Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

My Silkie Cockerel has a single comb and he comes from an approximately 15 year pure bred Silkie breeding line.
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Wow He's a beauty!.. So the comb doesn't get passed down to chicks? Or future generations?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Wow He's a beauty!.. So the comb doesn't get passed down to chicks? Or future generations?

I don’t know. Apparently it can turn up randomly even after several generations from what I understand. It doesn’t really matter in my case as I’m just breeding for pets. I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific so unlikely I will be shipping chicks or hatching eggs to anybody outside of my immediate area. We do not have ANY chicken shows, never mind silkie ones!
Just planning on selling chicks and hatching eggs to people who want Silkies for pets! They are still better quality than the average hatchery anyway!

 

[ChloeSilkie08]

What would happen if I bred recessive white to buff and blue to buff?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

From what I could figure out, recessive white crossed with buff will give you all buff offspring depending on what your recessive white is hiding genetically.
Blue to buff according to the kippen calculator will give you 50% black and 50% blue. May or may not be some leakage as well depending on what your birds also have going on behind their colors.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

I don’t know. Apparently it can turn up randomly even after several generations from what I understand. It doesn’t really matter in my case as I’m just breeding for pets. I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific so unlikely I will be shipping chicks or hatching eggs to anybody outside of my immediate area. We do not have ANY chicken shows, never mind silkie ones!
Just planning on selling chicks and hatching eggs to people who want Silkies for pets! They are still better quality than the average hatchery anyway!

Do you think my little chick is most likely to be a cockerel with this type of comb? ..its easier to sell possible boys when young (for pets) and I can't keep more (since I already have 2 and not enough hens)

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Do you think my little chick is most likely to be a cockerel with this type of comb? ..its easier to sell possible boys when young (for pets) and I can't keep more (since I already have 2 and not enough hens)

Hard to tell at this age. Mine did not develop his comb until he was about 4 1/2 months old!

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Hard to tell at this age. Mine did not develop his comb until he was about 4 1/2 months old!

I have had a guess in my own with all 7 chicks and think all the ones with comb development are cockerels since they are only 5.5 weeks old and have visible raised combs and some have more floof heads if yours didn't develop till that late then it's more like 60-70% chance this single comb is a cockerel I'm thinking

 

[LadiesAndJane]

all of mine that I have so far have been late developers. The only reason I knew that he was a cockerel was because I did the feather testing for DNA when he was 6 to 7 weeks old.

 

[HuffleClaw]

I got some beautiful chicks I hatched from eggs from Alabama Silkies (check out their website).

I got my first Silkies from there (I live in Alabama so I went in person). Best decision ever.

 

[HuffleClaw]

I tried hatching more Silkies (since I currently have none), but the eggs weren’t fertile. I’m thinking about going back to get some chicks from Alabama Silkies in the spring!