Silkie thread!

[chickieluver26]

From the picture Scarlet looks like a Black or is she Blue? I personally adore the Black and Partridge so love both your Silkies! However, your Partridge looks more like a roo than a pullet but then I'm not accustomed to non-bearded types. The Partridge seems to have fuller feathering on the feet than the Black. My Black at 2 months had a fuller round bonnet than Scarlet at 7 months but I don't show so what do I know? But you know what? - judging is prejudicial so no telling what they will be looking for. Do your best to follow the SOP guidelines with your entries and the rest is up to the judges. GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN - it will be a learning occasion. Let us know what happens, how many entries there were, what colors were represented, what the judges said during inspection, etc.

Zoey is a hen for sure. She lays an egg a day and is actually currently broody, even though we own no rooster! Scarlet has a rounder crest now and is a blue all the way. The pictures of Scarlett are about a month old, she isn't very photogenic!!thank you I will keep ya'll updated!!! Thanks again

 

[flocknfoal]

From everyone breeding Silkies on this thread it seems like everyone is mixing colors. In other words, I always thought breeding chickens was White to White, Black to Black, Partridge to Partridge, Buff to Buff, etc etc. and not Black over Partridge, or Red over White or whatever. For instance, an APA Ameraucana breeding can't have different colors parenting offspring but it seems like Silkie pairings are indiscriminate but still seem to produce a bevy of pure white, pure black, etc.

Can someone educate me?

I'm certainly not experienced enough to be an educator, but I'll share my observations. I think different people breed and raise silkies for different reasons (much the same as people breeding dogs, cats, and other domestic pets).

A lot of people just breed what they have and that's often mixed colors. In this case they are usually not working towards improvement of a specific color or in trying to improve for the purpose of showing. They are just enjoying their pets. These breedings sometimes produce solid white and solid black because of the nature of the genetics that produce white and black birds, but most often the birds have random colors showing. Many of these are truly beautiful birds, but they don't meet the Standard of Perfection and most wouldn't be able to compete as a specific 'standard' color.

Others are breeding specifically for improvement of the breed - which requires keeping colors separated like you describe above, culling heavily, and knowing how to select breeding pairs that will diminish undesirable traits and accentuate desirable traits. This is obviously a lot harder, but these are the breeders who produce the show winners. (some of these people also have project birds to produce new colors, but the same process is involved in terms of selecting pairs and culling heavily).

The only problem with breeding colors and other traits indiscriminately is that even if a bird appears to be 'standard' (phenotype - visible appearance) the genotype (the genetics that aren't visible) are not pure, so when these birds are bred, even to another bird with good genotype the offspring still may have random colors and patterns and other traits that would not show up in a SQ line of silkies where the desired color and traits have been selected for several generations. This makes it more difficult to find quality birds for breeding programs. That's not a judgment on people who do this. I have bred some adorable (and beautiful) pet quality birds because I don't yet have enough higher quality birds in the right colors nor are my facilities set up yet to keep everyone separate. Some would say I shouldn't do that, but I consider it 'practice' and part of my learning process.

As I said, just my observations - but I'm still new to all of this. I'm interested to hear what others have to add. You also might get different opinions on the genetics and showing thread than you would get on this thread. Hard to say.

 

[bardies]

Quote: I would agree with this - but also have specific observations on white and black birds. The color white is not a specific color gene, but rather a gene that acts like a mask. Sorry - I do not know any of the technical terms. So if you breed white with white - you will get white. HOWEVER, if you breed white to any other color - you can white. But this white will be carrying the other color genes with it - you cant see them and unless you know the breeding a ways back, there is no telling what is in there. This is why it drives folks crazy when people ask "what color will I get if I breed white...... " It doesn't matter what they say after that (unless it is white) because the answer almost always will be "who knows?" In the past, whites were used for type in development of some newer colors - but it is looked back on with regret in a color genetics kind of way.
Black has a specific genetic spot that is comes from, and although you can get a 'split' with black where the bird looks black but carry another color this is more easily manageable somehow. Blacks are also used to improve color quality in color types like splash and blue, or paint.
There is a silkie color genetic thread on BYC that is pretty interesting if you really want to get into it.

 

[austinbndr28]

 

[Fancychooklady]

I keep my whites away from my partridge . So long as you breed white / white you will always get white. But when you put white over any other colour it becomes unpredictable. White also dilutes.

Colours are a bit of a ' fad ' what was popular last season is ' old hat ' this year.
Whilst white isn't so popular this year I keep mine going , cause the tide will turn and I love the white anyway.

 

[austinbndr28]

I keep my whites away from my partridge . So long as you breed white / white you will always get white. But when you put white over any other colour it becomes unpredictable. White also dilutes.





Colours are a bit of a ' fad ' what was popular last season is ' old hat ' this year.
Whilst white isn't so popular this year I keep mine going , cause the tide will turn and I love the white anyway.

Nice looking birds. I bred my pair of black silkies last year and ended up with half of the chicks white and the other half black.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Nice looking birds. I bred my pair of black silkies last year and ended up with half of the chicks white and the other half black.

So one of your birds carries the white gene.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Here's my newest white silkie chick with surrogate mum.

 

[Sylvester017]

I keep my whites away from my partridge . So long as you breed white / white you will always get white. But when you put white over any other colour it becomes unpredictable. White also dilutes.





Colours are a bit of a ' fad ' what was popular last season is ' old hat ' this year.
Whilst white isn't so popular this year I keep mine going , cause the tide will turn and I love the white anyway.

It's interesting how the U.K. and Australia breed mostly the non-bearded Silkies. Being in the USA I'm more acquainted and personally partial to the full bonneted bearded varieties although I understand bearded and non-bearded are both accepted here. Last year's County Fair that I attended had a display yard dedicated to several bearded bantam Silkies with several cute little coops placed around the yard. Guess what - they were ALL White Silkies as that seems the most endearing color to get children and adults alike hooked to the little fluffballs. It always seems to be the variety most likely to catch a newbie's attention so keep breeding those Whites fancychooklady - Smiles!

 

[subhanalah]

Here's my newest white silkie chick with surrogate mum.

That is adorable! Thank you for sharing!