! Good luck!

 

[Christianson97]

My little silkie boy.. he’s about 4 years old now. Such a fluffy butt

 

[Chick_Maelle]

Here is my white silkie Peaches at about 1.5 weeks! She is now 2 months old. I’m taking some pictures later to show everyone. Definitely my favourite photo!

 

[LynnaePB]

Any of you silkie experts wanna take another stab at my Gmork? Like 6 or 7 months old now. Not crowing. I sorta suspect a late blooming rooster. Pretty certain my other 2 silkie have streamers. But I have no idea what I'm looking at with a frizzle? View attachment 2258420View attachment 2258421View attachment 2258422View attachment 2258423View attachment 2258424View attachment 2258425View attachment 2258426View attachment 2258427
Here is the other 2, they are only about 11 weeks old.View attachment 2258438View attachment 2258439View attachment 2258441View attachment 2258440View attachment 2258442

I'm usually pretty good at sexing my own silkies by 3 months old but take my word with a grain of salt especially when it comes to silkie chicks that come from hatcheries or from breeders with birds that are less poofy and have smaller crests.

Gmork's comb is definitely screaming rooster to me, I haven't had a hen with a comb that large yet.

The little naked neck silkie looks like a comb is starting to come in and I'm leaning more towards male with the comb and the way the crest is looking, I could be wrong though.

The last one I'm also leaning more towards being a cockerel with how the comb and crest is looking.

 

[CaliFarmsAR]

This is silkie heaven!!

 

[Mmanist]

I'm usually pretty good at sexing my own silkies by 3 months old but take my word with a grain of salt especially when it comes to silkie chicks that come from hatcheries or from breeders with birds that are less poofy and have smaller crests.

Gmork's comb is definitely screaming rooster to me, I haven't had a hen with a comb that large yet.

The little naked neck silkie looks like a comb is starting to come in and I'm leaning more towards male with the comb and the way the crest is looking, I could be wrong though.

The last one I'm also leaning more towards being a cockerel with how the comb and crest is looking.

That is my thoughts too. I was hoping I'd get a maybe on someone. No one has crowed yet. But I'm going to have to rehome at least one or 2. The buff will probably go first, and then see how the other 2 turn out. All three was bought from a breeder, who hatched shipped eggs, except Gmork she bought him from someone as a "pullet". So not much known on parents. I also have 3 silkie that are maybe 2 months old now, they also came from the same breeder. By the pictures, who would you choose? They are all laid back, and non aggressive, so far.. I have 2 blues and a partridge that I am thinking are pullets. So I was leaning towards keeping the frizzle or showgirl, for future hatches. I like blue color chickens, so i figure the buff one wouldn't be a good pairing to get blue chicks?

 

[LynnaePB]

That is my thoughts too. I was hoping I'd get a maybe on someone. No one has crowed yet. But I'm going to have to rehome at least one or 2. The buff will probably go first, and then see how the other 2 turn out. All three was bought from a breeder, who hatched shipped eggs, except Gmork she bought him from someone as a "pullet". So not much known on parents. I also have 3 silkie that are maybe 2 months old now, they also came from the same breeder. By the pictures, who would you choose? They are all laid back, and non aggressive, so far.. I have 2 blues and a partridge that I am thinking are pullets. So I was leaning towards keeping the frizzle or showgirl, for future hatches. I like blue color chickens, so i figure the buff one wouldn't be a good pairing to get blue chicks?

I'm not sure how valuable my input is as I'm still pretty new to breeding but I'm more than happy to share my opinion.

In terms of breeding to standard my favorite is your little show girl so far but he's still young and has a lot of filling out to do so it's hard to judge. I definitely see potential in him (shorter back, nice fluff, he looks to have excellent toe spacing (not as important but a plus). I can't see his wings well but it looks like they might be nice. I'm also not versed enough in partridge coloring to say if he is good or bad in that regard.

If you'd like to breed towards blue the drawback is he is partridge and gold based. Probably not a good starting place to start a blue line if you are wanting to breed to standard. It's a lot less important if you are just breeding for pretty/cute pets though!

Gmork would be my choice for the easiest route to breeding blues but he could definitely be typier. He's not too bad though and the fact that he is still nice tempered at 7 months is a definite plus! My boys are often stinkers by 6 months, sometimes they calm down and sometimes they don't.

You'll of course have to watch out and make sure not to breed him to other frizzled birds if you do go that route which won't be a consideration with either of the other two.

If you ever get a hold of a smooth satin hen or hens Gmork could make some adorable little frizzled babies (I only breed silkies but gosh those frizzled satins are gorgeous)! Satins aren't a recognized breed but a lot of people like them (especially the frizzled ones). Since they are bred to meet the silkie standard other than feather type a lot of breeders mix their silkies and satins and end up with all 4 feather types (smooth, frizzled, frizzled silkie, and silkie).

The buff is still young and may fill out more nicely (I like his wings from what I can see) but with his crest so small I'm not sure he'd make especially poofy offspring. And from a color perspective he's probably not great for breeding.

I'd wait a while longer before you get rid of any though, the younger two could still possibly surprise you and turn out to be girls (doubtful but you never know)!

 

[Mmanist]

They really aren't hurting anything to stay here. Just my feed bill I really don't do anything with my chicks except, keep them for myself, or give them to a friend for pet homes. I do have a extra cute black silkie/cochin cross, that I think is a pullet. Would make a nice future hen for Gmork (frizzle)! I have a mix bantam flock, of silkies (hope to have at least one of my last 3 be a pullet), silkie crosses, D'uccles, D'uccle crosses, seabrights, and polish. So the rooster would be covering a variety of hens. So I guess the main thing is what silkie to maybe get some better looking silkies. Im not overly worried about what the random mixes will look like. But if i hatch silkie hens eggs, then might as well have some good looking rooster to cover them. I think the one blue 2 month old should be pretty nice looking, as it grows up. Ill go snap some pictures.

 

[LynnaePB]

I don't think I've posted pictures of my silkies in this thread in a long time (maybe not at all). Here are some of my grow outs I'm keeping from this year. There are still lots of flaws I've got to work on in my flock but for the first year of breeding I'm pretty happy. They are all from paint breeding as that is the main color variety I am working on.

Some of the girls

This last one (Mini) sadly has wry tail/roach back so won't be used for breeding but I think she is adorable so I had to include her. She feels half as heavy as her siblings and is just a tiny little thing (despite the fluff making her look only a little smaller).


And here are some boys.

Both the same boy, Frances who is getting to be a little booger (not attacking but he's doing a lot of tidbitting in that challenging way, hopefully he'll calm down but we'll see.

This guy is a little younger and still filling out, I'm guessing his crest will stay small but his sisters crests are great so I think he still has potential. If I do use him he'll be over black from paint hens to hopefully get paint and to help with his pigment issues.

 

[CaliFarmsAR]

I don't think I've posted pictures of my silkies in this thread in a long time (maybe not at all). Here are some of my grow outs I'm keeping from this year. There are still lots of flaws I've got to work on in my flock but for the first year of breeding I'm pretty happy. They are all from paint breeding as that is the main color variety I am working on.

Some of the girls

View attachment 2258565
View attachment 2258575
View attachment 2258576
View attachment 2258578
View attachment 2258579
This last one (Mini) sadly has wry tail/roach back so won't be used for breeding but I think she is adorable so I had to include her. She feels half as heavy as her siblings and is just a tiny little thing (despite the fluff making her look only a little smaller).


And here are some boys.

View attachment 2258589View attachment 2258590
Both the same boy, Frances who is getting to be a little booger (not attacking but he's doing a lot of tidbitting in that challenging way, hopefully he'll calm down but we'll see.


View attachment 2258604

This guy is a little younger and still filling out, I'm guessing his crest will stay small but his sisters crests are great so I think he still has potential. If I do use him he'll be over black from paint hens to hopefully get paint and to help with his pigment issues.

They are beautiful!