Thoughts on Breeding?<Silkies>

[silkiejunkie]

After shuffling through this site for months, I've finally decided to post something! (Introduction posts don't count I don't think for real substance).

I had my two Buff Silkies (Roosters) win Best of Variety and Reserve Best of Variety, and my Splashes (Hens) won Best of Show and Reserve Best of Show at the Miami Dade County Fair. My Silkies made up seven out of the fifteen Breed entries, so I'm not sure if there is quite the luster in BoB and BV as there is say at, Florida State Fair. However, I was approached by other Youth Competitors and a Teacher as well asking me if I was going to breed my Silkies and also if I was selling my birds (as a High school Junior, I still have another year so I hadn't even imagined selling my birds yet with another year to compete and my parents plans to move out to a farming area after I graduated). I told them I'd get back to them and got email addresses. I plan to compete in other Fairs and APA Shows this coming year (and next), so one of my put-offs is that despite their success at my County Fair, they could be poor quality elsewhere (like State Fair).

If I do decide to breed, and when pricing the chicks, do I take into account of their parent(s) success? (as for example how a dog is worth more if a parent is a Champion) Or only when they have 'won' in numerous competitions? And what is a good price for Show birds? I got my five I feel on the higher side as chicks at $10 a piece at a Swap Meet. I'll be sure to take pictures and post them up here (as the ones I have are outdated).

I also know nothing about Silkie genetics. Is it alright to mix any variety such as Buff/Splash? Or are there specific mixes that are okay, such as White/Splash or White/Buff? Or should I just avoid mixing and stay within the same variety?

Sorry for the long postage!

 

[CrestedHorizonPoultry]

One piece of advice I can give to you is to NOT mix your colors unless you know exactly what and why you need to do it. I keep white with white, black with black unless I want blues and then I put black and splash together. I keep my blues with blues or splash. I do not ever mix black and blues. Hope that made sense.

whtXwht=white
blkXblk=black
blkXsplash=blue
blueXblue=blue or splash or black
blueXsplash=blue or splash
buffXbuff=buff

 

[SilkieCRZYness]

One thing I can say is your on the right track as towards county fairs don't mean much. Not even state fairs all to much, obviously more competition but the judges there might now know to much about silkies, heck, silkie judging is nothing like it is up north or Midwest, were the nationals are and competition is on the next level. I don't even know If the ASBC counts points for a county or state fair? There is several shows in this state that are sanctioned events an have great judges flown from across the country that if you want to see how your birds do against let's say Bobbi Porto for example, you should enter them. One in arcadia, one in Inverness, and one in lake city, all have couple thousand birds and great judges. Good advice on colors with the post above. Also if you want some good critique on your birds post a few pics on here, there's a ton of silkie experts, even some master breeders from the ASBC on BYC. As for prices, 10 for a chick could be cheap or expensive depending on quality of the parents/genteics. I think it is rare you find amazing silkie chicks at a swap, try eggbid.com, lot bette chance of finding something of quality. And as far as your two buffs for example, took BV and RV, well that doesn't mean a whole lot, especially at a fair because they could have been the only two entered and your garunteed to win those. Were they? Another note, cockerals usually don't do nearly as well as pullets/hens. Especially at big shows, judges seem to love the girls. Just my 2 cents.

 

[silkiejunkie]

Thank you both for the advice, especially on the colors! I've actually just mailed in my membership for ASBC and don't know all too much about the point system; I still have lots of Research to do. I'll look into the Shows as well. The Buff's weren't alone- at our fair the minimum for that award is five of the variety entered and there were six in all. Three though were still quite small and the other was mine.

SilkieCRZYness, when I first read your post, I realized the name "Bobbi Porto" sounded really familiar. I went to go find the business card I got from my breeder- and guess who it is, Bobbi & Sal Porto of Indigo Egg! I have five silkies from them I got at an Arcadia Swap Meet; the two Buffs (Cockerals), the two Splashes (Pullets), and a Partridge (Pullet).

 

[catwalk]

The Porto's sell at Swap meets? That's awesome! As far as pricing, supply and demand. If you have the best Silkies at your County fair, those are the best birds some kids will ever see. It won't matter to them how competitive they are elsewhere, because they aren't showing anywhere else. Not that they aren't committed, but their ambitions are often limited to their parent's interest in the matter. I think $10 is reasonable, and maybe you can sponsor some sort of contest to offer one for free to a member. That would make it fun. Also, anyone who didn't win would still want one, and there's your demand!

 

[SilkieCRZYness]

If your birds came from Bobbi Porto then they are probably decent, I would say great but I've never heard of them at an Arcadia swap, and most top breeders use swaps as a place to sell off birds that could be amazing to us, but to them don't quite meet there likes. Pics pics pics!