Silkie thread!

[Fancychooklady]

Also - a question, since I'm no good at comb genetics. Both of my cocks have pretty awful combs - Midwest's is single/pea-ish, and Montana's is... probably the ugliest, bumpiest rose-ish thing I've ever seen. Yes, I know, I should be starting with better type, but I was more interested in plumage color and what was available when I was acquiring the birds. My hens, on the other hand, have very nice combs. All of the offspring I've hatched so far excluding one have inherited their mother's combs. Assuming I breed these ones with good combs to other birds with good combs, are the chances of the comb breeding true pretty good, or is there a good chance those nasty grandparent genetics show up in the offspring?

I pull any nasty combs out of the breeder pens. I have one roo that has Devils horns but apart from that he is great. From memory the head is worth 30 points in the show ring , so it really is something you want to get right. In saying that, type is probably the main thing to breed for , followed by plumage . I have found breeding out bad combs to be quite time consuming and prefer to start with the best I can find. However with project birds you pretty much have to take what you can get and continue to cull out any of the offspring that don't make muster.

http://www.americansilkiebantamclub.org/standard.htm

 

[Sylvester017]

Red bleaching from our past brutal sunny days!

Taylor is a most spectacular Silkie!

Very handsome!

 

[Kelxey]

Hi everyone!! We hatched out 5 silkies recently from 6 eggs which was an awesome surprise for us Here are some photos

They are all different colours (white, black, grey, patridge and a white-ish one but he has caramelly bits to him, not sure what colour exactly you could call him)

I handled them lots and they sleep on my lap! My favourite is my black chickie because she is the most inquisitive and always wants to be held

 

[thecreekhouse]

Why do you think Silkies roost Ina heap on the floor instead of on a roosting bar?

 

[Rocky64]

What could you get from breeding a white silkie rooster to a partridge hen? I know it could be anyone's guess because white can be recessive but I was just curious; I have a few of the white/ partridge eggs due today as well as a few from both white parents and one of the white/partridge eggs is already pipped, too bad I have to go to school so I'll maybe miss out on the hatching but hopefully it holds off till I get home. I know I could just wait and see but I'm the curios type lol

 

[QueenMisha]

What could you get from breeding a white silkie rooster to a partridge hen? I know it could be anyone's guess because white can be recessive but I was just curious; I have a few of the white/ partridge eggs due today as well as a few from both white parents and one of the white/partridge eggs is already pipped, too bad I have to go to school so I'll maybe miss out on the hatching but hopefully it holds off till I get home. I know I could just wait and see but I'm the curios type lol

There's literally just no way to know unless you know their ancestry. I recently test bred my two white hens; it turned out one was hiding Partridge and the other Blue (or maybe Splash - I'll have to do more work with that one to be sure). It's a hard wait but it's fun to find out!

 

[Rocky64]

There's literally just no way to know unless you know their ancestry. I recently test bred my two white hens; it turned out one was hiding Partridge and the other Blue (or maybe Splash - I'll have to do more work with that one to be sure). It's a hard wait but it's fun to find out!

Yeah genetics are tricky, but very interesting to play around with, I bred my white ones last year and both chicks were white, so there's a good chance that at least one of the parents have a dominant white gene, if not both of them. I'm anxious to find out what color the partridge eggs are going to be. Good luck with your breeding testing.

 

[chickachickayea]

Babies will be 6 weeks old this Sunday! They've been outside for almost 2 weeks and have adjusted very well. First few nights I had to physically put them up in their roosting "loft", as I like to call it, since their ladder climbing skills weren't that great. Now they know once the sun starts setting, to go up for bedtime! Sometimes I have 1 or 2 late night party animals when I go to check on them around 8.

I've discovered that they really love lamium that grows rampant in our yard, along with dandelion greens and when one finds a worm it is a hilarious celebration worth watching.

Still playing the waiting game to determine who's a cockerel or pullet. I think I've got some ideas though...

Got its beak stuck in the fencing I'm thinking girl?

Thoughts?

I'm eyeing that one on the right... Roo?


Also, if they have more pronounced wattles, does that mean it's a male? These are my first chicks, so I'm still learning! BYC has been an awesome resource!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Very cute! I'd reserve judgement for now. Your Silkies appear to be non bearded, which means even your little pullets will have obvious combs and wattles.

One of my chicks got its beak stuck in the hardware clothe, cracked it right up the side. It's FINALLY starting to look semi normal again!

 

[chickachickayea]

Very cute! I'd reserve judgement for now. Your Silkies appear to be non bearded, which means even your little pullets will have obvious combs and wattles.

One of my chicks got its beak stuck in the hardware clothe, cracked it right up the side. It's FINALLY starting to look semi normal again!

@howfunkyisurchicken Thanks! I figured as much... The waiting game continues! I was out with them yesterday and saw it struggling by the hardware cloth and it yanked it out, luckily it only managed to get a small scrape off the top.