Silkies?? on color *pics*

[Teresaann24]

By spring I will have a mixed flock. Black/Grey/White. I have heard some say it isn't in the best intrest to have a mixed flock. They told me I should keep white with white and grey with grey and black with black?

 

[Teresaann24]

Quote:
I enjoy all the info i can get! I'm a newbie to chickens/silkies I'v only had 2 hatches this year.

 

[goldensunriseranch]

For the most part that is best, but if you need to improve something in one color and know the genetics behind the colors you can use one color to improve another. My whites have the best type in my flock, so to improve my greys I'm using white. Lately I've started producing a little side tangent of partridge out of my grey program, but after checking into it getting the partridge is fine, will double back my greys to keep my silver gene and use the partridges produced elsewhere. It's kind of a bonus really. Makes it more fun to wonder which I'm going to get now. Eventually I'll just take grey to grey to grey. And blacks can be used with lavenders, or if you like blue better you can use them in a black/blue/splash program. It just depends on what you are trying to achieve in the end. And of course what you like to see running around in your yard.

 

[therealsilkiechick]

when u breed for buff, u want clear buffs it's what we breed hard to try to get. it's really hard to find them these days. ur bottom baby will look similar to this when grown cuz it's a good clear baby. these r some of my birds.

this one is a clear hen

this one is a clear pullet

ur top baby pic is what breeders call a smutty buff it has blue or black coloring in it. if it has good qualities such as vault, crest, foot feathering ect. it still could show great potential for a breeder to add qualities to ur flock u might want to add into ur bloodline. wait till it is older to see what true potential it has before u decide to keep it for breeding or part with it.

just because a buff has a little smutt color in it doesn't mean every baby it throws will have smutt in it. if it is bred to the right mateing and select bred although it may take generations that smutt can still be bred out of it and better quality into it. u have beautiful babies, enjoy them!!
hope that helps,
silkie

 

[roosty]

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I was under the impression that they were going to be buff....I was told they were buff....I didnt know any different....I dont know what makes a person professional or not but I did get them from a buff breader.....I like them anyhow, but I did want to have REAL buffs....... THANKS.

 

[hinkjc]

They are all buff. As therealsilkiechick said, you can select which ones to breed together based on quality and color to produce excellent quality buffs. Buff is a very challenging color to perfect. Every bird does not come out perfectly clear every time..even with buff breeds that have been around for a very long time. They are always a work in progress IMO.

Jody

 

[wilds of pa]

Tips::

I wanted to mention that black is considered a strength in buff and white is a weakness in buff most buff breeders will agree with this....

Just so anybody wants to know you will want to select the black over any white in buff for breeding,

If you want show quality you will have to breed for it, nobody out there is going to sell show quality buff birds without a nice price tag to go with it..

EGGS::no matter who you get them from, you will in most cases always have a % of dirty buffs. May get some good super buff in the hatch along with some not so good. That is the way buff works, anybody who has bred buffs can tell you how hard the color is to work with..

Just try to stay away from the ones with white in them..
Match up your clearest to the ones with black in them and you will get some good looking buff colors..Clearest buff to buff also helps to..


Thanks
Charlie

 

[roosty]

Thanks to everyone....I was just not informed that you would get any other color than buff when purchasing buff eggs..... If I would have known then I wouldnt have questioned it. Like I said, I do like the chicks reguardless....other than that little bit of black color they look great.....I do think it will have more black than just its wings though as its back is starting to turn grey. Thanks!

 

[LilPeeps]

Smutty buffs can get clearer as they get older. Many will lose some of that black with each molt and you may end up with a nice looking buff bird.

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

Quote:
I just remember when I first started a few years ago. I preferred simple answers that I could understand and learn from.