Silkie thread!

[Sonoran Silkies]

With everything, what makes the cull group versus what makes the keep group depends on the birds you already have, how far along you are in your breeding program and what you can afford. Ideally no one wants to keep anything except perfect birds. The reality is that there are no perfect birds. So, you keep the very best, or the ones whose traits yours lack and pass along those that will not benefit your flocks.

What is an obvious cull to one person is a keeper to another. If type is awesome, and other choices are lacking, single comb and toe issues are among the easiest to breed out (as compared with droop or split wing, wry tail, misshapen comb, etc.)

I'm at a point in my breeding where I don't want to keep or use birds with comb or toe issues except in project varieties, and even then I think long and hard about whether to keep or pass on. But a few years back I would and did. One of my best black cocks had only 4 toes on one foot, but he was awesome otherwise, great type and absolutely no leakage.

 

[chisNchickens]

Ooooohhhhhh Awwwwww....lovely! May I ask where you got him? How old is he?

My beautiful new boy. Just love him!

 

[Me & Jack]

Ooooohhhhhh Awwwwww....lovely! May I ask where you got him? How old is he?

He came from Judy Jones King in FL. He's only about 4 months old or so. Isn't he a doll?!

 

[TheRookie]

We are having to downgrade so Im going to have to sell a few of my Silkies at Chickenstock next month. I have no idea what to sell them for. They are from a hatchery so they definitely are PQ. They will be two months old, all black. How much do you think I should sell them for? Oh and if I end up with just a roo and two females, will they be okay together or will the male overbreed them?

 

[Suzierd]

Oh yes I've seen those, thank you

 

[Country Chickens]

Definitely a doll! I'll bet he's amazing when he's fully filled in!

He came from Judy Jones King in FL. He's only about 4 months old or so. Isn't he a doll?!

 

[chisNchickens]

Yes he is...almost as nice as my Bonk.

Does she have a website?

He came from Judy Jones King in FL. He's only about 4 months old or so. Isn't he a doll?!

 

[wjmccoy]

We have had silkies in the past, bearded ones that were docile. Last time we picked up some non-bearded which grew enormous brain-like combs and were not at all easy to get along with (I didn't know it was possible with silkies!). Is there a different temperment between bearded/non-bearded? Also, can you predict combs based on a flock? We are going to order eggs soon and I really want to try to avoid the brain-combs! Thanks for any help!

Jenny

 

[Hawkeye95]

We're back from the show!

Okay, so we did fine! My oldest did Showmanship for the first time ever. The leader did a couple of practice run thru's with him (on the side) before it was his turn. The poultry leader there was super nice! I totally loved her! And a couple of other parents helped him and pointed out some tips with showmanship before it was his turn. Anyway, after it was all said and done, he did great, but he forgot to take his bird out of the cage HEAD FIRST-- so he got disqualified. The judge told the leader that he was hands down the best one there and if hadn't been for that, he'd have won first place for his age. Not that he had all the holding and stuff down, he's 8yrs old and it was his first time-- but he was so impressed with his knowledge of the silkies and the parts on the body-- he named all the wing feathers, and body feathers (hackle, saddle, crest, primary, secondary, etc, etc...) Anyway, the judge thought he was going to trip my son up and asked him who brought silkies over to the "new world" and my boy responded back quickly, Marco Polo in the 13th Century! LOL Proud, I am. (Yoda's voice) We've been doing chicken flash cards for a while now to practice for it.

Our silkies did well, too. He said our cockerel only had a couple of faults and they were minor. Despite his comb being the perfect shade of mulberry-- his wattles were a bit too red under the beard. (why is that??? I noticed that when I was bathing him) He also said that his crest is a bit irregular, but it's not that big of a deal-- just would like more of a rounder shape to it. Our pullet did the best! She won first place in her breed and then she made it to the next round. It was down to 4 birds for best of class (bantam) and then it was down to two-- mine and this beautiful black bantam cochin and they won it. The judge came back and told my son he'd have won grand champion but that our pullet's crest just needed to be a tiny bit bigger-- he said, not by much. He said maybe after her first molt, it might be there. (maybe not--since I've never heard that before-- but he was patting my son on the back and telling him we had some of the best birds there) A LF Buff Orpington won Reserve. I think that was the BIGGEST BO I've ever seen!! LOL

 

[Hawkeye95]

oh! I took pictures, but I'll post those later. I'm super tired from driving nearly 4 hours to come home today. That was a loooong drive. Don't know if I want to go to another show that far away, but it was totally worth it for our first one.