Silkie thread!

[peepblessed]

Okay so I got quite a few pictures of my silkie flock this past weekend. Finally uploaded them. Wanted to share my favourites with you (as well as some others).
But first..

How freaking cute is this chick?! 9 weeks old

One of my favourites for sure. I am definitely thinking girl. Colour - blue partridge?

More to come in a second..

Very beautiful baby!!

 

[peepblessed]

My two whites. Male & Female. The male is being rehomed due to a foot issue.

Female - Gretta <3

Age - 13 weeks

Scotty Mac

Also 13 weeks.

Angelic!!

 

[peepblessed]

Phyllis - regular partridge, correct?

Best foot feathering I have.

Butt shot

Feet

I also think girl.

Very nice girl!!

 

[peepblessed]

Thank God she's a girl!

Her sister was coloured the same way and sHE started crowing at 13 weeks lol.

Here is the sister. I do not own him. He was hatched from my eggs.
Is the colours still not in to show male?

This looks like a male to me. Vivid orange on the wings.

 

[peepblessed]

My hen Flora Mae with some of her RSL babies

Just too cute!!

 

[Sanna]

These pics are DARLING, Sanna!!!! I just love the expressions on their little faces...and the Mommy hug needs to be framed

I think you're right! I need to make some 8x10 prints out of my digital shots anyway, I might have that one printed out too. Good idea, thank you!

lol

I tried the spiral ones, and it was awful. They were extremely hard to get on, and it hurt them when I tried. I would get something besides the spiral. As for size, I have no idea

I get my bands from ABA, they are solid plastic and need to be put on when chicks.
Be very careful with the size... different companies have different numbering for the sizes.
But the size you want to shoot for is 15mm.

I use different colored zip ties after having the same experience that you had, Aoxa, with the spiral ones with my swans. With the zip ties you can put them on the youngsters, too, and just clip them off as they get bigger to replace them.

I use colored zip ties. look on ebay or amazon for 4" or 6" multi colored zipties. - different colors, use colors to color code the hatches, and just change as needed. cheaper and simpler than the chick bands. At 4-5 months old they are big enough that I switch and use bandettes size 9 for almost everyone but some of my males legs get so thick they need the next size... they are colored and numbered. Love 'em. Great for record keeping. Others also use the wing bands which get clipped into the skin/web of the wing - if you're wanting record keeping either method works but the wing bands you can do them as early as a couple days old and they are permenant for the rest of the birds life, and a great record keeping method from day 1.

Thank you everyone! Zip ties sounds like a good idea. Those I can get right away from the feed/hardware store down the road. lol

Sanna, that is a loaded question about what goes into a paint breeding. I know that the white they are using is a dominant white-- which pretty much the white silkies everyone has is not. The paint (black spots) are supposedly caused by holes in the pigment... but I know that theory is still trying to be tested and figured out. I haven't done much reading on it, but it doesn't sound easy at all. And no, they don't breed true. And apparently you aren't supposed to breed paint X paint --- but have a black (a REAL solid black) over paint. Finding a good black isn't easy. How many pictures do people post here of their "black" birds that are really blue? All the time. Are you sure the P wasn't for Partridge? Especially if you got a partridge out of it?

I got shipped eggs not to long ago and one was labeled BS (blue/or splash) and I hatched out a partridge. Mistakes happen...

Anyway, read this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/429754/the-american-paint-silkie It is the paint thread set up for silkies. Reading the background and seeing how they are working toward paints is very interesting, but it also sounds like you need a PhD in genetics! LOL Sonoran is breeding paints, too. She has a really amazing paint in her avatar.

The egg was definitely a paint egg. I went a double checked, peeled the tape off the egg shell. The little one has more of a grey shade to it than brown and now that the partridge eggs hatched, you can tell the color difference. I'll have to get the critters in a group shot with better lighting and post it here so you guys can see. But the "paint" chick definitely has the chimpunk markings and all. Maybe it just was labeled wrong, who knows. Whatever it is, it's cute as a button.

 

[aoxa]

This looks like a male to me. Vivid orange on the wings.

Good to know

She already came to terms with it. She's even taking another boy off my hands (Scotty Mac) because I didn't correct a curled toe soon enough. His foot looks weird, and I know he will have a loving home with her. We just have to get her enough silkie girls to suite them both - At least it seems easier to please a silkie rooster for # of girls. They do far less damage then my standard roos to the women.

 

[spiderpolice77]

My favorite kind of fluffy!!

 

[aoxa]

Anyone have any guesses as to colour of this one? First one I've ever had in this colour. It almost looks purple/yellow to me.

 

[aoxa]

Okay.. So we thought this chick was splash, but it looks calico. Yes, no?