Silkie thread!

[beauty2thebirds]

No the big bump is a vaulted head. That is actually a trait I am working for. I have noticed that even hatching babies from all vaulted parents, the percentage is about 30% vault to 70% regular poof!
Some of my first babies hatched were from all vaulted stock. A 33% ratio all the way. 4 had high vaults (the bump) 4 had small bumps and the other 4 had no bump at all. Now that their a bit older (5 months) all have nice puffy heads, and the vaulted in particular have a high rise hairdo. Ill try to get some pictures of my older kids and I will post them later.
I am fairly certain that both males and females though can have the vault, so you can't sex them that way.

Can you get pictures of your babies on here? I would love to see them.

 

[peepblessed]

They are all so pretty. I just got 4 chicks. One has a bigger bump of feathers on his head. Does that mean hes a roo. Any tips in raising too are greatly appreciated.

How old are your chicks? Did you get them from a breeder or a hatchery? We'd love to see pictures!

 

[peepblessed]

I got a nice shot of most of my silkie crew, lots of blues and blacks with a few odd balls in there.


I just love this pic, looks like the silkies are talking to my top hen on the other side of the fence.

Cute photo! You have at least one splash.

 

[peepblessed]

http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetics/mutations2.html#gen_mut_toes





Okay, so I just read it and it is making more sense. Obviously, this is a genetic defect and NOT an incubation issue. Well, that is unfortunate. This part here: "So some researchers believe the Brachydactyly trait is not a separate gene, but one of the ptilopody genes."


This means that the shortened toe (or regular toes) AND the feather leg gene go hand in hand and aren't separate? So in which case, any paring of birds may produce this shortened toe?? Is that what it means? I'm trying to get a good grasp of what I read. I did check my birds last night and I'm still not seeing an obvious short toe on either of them... but I think I'll post a picture later on after church to see what you all think. Perhaps I'm just not seeing it.

Sonoran-- is this a problem that you deal with too?? Or have you got it worked out that you don't see it? Just curious how common this problem is?

Yes, I'm wondering if you can breed for good leg feathering and not have it...

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

 

[peepblessed]

Looks like you've got some keepers! Beautiful!!

 

[mama2my4]

Very nice!!

 

[Hawkeye95]

No the big bump is a vaulted head. That is actually a trait I am working for. I have noticed that even hatching babies from all vaulted parents, the percentage is about 30% vault to 70% regular poof!
Some of my first babies hatched were from all vaulted stock. A 33% ratio all the way. 4 had high vaults (the bump) 4 had small bumps and the other 4 had no bump at all. Now that their a bit older (5 months) all have nice puffy heads, and the vaulted in particular have a high rise hairdo. Ill try to get some pictures of my older kids and I will post them later.
I am fairly certain that both males and females though can have the vault, so you can't sex them that way.

Can you get pictures of your babies on here? I would love to see them.

I have vaulted and non vaulted birds, in my limited experience, it doesn't make for a larger crest. Actually one of my non vaulted birds has a bigger and nicer crest than my vaulted does.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Yes, I'm wondering if you can breed for good leg feathering and not have it...

It's sounding like these two things are connected and not separate genes??? If that's the case, then having some chicks hatched with shorter toes or missing knuckles or nails would be common place if they are connected....??

We're home now, and I want to get a picture put up of my parent stock's feet so I can get a good critique on them and see if there is an obvious culprit, or if this is just going to be a fluke thing.

 

[marquisella]

I have a questions about fertility...

I have 1 Partridge pair, 1 buff pair, a white pen with 2 males & 1 female, and a BBS pen with 4 females & 2 males.

So for the past 3 weeks, they have been laying, but only the Partridge eggs are fertile. They eat the same food, so could all 4 cockerels be infertile? They are all the same age from the same hatch. I just hatched partridge chicks, and so far, up to last week, non of the other varieties eggs are fertile...

Any advice? They are eating 21% protein feed. And have vitamins in the water 24/7 with a little vinegar.