Silkie thread!

[3LilBirds]

I don't have a lot to work with here-- I only have 5 silkies at this point! (more in the incubator..) My girls are more flappy than my boys. All 3 of my boys are super cuddly and sweet. I could carry any of them around for a long period of time and they just relax. My hens are more screechy and flappy... but hey, it could totally be personality! Or I could have some really backward birds. NO idea! But I will say that at 5 weeks-- as far as I know, there is no way to tell what you've got! I have a hen that even at 6 months-- I could not tell it was a girl! I thought she was a cockerel for sure because her crest was coming in all crazy and had what I thought were streamers. Once all the pin feathers came in, she really poufed out and I discovered He was a She at 7 months of age when SHE finally laid an egg! LOL The other girl I have-- she was super easy to tell right off. She just didn't grow in like that.

Thanks! Yeah my hubby keeps saying Roo but I'm like no Nugget is just special. LOL One thing I have noticed since putting my 3 new chicks (2 BR, 5wks &1 PR 3wks) in with my first 3 Nugget hangs out with the new ones more. One of the new ones is a pullet partridge rock 2 weeks younger then the rest and Nugget loves to lay his/her head on Tweety when they are sleeping. Nugget will walk over the other chickens just to get next to Tweety. It's rather funny!

 

[Teresaann24]

He is a silkie roo He has black skin, 5 toes, very nice feathered legs. Nice comb size & color decent crest. He is just a weird color..LOL I'v been told he would be considered a black with alot of gold leakage also was told he could be a red brown color. Yet bred to black he gives me coal black chicks bred to blue he gives me blue chicks and blue partridge chicks and chicks like him. I lost him but got his son back from someone I sold chicks to last year he looks just like him with the same coloring.

 

[peepblessed]

Zack and Barn Goddess-- are you all unable to import or order chicks/eggs from the USA to use in your breeding? I don't know what the laws are. It seems sad that it's so difficult to get nice birds. Very interesting about your standards being the same, just with a different looking type of bird.

Now that I'm having fertile eggs, I'm having incubator troubles. I'm using the Brinsea Oct and my real troubles lie in the fact that I think my digital therm/hygro is wrong. I'm thinking my therm is off by 2 degrees! I already salt tested my hygro and it's off by 9%. Where oh where do you get decent equipment that doesn't cost the earth??

I know just what you are going through with the thermometer, hygrometer. I finally got good ones (after buying 6 thermometers!). I personally do not like digital if it has to set inside. I have two thermometers that are perfect now. One is a digital probe (the first digital probe brand I bought was cheep and way off) and the other is mechanical. My hygrometer is only 2% off and is also mechanical. I can finally breathe when I incubate. The thermometers were $20 ea. and the hygrometer was $13. If you are interested I'll try to find the info for you.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

No one else has jumped in so I'll take a stab at it. Then they can come along and mop up my mess.

To get buff I'm pretty sure you need to breed buff x buff. I think if you breed your buff to partridge, you will probably get more partridges only without the standart coloring that's desired. If you breed anything but white to white, you are dipping your hand into the mystery bag and have no idea what you'll come up with. This is because white covers or hides whatever its other color is, and you don't know what that color is until you breed it to a non-white. This is generally not advised, at least not unless you know your birds bloodlines and are very experienced.

As for what your hen is, she doesn't look quite buff to me, but buff is a color with which I have very little experience. Maybe she's what people call a smutty buff? But I think that is usually tinting of black...not sure though. Maybe you could find a buff male for her? Cockerel's and roos are SO much easier to find than the ladies! And she is such a lovely girl!

Quote:
Pretty good evaluation Country!
I would not call the pullet buff, but rather a very dilute partridge. Smutty buff has a lot of undercolour. This girl appears to have a lot of penciling. instead.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
All whites have hidden genes. The chance that a white hides the very complex genotype for a good buff is pretty unlikely unless the white came from a buff flock and the pairing up of two recessive white genes.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Pretty sure that Canadian exhibitors belong to APA/ABA rather than having a separate organization. Sager has mentioned many times how difficult it has been to find Canadian silkie breeders. That she has found some silkie, has some knowledge of the standard and is trying to better her flock is commendable.

There is no definitive definition of show/breeder/pet quality. Everyone has a slightly different opinion, and a bird that is good for one person may not be for another.

To me, a breeder quality bird is one that has some features that will benefit a specific flock. What is needed by one breeder may be entirely different than what another needs. Quite frankly, there are a lot of birds with a DQ that may have other traits that make up for that DQ. And some birds with no actual DQs, but no actual benefits to a particular flock.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Way too much leakage to be even thought of as black. Looks more golden than partridge (S/s+ versus s+/s+)

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Zack and Barn Goddess-- are you all unable to import or order chicks/eggs from the USA to use in your breeding? I don't know what the laws are. It seems sad that it's so difficult to get nice birds. Very interesting about your standards being the same, just with a different looking type of bird.

Now that I'm having fertile eggs, I'm having incubator troubles. I'm using the Brinsea Oct and my real troubles lie in the fact that I think my digital therm/hygro is wrong. I'm thinking my therm is off by 2 degrees! I already salt tested my hygro and it's off by 9%. Where oh where do you get decent equipment that doesn't cost the earth??

The hassle with getting birds into Canada is finding a certified avian vet on the US side that can inspect the originating flock and submit the paperwork (VS form 17-6). It REALLY isn't a big deal for anyone in the NPIP program - all that is required on the form is an NPIP number, I believe - which anyone with decent breeding/showing stock in the US is apart of. (Kind of like the coggins test on a horse.) The issue is, finding the "certified avian vet"! Hatching eggs work the same as live birds. So it's basically a major hassle for US breeders and they have to be confident that the Canadian buyer is going to pay them for their troubles.

And they aren't supposed to be commercially shipped across the border (although it can and does happen). McMurray Hatchery and John Blehm (Ameraucanas) used to be willing to provide paperwork and ship to a border town post office. The Canadian purchaser can pick the eggs/birds up there and clear them into Canada themselves with paperwork in hand. Best case, have a friend near the border that can receive shipments!!

So any of you Silkie breeders that have access to an avian vet - advertise to Canadians!! You WILL get responses. Not sure if it will be worth your while or not but you will/should have appreciative customers!

I know there are a couple of APA judges that regularly work in Canada that will transport birds across the border (legally!) They advertise in publications up here. But the timing has to work - and it is often their own birds they are offering for sale. However, I've also heard them complain about "misunderstandings" when they arrive in Canada and attempt to present the birds to a customer that isn't getting what they expected. Then they are stuck with birds they probably don't want!! My comment - make sure all the money is dealt with before hand!

 

[3LilBirds]

The little Partridge Rock, Tweety is Nugget's little buddy. She follows Nugget everywhere! LOL Nugget won't sleep unless he/she lays her head across Tweety. Silly little bird!

 

[sager:)silkies]

The hassle with getting birds into Canada is finding a certified avian vet on the US side that can inspect the originating flock and submit the paperwork (VS form 17-6). It REALLY isn't a big deal for anyone in the NPIP program - all that is required on the form is an NPIP number, I believe - which anyone with decent breeding/showing stock in the US is apart of. (Kind of like the coggins test on a horse.) The issue is, finding the "certified avian vet"! Hatching eggs work the same as live birds. So it's basically a major hassle for US breeders and they have to be confident that the Canadian buyer is going to pay them for their troubles.

And they aren't supposed to be commercially shipped across the border (although it can and does happen). McMurray Hatchery and John Blehm (Ameraucanas) used to be willing to provide paperwork and ship to a border town post office. The Canadian purchaser can pick the eggs/birds up there and clear them into Canada themselves with paperwork in hand. Best case, have a friend near the border that can receive shipments!!

So any of you Silkie breeders that have access to an avian vet - advertise to Canadians!! You WILL get responses. Not sure if it will be worth your while or not but you will/should have appreciative customers!

I know there are a couple of APA judges that regularly work in Canada that will transport birds across the border (legally!) They advertise in publications up here. But the timing has to work - and it is often their own birds they are offering for sale. However, I've also heard them complain about "misunderstandings" when they arrive in Canada and attempt to present the birds to a customer that isn't getting what they expected. Then they are stuck with birds they probably don't want!! My comment - make sure all the money is dealt with before hand!

well said