Silkie thread!

[ScaredOfShadows]

Blue Boy : body and overall type looks great. Things that I don't like about him - his wings. Looks like he has split wing which is genetic and a DQ for showbirds. Also does he have horns on the top of his comb? I can't tell if its his comb I'm seeing or just fluff from his crest... I have to say he has a great big showy crest, good coloring to the comb, great butt. I personally wouldn't breed him because of the split wing, its genetic and hard to get rid of but if he is all you have to work with then use him but keep any offspring without other DQs for as long as possible and any with split wing as they hit the 3-4 month range cull out and sell as pets.







Black rooster - I really like this guy. I can't see the wings well, but does his wings look like the blues? If you spread his wings out do you see a gap in them from the primaries and secondaries (the first set of feathers to where the shorter feathers closer to the body start about midway of the wing)? His comb, crest, feet, and overall type look good, though he is the one with the longest back but not too bad.







The partridge - crest, comb, cushion/butt, back, overall type, and feet feathering that I can see, all look good.








Try to breed him to slightly darker girls, because he is a ginger partridge - he should throw you some good female offspring, his color is not standard for a parti roo - they should have black chests. BUT when breeding partridge to get standard colored males and females its a balancing act that is best achieved with 2 pens for SOP males and SOP females. Breeding for the roo color gets you darker/blacker females where breeding for the really good girls gets you redder boys like your guy, I would definitely use him - but know you're probably going to get more boys out of him that are the ginger and not standard dark chested boys like you want to see.

 

[Debbi]

spowell ~ Nice boys all! Being a newbie to Silkies, you can take this for what it's worth. The one you have labeled as a Black; are you sure he isn't a dark Blue? Look at the undercoat, looks blue to me. He also has a twisted look to his comb?

The Partridge boy is nice, but the head should be red and the breast black. Even though he is only 5+ months old, I'm not seeing the black coming into the breast. Looking at his head, the red is going to come in, in a few months or less.

Overall, I would use any of these boys to breed. Hopefully Sonoran or someone with more experience will come along with a more detailed critique for you. Pretty boys IMO!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Country Boy-- mine go NUTS for the black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS). I just buy a great big bag of it at my farm store (Atwoods) and then scoop out a bit to sprinkle in their pens and they start diving for it. They will follow me for it-- also if you get a bird that escapes, VERY easy to bring them in close or just lure them right back into their run with BOSS.

 

[spowell]

Thanks, I have culled so many and these have made it this far. But, I'm still looking for better. They do not have split wings, he just had several broken feathers and he's molting right now. Actually all of them are. I have probably culled over a hundred chicks to get them narrowed down to 25-30 keepers (at least for now). I did cull a lot for split wings and realized that it must be a common problem. The other thing I found is wings that stack with the primary's on the outside instead of being tucked underneath. I will have to go look at the blue roo again, I don't think he has horns. Is that a DQ? On the patri roo thanks for the suggestions, I wondered what he was so bright. I have four hens for him and three of them are dark with blk crests, one is kind of diluted. I will have to work on another pen as you talked about. I have a little while, the hens are not laying as of yet. I have a lot to learn about color genetics, I am lost in that area. Thanks again Sharon

 

[yoie]

Ok another shot of my mystery colored silkie chick.
You can see at the base of the feathers are bluish, while the ends are reddish

The right wing is lighter in color and has white mixed in as well

The little mystery colored chick, any ideas?

 

[spowell]

Quote:


Thanks Debbi

 

[peepblessed]

Country Boy-- mine go NUTS for the black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS). I just buy a great big bag of it at my farm store (Atwoods) and then scoop out a bit to sprinkle in their pens and they start diving for it. They will follow me for it-- also if you get a bird that escapes, VERY easy to bring them in close or just lure them right back into their run with BOSS.

How could I forget sunflower seeds! I hand them out twice a day and they are gone in an instant!

Hawkeye, I candled my most recent batch of eggs by my roo and 8 out of 9 were developing!

 

[Debbi]

How could I forget sunflower seeds! I hand them out twice a day and they are gone in an instant!

Hawkeye, I candled my most recent batch of eggs by my roo and 8 out of 9 were developing!

Dried or live Mealworms!!!!!!!! They were really freaked out by them when they were young, but now, they dive on them! They will whine for more after the feeding frenzy! I will be starting my own Mealworm farm this spring, all my chooks LOVE them!!

 

[Sanna]

I'm going to be a pain in the butt and ask for more comments on this pullet. I got one answer so far that I could see. Maybe I missed others?

Would you guys care to comment on my blue pullet Lila? She's about 6 months old now. Is it too early to start even thinking of showing this bird? Or, does she even look show worthy? From what I have learned, I don't think she looks so bad. I have no decent picture of her feet as of now, even this picture is blurry as the camera focused on the fencing behind her and after this shot she turned her back on me. lol But for her feet, she has feathers on the outer and the middle toes. Seems that the feathers on her legs look pretty good, then again I could be wrong. I'm not an expert.
Does this little girl have what it takes?

 

[silkielover5]

URG! i was wondering wat ever happened to my white silkie eggs i bought and i was just about to email the breeder to see if she ever shipped them and then my dad found them in the garage!!!! the post office threw them in the corner of our garage!!!!!! without leaving a note or something to let us know about them. i have no idea how long theyve been out there!!!!!