Silkie thread!

[drafthorserider]

I hope this is the right thread to post on...I am new to silkies and would love some critiques on some of my silkies. I would like to raise some and possibly do a bit of showing someday, so I want to learn what I am looking at and also learn what I may want to use (or not to use) for breeding. My flock is a work in progress as I am still learning what to look for and I am looking forward to some wonderful new additions in the coming months from some of the top breeders - so excited! These pics aren't great as my camera is on its way out and it was getting dark. All of these silkies are a bit over 3 months old. Please list good things/bad things etc, so I can learn. Thank you for looking!
White hen - she had a larger beard, but we trimmed it as she was bumping into the chicken door going in/out of the barn.


Terrible pics of the black rooster - everyone else is so tame and he thinks I am a murderer! He has, what I think to be a good, smooth walnut comb, but you can't see it in the pictures. Should he have more of a crest or is that something that will come in time? It is nothing like the white rooster below.


Bo, my white rooster. I was sure he was a hen until he stood beside me and crowed one morning. The first pic was a lounging pic from a week or so ago, but you can see his beard/crest well in it. You have to ignore it in the later pics as we had to trim it, because we were afraid our 2 year old would run him over, accidently of course, as Bo didn't seem concerned enough that he was running past him, so we wanted to be sure he could see everything to stay safe. All pics after the first are after our bad, though more effective, trim job. Bo has a comb that has quite a few 'horns' on it - no, it is not a single comb. Is this a something I definately don't want in my breeding program?



Does this black hen have split wing? I wasn't sure how to fan out her wing like some of the experts here did in their split wing photos. I definately don't want to use her for breeding if she has split wing.

Please excuse everyone's condition as they have been free ranging on our farm, so their feathering looks a bit unkempt.

 

[peepblessed]

I hope this is the right thread to post on...I am new to silkies and would love some critiques on some of my silkies. I would like to raise some and possibly do a bit of showing someday, so I want to learn what I am looking at and also learn what I may want to use (or not to use) for breeding. My flock is a work in progress as I am still learning what to look for and I am looking forward to some wonderful new additions in the coming months from some of the top breeders - so excited! These pics aren't great as my camera is on its way out and it was getting dark. All of these silkies are a bit over 3 months old. Please list good things/bad things etc, so I can learn. Thank you for looking!
White hen - she had a larger beard, but we trimmed it as she was bumping into the chicken door going in/out of the barn.


Terrible pics of the black rooster - everyone else is so tame and he thinks I am a murderer! He has, what I think to be a good, smooth walnut comb, but you can't see it in the pictures. Should he have more of a crest or is that something that will come in time? It is nothing like the white rooster below.


Bo, my white rooster. I was sure he was a hen until he stood beside me and crowed one morning. The first pic was a lounging pic from a week or so ago, but you can see his beard/crest well in it. You have to ignore it in the later pics as we had to trim it, because we were afraid our 2 year old would run him over, accidently of course, as Bo didn't seem concerned enough that he was running past him, so we wanted to be sure he could see everything to stay safe. All pics after the first are after our bad, though more effective, trim job. Bo has a comb that has quite a few 'horns' on it - no, it is not a single comb. Is this a something I definately don't want in my breeding program?



Does this black hen have split wing? I wasn't sure how to fan out her wing like some of the experts here did in their split wing photos. I definately don't want to use her for breeding if she has split wing.

Please excuse everyone's condition as they have been free ranging on our farm, so their feathering looks a bit unkempt.

Your birds are showing a lot of promise for their age but they are really too young to evaluate. That wing doesn't look great. Is it folding correctly (primaries under secondaries)? It may be split but again wings change a lot the first year. I would wait another two months and post pictures again. Even then it will be early to evaluate the cockerels.

 

[drafthorserider]

Thank you so much for the response. I will post again in a few months. It is good to have a time frame and hear that I may be starting in the right direction. With regards to the pullet with the wing - it looks odd when you actually look at it in person. It seems to me, though I have no experience with split wings and have never seen it in person before, that her primaries do cover the secondaries and seem to snap forward/upward over the others when her wing goes back in place. Sometimes they just look a little funny and sometimes they seem to lay really high. They don't stay consistently in one place and do catch your eye when she goes by, so that was my first indication that something didn't seem right. I will keep an eye on it too.

 

[jllynn601]

Silkies are known to go broody at young ages. She may have gone broody outside or she may have taken the two chicks into the woods since the dog was out there and she took them to safety.

She left the two chicks... She's the only one thats gone

 

[Jharper]

She left the two chicks... She's the only one thats gone

Could the dog have ran her up in the woods?

 

[Suzierd]

She left the two chicks... She's the only one thats gone

Did you look real good in the tall grass and bushes? Or anywhere she could be broody. I hope she comes back. Watch for that dog to be back.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

My silkie laid her second egg yesterday but thr trouble seems to be she has disappeared now... When I got home I always let all my chickens out to free range. My bigger girls go all over the yard and my silkie with her two adopted babies always stay near the back porch.
I heard my bigger girls squawk in the front yard and I ran outside and saw a dog run away from the back yard but with nothing in his mouth and not a trace of an attack. All chickens were accounted for except for her... We've got lots of trees around the yard so it's not possible that a hawk to get her.

Basically, what I'm wondering is... Is ths normal behavior for a silkie to disappear like this? My gut is telling me that she's wondered off into the weeds because she's gone broody and is trying to lay a clutch. My head is telling just be prepared for her to never come back

Trees will not prevent hawk attacks. However, a hawk attack will almost always leave feathers. She might have hidden or be broody, although they usually build at least a small clutch of eggs before going broody. Is it possible the dog got her and carried her off, then dropped her before you saw it?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I hope this is the right thread to post on...I am new to silkies and would love some critiques on some of my silkies. I would like to raise some and possibly do a bit of showing someday, so I want to learn what I am looking at and also learn what I may want to use (or not to use) for breeding. My flock is a work in progress as I am still learning what to look for and I am looking forward to some wonderful new additions in the coming months from some of the top breeders - so excited! These pics aren't great as my camera is on its way out and it was getting dark. All of these silkies are a bit over 3 months old. Please list good things/bad things etc, so I can learn. Thank you for looking!
White hen - she had a larger beard, but we trimmed it as she was bumping into the chicken door going in/out of the barn.


Terrible pics of the black rooster - everyone else is so tame and he thinks I am a murderer! He has, what I think to be a good, smooth walnut comb, but you can't see it in the pictures. Should he have more of a crest or is that something that will come in time? It is nothing like the white rooster below.


Bo, my white rooster. I was sure he was a hen until he stood beside me and crowed one morning. The first pic was a lounging pic from a week or so ago, but you can see his beard/crest well in it. You have to ignore it in the later pics as we had to trim it, because we were afraid our 2 year old would run him over, accidently of course, as Bo didn't seem concerned enough that he was running past him, so we wanted to be sure he could see everything to stay safe. All pics after the first are after our bad, though more effective, trim job. Bo has a comb that has quite a few 'horns' on it - no, it is not a single comb. Is this a something I definately don't want in my breeding program?



Does this black hen have split wing? I wasn't sure how to fan out her wing like some of the experts here did in their split wing photos. I definately don't want to use her for breeding if she has split wing.

Please excuse everyone's condition as they have been free ranging on our farm, so their feathering looks a bit unkempt.

The black boy's crest will probably not get much larger; maybe a bit. It depends on his age.

Look at the bottom side of the wing to see if she has an axial feather. When feathers are growing in (including after a molt), sometimes the wing looks split when the axial is not fully grown in. It is relatively easy to open the wing in a manner that makes it look split when it is not. So, basically, from the photos can't really tell for certain.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Thank you so much for the response. I will post again in a few months. It is good to have a time frame and hear that I may be starting in the right direction. With regards to the pullet with the wing - it looks odd when you actually look at it in person. It seems to me, though I have no experience with split wings and have never seen it in person before, that her primaries do cover the secondaries and seem to snap forward/upward over the others when her wing goes back in place. Sometimes they just look a little funny and sometimes they seem to lay really high. They don't stay consistently in one place and do catch your eye when she goes by, so that was my first indication that something didn't seem right. I will keep an eye on it too.

Since she is young, every time you see the wing folded incorrectly, refold it correctly. You could also tape it correctly for a couple of weeks and see if it improves. I've also heard of trimming the wings to remove weight and help them learn to fold it correctly. I've never tried this.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Is there any way that I could just take the porcelain one? I already have a partridge and am trying for one of each color so no duplicates. How much are you asking also? Thanks.

Sure, I have quite a few of those I just grabbed those 3 chicks to show difference in color. I'm asking $5 each, they're almost 2 weeks old now (most of them, that porcelain in the picture is a little younger, she was stolen from another broody, haha).