Silkie thread!

[annabell254]

Love the babies chasing the momma!

it made my hour

 

[Sanna]

Some more pics of my Silkie group! It was so nice out today I was able to get a few nice pics of everyone.

I am pretty sure this one is a little boy, named Capt. Kirk. Still going back and forth on blue or lavender though

What a handsome, handsome boy!

Love the babies chasing the momma!

it made my hour

I'm glad others find that picture as amusing as I do!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: For a male cuckoo, that is a really dark comb.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Update on my Silkie that I Got at spring Swap from Marge Best, he/she is now getting some very faint little black spots on its crest back and wings the bigger/older he/she gets the more spots it gets. this baby came from a paint to paint breeding and the daddy has the beautiful buff on it like this one with very pronounce markings.
age 4 months, any guesses on gender an whether more black spots will shoe up? name?

All but that last photo make me think boy; the last one makes be less certain, and looks a bit girlish.

 

[Grumpypantsmomma]

Thank you every body for the comments on my silkie. I don't mind if he/she is a boy or a girl. I just love the color on this one, I have some younger silkies 3 Blue, 1 splash, and 2 white. But i am wondering and hoping at the same time that the splash silkie and silkie that came from the paint breeding are opposite sex. What would i get if i bred a paint silkie to a Splash silkie, now that the little silkie that came from a paint breeding is showing some black markings I am curious. also curious what i would get if i bred it to blue or black.
i have heard that paints don't breed true, hence what i have here, very good looking silkie that is not quite a paint but not quite a splash, not quite a plain colored silkie either. regardless i am in love and would like more like it to breed and see what i got form the pairings.

Still any suggestions on name? I should mention that in the pics the comb looks raised, but when looking with the naked eye it is flat and squarish looking. the wings are a bit tore up from a frisky cockerel.

 

[henney penny]

I have a question about silkies,I went to a swap last Sat. and someone there told me that breeding white to black will give you a good quality silkie,how can that be true?Or is it even true?I am still learning and don`t want false information.

 

[Suzierd]

So I went camera happy again today. lol
As I was going through my pictures, I noticed that little Beavis has some blue by his ear. At least I think it's blue..? What is that colorful blue by their ears called?
Now, does this mean anything color wise? I'm guessin Beavis will either be blue or splash, maybe leaning more towards splash? 



This is also Beavis. I really have no clue what color he/she is...?




I love my rooster Curly! He is so photogenic.


I'm pretty sure this is one of Curly's babies.
[COLOR=FF0000]Those of you who are experts with the beaks?! Is there a chance of this one being a hen? I don't see too big of a curve on the beak.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=FF0000]This chick is about a month and 4 days old now. Too early to tell?[/COLOR][COLOR=FF0000] [/COLOR]



This was the funniest picture out of all the shots I took today. Not the best one, but definitely the funniest one.

The pic of Curly should be pic of the week! I love it . The last one is to funny it looks like its treat time

 

[Hawkeye95]

I have a question about silkies,I went to a swap last Sat. and someone there told me that breeding white to black will give you a good quality silkie,how can that be true?Or is it even true?I am still learning and don`t want false information.

They just said that white and black will give you a good quality silkie? Did they mean in color or type? I think they were misinformed themselves, unfortunately. White is one of those colors that can throw anything, which is why you'll hear over and over to breed white only to white. Okay, I'm not good on this genetics thing, but they are recessive. And anymore, really good black breedings are all done in Black X Black pens-- a lot of breeders aren't putting them in BBS pens anymore from what I've been hearing and reading. I wonder if they were talking about leakage?? I'm a little confused what they were talking about. To get a "good show quality" bird, you really need to start with birds that have good feet and wings, and type. The feet need to have 5 toes, no fused 4th and 5th with good separation. That's not an easy quality to get every time. Wings need to be tucked up nice and high, and have that nice curve to them, with no splits when you spread them out. The feathers also must stack correctly. There are so many other things that define a show quality vs a pet or breeder, too... Like a great cushion, crest, good type, where the chest is well defined with that S shape, no leakage in color-- whether it's silver or gold base coming through. Comb is also important. Nice and dark mulberry, no red. Best not to have horns in the comb, a smoother appearance is more desirable in comb. This list goes on and on... And just because you breed two nice SQ birds together, doesn't mean you'll get any of these things worked out. But you have a much better chance of having a nice bird if you start with nice birds. I am consistently hatching perfect toes right now, great spacing, no fusing!--- but their crests are more on the medium side. Just not big enough to show well. They are decent crests, don't get me wrong, but the last judge told me he wanted BIG crests. He said I had perfect type, feet, etc... but there you go, always something is lacking.

Anyway, if you have black, then breed to black... or even Splash, Blue. If you have white, breed to white. But all the other factors for a SQ bird must also come into play-- the comb, wings, feet, crest, color, on and on....

It is a learning experience! If you have any shows coming up-- go!! Even if you don't want to bring a bird, just go to learn and talk to everyone else. You will learn SO MUCH there than anyone can explain here. It was so awesome when the judge came back and talked us thru our birds and told us what was going on and how to proceed with our breeding. It gave me a very good base to know where to go and what I did not want to work with. I'm going to be VERY picky about what birds I breed. I'm just not going to breed anything that has bad toes, bad color, etc... I have a few chicks right now I need to pet out. They all have the right number of toes, but a few of them (that were in my shipped eggs) have fused toes, and my own birds do not have this. I don't want to bring that back in.

 

[henney penny]

For a male cuckoo, that is a really dark comb.

Not anymore,these are the three pullets in with him,they are all 6 months old the end of this month,no eggs yet nor is he breeding yet.Hoping to get some more cuckoo`s he is the only one I have.Sorry for the double picture.He was such a cute baby.What do you think of him and the girls?

 

[Hawkeye95]

I have a question about silkies,I went to a swap last Sat. and someone there told me that breeding white to black will give you a good quality silkie,how can that be true?Or is it even true?I am still learning and don`t want false information.

Just another example of what I'm talking about with the toes... I have a picture here of a chick of mine that has nice spacing on the left side of the picture and poorly spaced toes on the right. In fact, I'd call them fused, and I have decided NOT to breed birds with this fault. But if you see the left side-- that is exactly what you want to see in the 4th and 5th toes. Another problem with the feet on this bird-- and it's not as obvious. The outer toes on the outside of the bird-- those toes have brachydactyly, which means they have a shortened toe, missing a knuckle and a toe nail. You have to look for it and know what you're looking for. This is less of a fault, but one none the less. This is also something I would not breed back into.