Silkie thread!

[littlecritters]

http://www.hattricksilkies.net/articles_truth.html  Read this link very carefully!  

Thanks for posting the link to the Hat Trick article! That article finally clarified for me that I should avoid buying potential breeders that have the wrong number of toes/toenails OR come from parents where either one has the wrong number OR has siblings with the wrong number. Two birds that have the correct number of toes but carry the recessive gene for the wrong number will produce offspring with the wrong number. I will always need to ask about the parents and siblings when looking for breeding stock.
Tina

 

[ThaiChick]

We broke a temperature record today here in Missouri. 108° degrees I'm so glad I got my spray misters yesterday and froze my water jugs so my babies wouldn't suffer more than necessary.

 

[Puddin Fluff]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/579215/silkie-sexing/140

Thanks !

 

[Sanna]

Hi, I'm new to this thread. I just adopted what I believe to be a Silkie cross of some sort. The lady I got him from wasn't sure as well. I just know she had another identical to him that is supposedly a hen, but I couldn't tell. He's my profile pic.

Definitely a mix. But very very handsome.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hi, I'm new to this thread. I just adopted what I believe to be a Silkie cross of some sort. The lady I got him from wasn't sure as well. I just know she had another identical to him that is supposedly a hen, but I couldn't tell. He's my profile pic.

Welcome to BYC and to the Silkie Thread! He's very pretty!

My babies are already a week old and are growing some little wing feathers. THEY ARE GOING TO BE GORGEOUS! I can't believe our luck. I was going to sell the ones that I couldn't keep, but I may just keep them all and grow them out to see what I get. I have a large shed that is completely empty and could easily be converted into a coop. When will I be able to definitely tell about their wings? Between 8 and 12 weeks? I'm actually so impressed with the chicks that I hatched, I am thinking of hatching another dozen. Hubby won't like it, but my daughter will love it.

They will need to be a few months old yet. I believe I have a youngster with split wing right now, but I'm going to give it a couple more months to be sure. Maybe Peep will have a better idea on when.. I'm thinking around 4 months?

Thanks for posting the link to the Hat Trick article! That article finally clarified for me that I should avoid buying potential breeders that have the wrong number of toes/toenails OR come from parents where either one has the wrong number OR has siblings with the wrong number. Two birds that have the correct number of toes but carry the recessive gene for the wrong number will produce offspring with the wrong number. I will always need to ask about the parents and siblings when looking for breeding stock.
Tina

Parents will still throw offspring with all kinds of crazy toes. Not all the time, of course. But if you start with a bird that has the correct number of toes, I wouldn't worry about what the siblings have or even the parents. There has been talk of good breeders using a bird with one less toe on a foot simply because they throw amazing birds and they have the type they are looking for. While you need to be picky-- not quite THAT picky.

 

[peepblessed]

My babies are already a week old and are growing some little wing feathers. THEY ARE GOING TO BE GORGEOUS! I can't believe our luck. I was going to sell the ones that I couldn't keep, but I may just keep them all and grow them out to see what I get. I have a large shed that is completely empty and could easily be converted into a coop. When will I be able to definitely tell about their wings? Between 8 and 12 weeks? I'm actually so impressed with the chicks that I hatched, I am thinking of hatching another dozen. Hubby won't like it, but my daughter will love it.

According to a least one show breeder I communicated with, wings can look good at 8 months and go bad at a year, so I'm really wondering the same thing, but if they look obviously bad at 3 months I will not likely keep them. I've had some that didn't look so good at 8 wks and looked great at 3 months. So they do change.

 

[peepblessed]

Last time i checked the APA Sop. That color was not recognized.

Definitely not yet. Love your avatar photo!!

 

[JoshU]

Parents will still throw offspring with all kinds of crazy toes. Not all the time, of course. But if you start with a bird that has the correct number of toes, I wouldn't worry about what the siblings have or even the parents. There has been talk of good breeders using a bird with one less toe on a foot simply because they throw amazing birds and they have the type they are looking for. While you need to be picky-- not quite THAT picky.

You just told her the total opposite of what the link she is talking about just said. Lol. If you want to start breeding I think it best to get the best possible parents you can. If you have a choice between 4 or 6 toed and the normal 5 toed parents I think it is smart to go with the 5 toed. No offense to you experts and such but someone new to breeding should do things as simple as possible. Until you understand what traits are always passed on and ones that you can use with little side effects on the offspring keep things simple. Good quality is going to give you a better chance at good quality. If you are breeding faults then expect faults in the offspring. Now if you have the ability to hatch 300 chicks a year then you can experiment a lot more. If you only can hatch a dozen or 2 then use parents with the best quality to limit your culls. Once you have an understanding you can change that up a bit. Just my thoughts on things. Not trying to upset anyone either. I hope this clarifies things for someone at least.

 

[3ChickensinNC]

...

X2.  I was incubating for about 3 months and killing everything and had no idea.  I was using the therm that came with the incubator at first-- it was WRONG.  Then I bought another one and adjusted my machine to it.  Unfortunately, it was reading 3 degrees too low-- which meant I was cooking everything I was putting in since I had adjusted it too high and didn't know.  I then did some spot checks with my BBT therm, which I know is accurate and saw my mistake.  I then bought 4 more therms and put them in there, found that two were reading consistent and right on what my spot checks were.  I tossed the other therms and got a good Hygrometer and finally had great hatches every time!  I keep the humidity right around 20-50% during the first 18 days.  I start off at 50% and let it drop and do dry incubating (my channels are dry) BUT my humidity is holding right around 30%.  When it drops to around 20%, then I fill my channels again with water.  When it comes time to pip, I bump my humidity as high as I can-- up to 75%.  I will add wet towels-- anything to keep it up.  Keep in mind, check your air sacs to be sure they are getting bigger and if not, adjust your humidity lower to make sure they are growing in size.  I do tweaking during my hatches all the time.  
[/quote
I was curious what type of incubator you have? My first hatch is due Saturday. After reading this I am a little nervous now; like as in I have no idea if i did this right.

 

[4hchickmama]

You just told her the total opposite of what the link she is talking about just said. Lol. If you want to start breeding I think it best to get the best possible parents you can. If you have a choice between 4 or 6 toed and the normal 5 toed parents I think it is smart to go with the 5 toed. No offense to you experts and such but someone new to breeding should do things as simple as possible. Until you understand what traits are always passed on and ones that you can use with little side effects on the offspring keep things simple. Good quality is going to give you a better chance at good quality. If you are breeding faults then expect faults in the offspring. Now if you have the ability to hatch 300 chicks a year then you can experiment a lot more. If you only can hatch a dozen or 2 then use parents with the best quality to limit your culls. Once you have an understanding you can change that up a bit. Just my thoughts on things. Not trying to upset anyone either. I hope this clarifies things for someone at least.

She meant that even good quality 5 toed birds might still throw a fault like 4 toes every now and then. More that she probably wants to get birds herself who have no faults, but doesn't need to go to the extreme of checking every bird in the line and all siblings, aunts, uncles, and great grandparents.

My breeder turns out excellent birds, but her excellent birds that excel at shows come from the same lines that throw a DQ like 4 toes or webbed toes every now and then.