The American Silkie Flower~ My project of 3 years!

[BunnyMomma]

Hi everyone! I wanted to share one of my projects with you all. If you know me on here, then you know that I am seriously involved with several poultry projects.
This is the plan I had in mind.
* I wanted to breed a very small chicken that had the personality of a Silkie.
* Ideally I wanted to keep the breed small, around 1 pound + or - .
* I wanted the breed to have colorful and interesting feather patterns to resemble a flower.
* I love feather feet on my birds, and I wanted this breed to have feathered feet.
* I wanted big, lovely brown eyes, so that they had the appearance of a doll's eyes.
* I wanted roosters that were Super Friendly.
* I wanted them to be able to see well. As we all know most Silkies cannot see very well unless they have the fluff cut away from their eyes.
* I wanted a poufy crest, beard and muffs on them as well as luxurious feathers.

This is what I have developed with one of my projects. I hope you enjoy looking at them!
I have finally reached my goal.
The rooster's name is "Sir Dahlia"
He weighs around 1 pound.



The hens name is "Lemon Blossom" she weighs about 3/4 lb.




I hope you enjoyed seeing them! Thanks, BunnyMomma

 

[gamebirdsonly]

Thanks for sharing

 

[draye]

Hi everyone! I wanted to share one of my projects with you all. If you know me on here, then you know that I am seriously involved with several poultry projects.
This is the plan I had in mind.
* I wanted to breed a very small chicken that had the personality of a Silkie.
* Ideally I wanted to keep the breed small, around 1 pound + or - .
* I wanted the breed to have colorful and interesting feather patterns to resemble a flower.
* I love feather feet on my birds, and I wanted this breed to have feathered feet.
* I wanted big, lovely brown eyes, so that they had the appearance of a doll's eyes.
* I wanted roosters that were Super Friendly.
* I wanted them to be able to see well. As we all know most Silkies cannot see very well unless they have the fluff cut away from their eyes.
* I wanted a poufy crest, beard and muffs on them as well as luxurious feathers.

This is what I have developed with one of my projects. I hope you enjoy looking at them!
I have finally reached my goal.
The rooster's name is "Sir Dahlia"
He weighs around 1 pound.



The hens name is "Lemon Blossom" she weighs about 3/4 lb.




I hope you enjoyed seeing them! Thanks, BunnyMomma

Very beautiful.
What are the breeds involved in the making?

 

[draye]

Double Up

 

[BunnyMomma]

Hi, I usually do not disclose my project recipes. I appreciate your asking, but it takes many years to develop project breeds and for many reasons it is better not to disclose the breeds used in the creation of them. I will tell you, that Silkies were used as the main breeding stock, because I love the temperament of the Silkie, as well as the body size and type. Here is the main reason that I keep the recipe a secret. Because if I were to give someone the recipe and it did not turn out the same for the other breeder, I would be heavily criticized. Especially when a project is as young as this one is.

I also began the development of my "Baby Doll" Cochins in 2009. I was basically "hung out to dry" by a few breed purists and ABA and APA members here on BYC. Still they wanted to know my secret for "shrinking the cochins"! I was in complete shock at some of the negative response I received from them. However, I do have many people that love the projects that I have been working on and are happy to be on the waiting list for some when I have them available in the future. I really enjoy working on genetic projects for a hobby and I love creating new breeds. My projects are geared toward unique, ornamental fowl for backyard pets and personal enjoyment, not for show. Most people do not show chickens and love my project bantams. They are a perfect size for the small flock owner.

I am happy with what I am getting in the offspring of these birds and I am still working towards improving the color pattern. I am extremely happy with their body type and everything else. Most of them have incredible colors as well. The roosters that have lots of well dispersed colors in the feathers are the ones that I like the looks of at this point. The roosters that have two colors are nice as well, so I am not culling any of them until I see what colors they will give me when their babies mature.

I am so glad that you like them, and I do hope you understand my desire to keep the project under wraps! I hope to have some for sale in the next year, but I don't know exactly when that will be.
Sincerely, BunnyMomma

PS~ I will try to post some pics that are not so blurry. I took these with my i phone and I think there was not enough light to get a clear photo in the pics.

 

[draye]

Hi, I usually do not disclose my project recipes. I appreciate your asking, but it takes many years to develop project breeds and for many reasons it is better not to disclose the breeds used in the creation of them. I will tell you, that Silkies were used as the main breeding stock, because I love the temperament of the Silkie, as well as the body size and type. Here is the main reason that I keep the recipe a secret. Because if I were to give someone the recipe and it did not turn out the same for the other breeder, I would be heavily criticized. Especially when a project is as young as this one is.

I also began the development of my "Baby Doll" Cochins in 2009. I was basically "hung out to dry" by a few breed purists and ABA and APA members here on BYC. Still they wanted to know my secret for "shrinking the cochins"! I was in complete shock at some of the negative response I received from them. However, I do have many people that love the projects that I have been working on and are happy to be on the waiting list for some when I have them available in the future. I really enjoy working on genetic projects for a hobby and I love creating new breeds. My projects are geared toward unique, ornamental fowl for backyard pets and personal enjoyment, not for show. Most people do not show chickens and love my project bantams. They are a perfect size for the small flock owner.

I am happy with what I am getting in the offspring of these birds and I am still working towards improving the color pattern. I am extremely happy with their body type and everything else. Most of them have incredible colors as well. The roosters that have lots of well dispersed colors in the feathers are the ones that I like the looks of at this point. The roosters that have two colors are nice as well, so I am not culling any of them until I see what colors they will give me when their babies mature.

I am so glad that you like them, and I do hope you understand my desire to keep the project under wraps! I hope to have some for sale in the next year, but I don't know exactly when that will be.
Sincerely, BunnyMomma

PS~ I will try to post some pics that are not so blurry. I took these with my i phone and I think there was not enough light to get a clear photo in the pics.

Yes, I can very well understand, and can appreciate it.
You areright there are a lot of negative nellies on here. Just keep doing what you'r'e doing if you enjoy it.

 

[draye]

Dumb double posts.

 

[draye]

Got any updates?

 

[GaryDean26]

Very beautiful.
What are the breeds involved in the making?

Quote:
I see this is a booted breed, so if I were going to develop something similar I would start by looking into the make up of the D'uccle. The red and white colors the bearded face and dark horn colored beak could also be introduced from the D'uccle breed. I see that your cockerel is single combed, which could come from a D'uccle but the pullet's comb is quite different and looks like some type of a Silkie mixed comb. If your goal is to create a new breed you will need to standardize on a comb type. To fit the definition of a breed it must reliably produce offspring with the same breed features as the parent stock so you first must get parent stock that match to start a new breed (then test mate until offspring all match the parents to achieve a breed). I would recommend the walnut comb if you are going to keep the cresting since that will make things a lot easier to work with. Crested breeds with single combs struggle with cockerels having flopped over combs which is undesirable in single combed breeds. The cresting I am seeing could come from the Silkie breed.

I have some mixes too. My current favorite mix look very similar to a Bermese Bantam. I have been working on it for 3 years, but it is far from a breed (and will never be anything but a personal project for my own amusement). Creating a true breed is very long process. Research stations that that keep good records (and disclose all the breeds and crosses used) might hatch several hundred chicks every year when creating a new breed and spend 15-20 years to fix all the traits in the line to make it breed true.

I am a Backyard hobbyist too, but can sympathize with the APA and ABA members (of which I am NOT a member) who spend decades improving established breeds to fit the definition. You might get less conflicts with the ABA members if you would present you birds as ornamental mixes rather than trying to call them new breeds before they are test mated and proven to reliably produce like offspring generation after generation. Whether you disclose the "recipe" or not is your own choice, but every breed in the APA and ABA standards list the foundation breeds and origins in the breed description. Foundation breed are not trade secrets, but rather give credibility to the breed and the founders of the breed, while secrets tend to lead to skepticism and mistrust of the breed.

Anyone that is going to copy another person's project should have a good understanding of the variation that is possible and have their own game plan to arrive at the desired results. The blind copy cat that fails to produce the same results as the originator can blame no one for their failure, but themselves.

There a lot of possible combinations out there in poultry. I am glad that you are sharing your new mixes since as you say many people like them. Hopeful you and the rest of the poultry community will come to a mutual understanding on your birds.

!Suerte!