SILKIES ~ Updated pics on page17

[chickencoop31320]

Quote:
I just started with silkies last year, so I don't know too much...
I believe splash is a result of white & blue pairing. That's the #1 reason I got those two colors.
I have a partridge silkie and she is mostly blue/grey all over but her neck. I'm not sure if that is normal or not... She was supposed to be a blue when I ordered her.
Show Girls are a mix of turken (naked neck) and silkies. They usually have a black skinned featherless neck with a top hat. I think they are BEAUTIFUL!
Most bantam breeds will either take turns on a nest or if they are like mine, fight over who gets to keep the nest. I have 3 that are trying to claim the same nest right now. They sit in it together and seem to be fairly gentle while argueing over the eggs.
Mine do not roost for the most part. They huddle on the floor near the door where a bit of light shines thru from the security light. A couple of them do try to sit on top of the nest box beside the door.
As for cold... I don't know. I live in SE Georgia and it rarely gets below freezing here.
Silkies are a small breed and don't require much space. I have 15 silkies and 4 Cinnamon Queens in an 8x8 coop with an 8x20 run. they don't seem to be over crowded to me.
Good luck and I hope you at least try out silkies... They are really sweet creatures.

 

[destiny_56085]

G'morning!
If you just want pets, mixing colors is ok. If you want something showable, then you keep them separated.

There's so much involved in color genetics. I'll try to keep it simple here.
The white in silkies is a gene that turns off the color switch persay. If they have at least one copy of the gene, they will be white but 'hide' the other color in their genome. Then when you cross those 'whites' together you will still get a small percentage of colored babies. It takes many generations to get a flock homozygous on this so they will throw only whites. There are also factors that influence the types of white...silver and gold genes. The silver gened whites have a bluish undertone and stay white in the sun and may have a few dark feathers. The gold gene influence makes them more of a creamy white. If you put those out in the sun they turn a brassy yellowish color.

If you want good buffs, that is a color you don't want to mix with anything. To get that clear golden color is hard to do. You can tell when other colors have been crossed in. You'll see alot of smutty blue or black feathers in the tail and wings especially.

Then there is the whole black/blue/splash family. There are 2 genes that influence this mainly. This more rare of the 2 is the one where if you get one copy of the gene, your black becomes a pure clear light blue. If they have 2 copies of that gene, they dilute down even more to a lavendar. The other (and more common) is your andalusian gene. One copy of the dilution gene and you will get the beautiful medium blues with lacing on the feathers. 2 copies of the dilution gene result in the splash. Its ok to breed between these colors. If you keep on breeding splash to splash though, your colors will fade out over time to a very muted hint of colored feathers. To keep that jet black, only breed those together. If you start mixing blue and black, you get blacks that are a dull coal color and blues that get too dark it seems like. You do not want to introduce in any buff, partridge or greys to these colors. Thats where all those miscolors in the hackles and everywhere else come from.

Partridge is fun to work with. I have crossed them back to white to improve the type. Any whites out of that pairing will still carry the genes for partridge too then. The color is extremely hard to get right on partridge too. There are separate male and female lines. The proper coloration for the male is way to dark for what the females are supposed to be and vice versa. Sometimes you see the influence of other genes at work too. Partridge are not supposed to have silver in the hackles or blue undertones.

 

[destiny_56085]

Showgirls are kind of like a turken. They have the naken necks, but breeders have brought them back so that they now have just about perfect silkie characteristics now too. The non-bearded varieties will be totally bare. The bearded ones will have a lil bow-tie.

 

[destiny_56085]

As for climate, I live in MN. Its like Siberia for a few months out of the year here. We had a 3 week stretch last winter when it dipped to 40 below zero at night and stayed around 20 below zero during the day. I only lost 3 birds this entire time. I don't have a fancy heated barn. Its an old dairy barn. The secret is to providing them with lots of deep bedding and somewhere to get out of the wind/snow/rain. Make sure they have an open water source like a heated pet bowl.

 

[sarahsark]

Bumping this up cuz I LUV SILKIES!!

 

[m2wandc]

Wondering if one of my silkies is a roo...will it try to mate with my BR or BO? or just stick to the other silkie? If it does do this...would it be OK? I don't PLAN on letting any chickens have babies, but we might be in europe for a month (not sure yet on that vacation?) and that would be long enough for babies to be made and had while we are away...of course I could have the person feeding the chickens take eggs, away, but there is a secret place in my heart that would love to see nature take it's place if I don't have to do anything about it

 

[Chickie Mamma]

Here's a pic of Gerri, she is only 8-9 weeks old!

 

[mylilchix]

I've been told that Will and Elizabeth are both pullets. We'll see, they're 10 weeks now.

Elizabeth

Will

 

[ninny]

Silkie are by far my favorite birds!!

I would love to see then in mottled or millie fleur.

 

[m2wandc]

I wonder if my partridge will get that 'brown' looking...she was at birth, but appears to be more blue with a partridge head now...???