Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[chickengr]

He's way too orange, but he isn't too bad for body shape considering he's 3rd gen and hatched from a green egg. Molly is his mother and he's starting to mellow out and become friendly. 14 weeks old today View attachment 3207255

can you, please, explain how to breed for silkie green eggers? I have an araucana hen that I might use for this project. does it matter if a green egger is hen or roo?

 

[Hinotori]

can you, please, explain how to breed for silkie green eggers? I have an araucana hen that I might use for this project. does it matter if a green egger is hen or roo?

I used ameraucana hens. Any blue layer would work. I actually only got 2 female chicks out of the breeding.

It was an extra silkie rooster I put in with the large fowl hens because didn't really want to get rid of him. He was nice and had good conformation. Those girls groomed his crest off fairly quick as they liked his manners so he was vigilant. He died trying to face down a hawk. There were redtail hawk feathers as well as his in a good sized area.

Because of health issue hubby had and all the time that took, I wasnt sure if I wanted to actually breed the 2 girls but finally decided to after almost 2 years. I put them in with a silkie rooster and kept the blue laying hens from that hatch. I had a cockerel that I also kept to watch over the hens in a pen because I was short on roosters for a while. That boy carried 1 copy of the blue egg gene because I got 2 hens from him that lay blue.

I have a bunch of 4th gen chicks this year. I'll keep the girls who lay green and have the best conformation to breed again to a silkie rooster.

I need to keep breeding for the hens until they are indistinguishable from other silkie hens except for the eggs. Then I need to start test breeding roosters to regular silkie hens and find out if their daughters lay green. Any that does can then be used to try and set the blue egg gene with 2 copies. That will take a long while.

I have respect for the breeders who spend all the time to add a genes to a breed, like for color pattern.

 

[chickengr]

I used ameraucana hens. Any blue layer would work. I actually only got 2 female chicks out of the breeding.

It was an extra silkie rooster I put in with the large fowl hens because didn't really want to get rid of him. He was nice and had good conformation. Those girls groomed his crest off fairly quick as they liked his manners so he was vigilant. He died trying to face down a hawk. There were redtail hawk feathers as well as his in a good sized area.

Because of health issue hubby had and all the time that took, I wasnt sure if I wanted to actually breed the 2 girls but finally decided to after almost 2 years. I put them in with a silkie rooster and kept the blue laying hens from that hatch. I had a cockerel that I also kept to watch over the hens in a pen because I was short on roosters for a while. That boy carried 1 copy of the blue egg gene because I got 2 hens from him that lay blue.

I have a bunch of 4th gen chicks this year. I'll keep the girls who lay green and have the best conformation to breed again to a silkie rooster.

I need to keep breeding for the hens until they are indistinguishable from other silkie hens except for the eggs. Then I need to start test breeding roosters to regular silkie hens and find out if their daughters lay green. Any that does can then be used to try and set the blue egg gene with 2 copies. That will take a long while.

I have respect for the breeders who spend all the time to add a genes to a breed, like for color pattern.

how long does it take that chicks look like silkies?

I guess breeding silkie looking chicks would be a shortcut. if you have a hen whose eggs are blue/green both outside and inside.she is a keeper. even a 1 copy roo bred to her will produce blue/green egg layers. at least in theory.

 

[kurby22]

Popping in to say hi! Been a busy summer and haven’t had as much time to visit all my favorite pages and people! Betty and Fuzzy successfully hatched some OD chicks for me and really do a good job protecting them and co-parenting. It’s really so adorable. I’m pondering trying to hatch a couple of Sia’s eggs now that she’s letting Bruno visit her. Get a smooth feathered Silkie cross from a mottled Olandsk Dwarf rooster could make some pretty awesome babies I’m just not sure which eggs are hers They all look the same! Maybe next spring I’ll hatch some randoms just to see what hatches! Poor Fuzzy has had some molting and her poof has been seriously diminished but here they are with a baby catching a ride

And here’s my favorite muppet chicken visiting me last night

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Popping in to say hi! Been a busy summer and haven’t had as much time to visit all my favorite pages and people! Betty and Fuzzy successfully hatched some OD chicks for me and really do a good job protecting them and co-parenting. It’s really so adorable. I’m pondering trying to hatch a couple of Sia’s eggs now that she’s letting Bruno visit her. Get a smooth feathered Silkie cross from a mottled Olandsk Dwarf rooster could make some pretty awesome babies I’m just not sure which eggs are hers They all look the same! Maybe next spring I’ll hatch some randoms just to see what hatches! Poor Fuzzy has had some molting and her poof has been seriously diminished but here they are with a baby catching a ride

View attachment 3207327

And here’s my favorite muppet chicken visiting me last night

View attachment 3207328

Awe! So precious! Beautiful babies you have! I'm sure it is hard to tell their eggs apart! But hey more hatching is alot of fun!!!

 

[Hinotori]

how long does it take that chicks look like silkies?

I guess breeding silkie looking chicks would be a shortcut. if you have a hen whose eggs are blue/green both outside and inside.she is a keeper. even a 1 copy roo bred to her will produce blue/green egg layers. at least in theory.

Well I don't have enough mature 3rd generation to get a really good idea. The teen cockerel I posted a picture of earlier looks very silkie but he could carry the blue egg gene. I think I'll do another couple generations before trying to stabilize the gene. With how my silkies mature, that's roughly one generation a year.

Just remember on eggs being blue inside, you have to remove the membrane to see it.

 

[kurby22]

Awe! So precious! Beautiful babies you have! I'm sure it is hard to tell their eggs apart! But hey more hatching is alot of fun!!!

Yeah, the silkies, d’Uccles, bantam Brahmas, Hedemora, and Olandsk Dwarf eggs are all cream colored! And they all like to lay in random spots together so it’s really tough to guess eggs but laying preference Wish I could find someone that wanted a bunch of the eggs to hatch so I could start figuring that out without having a 100 more boy chickens!

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

Does anyone have any recommendations on where to get breeding quality BBS Silkie eggs?? I currently only have my rooster, a few hens, and a pullet so I’m pretty desperate for eggs. I have other Silkie girls, but they aren’t the color I want.

Does anyone know what would happen if you cross a blue Silkie rooster with a red Silkie hen? I’m likely gonna sell my red girl, but I’m curious to know what would happen if I bred her.

Last thing, I’m still very confused on Satin genetics. Can you get a satin chick out of two Silkie parents??

 

[LynnaePB]

Thanks! Yes I was thinking about keeping him…He has better type than his father, Eko.

I was thinking he was looking like he's developing some really nice type. He'd be one I would think about keeping too.

I know I shouldn’t pick favorites, but….View attachment 3202903

Aww so gorgeous! The little Nn girl has the cutest little face.

Hopefully they will come! I hate when they do that as well!
I'm really wondering if I should sell Bluey...he's just so tall, alot like Grayson was. And I want shorter, stockier Satins. Or if when I put Bluey with the d'uccles it will balance out!?
Lizzy is perfection!!! She is so tiny and petite! I cannot wait til she starts layin and I can put her with Joey! Oh the babies they will have!!! She's almost 4 months old...I can't tell if she's squatting for me or just a snuggle girl cuz she absolutely LUVS snuggle time!
She's the softest lil baby I've ever had too...not sure of her being so cuddly makes her softer or what LOL!
She's the perfect coloring I've wanted since first hatch too! So Lizzy is a dream come true!!!
Gonna get Joey's bachelor coop fixed up today and move his hormonal booty out of the main run/coop.
Wish me luck cuz I hadn't been feeling well...not sure if flare-up with health or what. DD is gonna come help me then we are supposed to be havin a baking day!

I have the hardest time deciding who to keep when they are still Bleuy's age. Sometimes the really lanky looking ones turn out just beautifully later on. By 7 months I've usually got a pretty good idea how they are going to look except for the occasional really slow developer.

I'm so happy Lizzy is turning out the way you were hoping, and sounds like such a sweetie too!

He's way too orange, but he isn't too bad for body shape considering he's 3rd gen and hatched from a green egg. Molly is his mother and he's starting to mellow out and become friendly. 14 weeks old today View attachment 3207255

Beautiful! I wouldn't have even guessed he was 3rd gen and not full silkie.

Popping in to say hi! Been a busy summer and haven’t had as much time to visit all my favorite pages and people! Betty and Fuzzy successfully hatched some OD chicks for me and really do a good job protecting them and co-parenting. It’s really so adorable. I’m pondering trying to hatch a couple of Sia’s eggs now that she’s letting Bruno visit her. Get a smooth feathered Silkie cross from a mottled Olandsk Dwarf rooster could make some pretty awesome babies I’m just not sure which eggs are hers They all look the same! Maybe next spring I’ll hatch some randoms just to see what hatches! Poor Fuzzy has had some molting and her poof has been seriously diminished but here they are with a baby catching a ride

View attachment 3207327

And here’s my favorite muppet chicken visiting me last night

View attachment 3207328

Aww so cute!

Those mystery hatches are so much fun....if only there was a way to see which eggs were carrying females.

Does anyone have any recommendations on where to get breeding quality BBS Silkie eggs?? I currently only have my rooster, a few hens, and a pullet so I’m pretty desperate for eggs. I have other Silkie girls, but they aren’t the color I want.

Does anyone know what would happen if you cross a blue Silkie rooster with a red Silkie hen? I’m likely gonna sell my red girl, but I’m curious to know what would happen if I bred her.

Last thing, I’m still very confused on Satin genetics. Can you get a satin chick out of two Silkie parents??

Hmmm I've been hoping to find some good BBS breeders lately too. I think you'd probably get some fairly nice quality stock from Bobbi Porto. She's been breeding for years and her prices aren't bad. It looks like there would be a chance at Nn ordering from her, I know the Nn don't appeal to everyone. She sells eggs and chicks/pairs which when the weather is not too hot could be shipped. I've only ever heard good things about her.

Her website is https://indigoegg.us/

Then there is April's silkies. She's on Facebook and has splash. I don't know much about her but looking at her birds they look like they are nice quality. https://www.facebook.com/aprilssilkies

I know the struggle, it can be tough finding good breeders who are willing to sell sometimes, especially when you are looking for specific colors and not hens choice.

If you cross a blue with a red you'll probably get blue and black chicks that will likely have leakage later on (assuming the blue doesn't have certain recessives hiding). They could be good for a splash calico project but very bad for a BBS pen as you really want to keep anything with red out of BBS as that red is hard to breed out.

As far as satins the non silkie feathering is dominant to silkie feathering. So if they carry the gene for non silkie feathering it will show and they'll have regular feathering. A silkie feathered bird won't have the needed genes for making a smooth feathered bird so two silkies should only ever be able to give silkies even if they had a satin parent.

Two satins can make silkie offspring though if they both carry the recessive silkie feathering gene. A lot of breeders breed silkie to satin to ensure their satins have the silkie feathering gene so they can keep mixing silkies and satins and keep getting both types of offspring.

I have heard of breeders saying they've actually had satins out of their silkies but if this is true it is the exception and not the rule. Genetically it doesn't make sense to get a satin out of two silkies.

 

[kurby22]

I was thinking he was looking like he's developing some really nice type. He'd be one I would think about keeping too.



Aww so gorgeous! The little Nn girl has the cutest little face.



I have the hardest time deciding who to keep when they are still Bleuy's age. Sometimes the really lanky looking ones turn out just beautifully later on. By 7 months I've usually got a pretty good idea how they are going to look except for the occasional really slow developer.

I'm so happy Lizzy is turning out the way you were hoping, and sounds like such a sweetie too!



Beautiful! I wouldn't have even guessed he was 3rd gen and not full silkie.

Aww so cute!

Those mystery hatches are so much fun....if only there was a way to see which eggs were carrying females.



Hmmm I've been hoping to find some good BBS breeders lately too. I think you'd probably get some fairly nice quality stock from Bobbi Porto. She's been breeding for years and her prices aren't bad. It looks like there would be a chance at Nn ordering from her, I know the Nn don't appeal to everyone. She sells eggs and chicks/pairs which when the weather is not too hot could be shipped. I've only ever heard good things about her.

Her website is https://indigoegg.us/

Then there is April's silkies. She's on Facebook and has splash. I don't know much about her but looking at her birds they look like they are nice quality. https://www.facebook.com/aprilssilkies

I know the struggle, it can be tough finding good breeders who are willing to sell sometimes, especially when you are looking for specific colors and not hens choice.

If you cross a blue with a red you'll probably get blue and black chicks that will likely have leakage later on (assuming the blue doesn't have certain recessives hiding). They could be good for a splash calico project but very bad for a BBS pen as you really want to keep anything with red out of BBS as that red is hard to breed out.

As far as satins the non silkie feathering is dominant to silkie feathering. So if they carry the gene for non silkie feathering it will show and they'll have regular feathering. A silkie feathered bird won't have the needed genes for making a smooth feathered bird so two silkies should only ever be able to give silkies even if they had a satin parent.

Two satins can make silkie offspring though if they both carry the recessive silkie feathering gene. A lot of breeders breed silkie to satin to ensure their satins have the silkie feathering gene so they can keep mixing silkies and satins and keep getting both types of offspring.

I have heard of breeders saying they've actually had satins out of their silkies but if this is true it is the exception and not the rule. Genetically it doesn't make sense to get a satin out of two silkies.

I know the lady I got my silkies from are both BBS and she just started shipping. I think she and Sheri Minkner up in Lincoln have some ah-maxing quality silkies!

Featherbaby Farm - https://www.facebook.com/featherbabyfarm

Sheri Minkner - https://websitesbycook.com/countryranch/

I’m not sure Sheri ships eggs though.