Thoughts on the quality of this silkie roo for breeding

[chickmamato7]

He's a chocolate split and I have 1 chocolate showgirl to pair him with. A local breeder had to sell off her flock due to an unexpected move. I know nothing about genetics (yet!). I only got this trio because it came with 2 show girls and I couldn't resist. I'm worried about his feathering, though. Thoughts? I've never seen a silkie roo look like this-- very shiny, black/green rounded tail feathers and 2 hard, rounded feathers near his legs. Is he possibly a mix? Should I rehome him or breed him and see what I get?

 

[sourland]

He is a silky cross, but he's a beautiful bird.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

He's a Satin. What that means is that he has smooth feathers instead of silkied feathers, but otherwise looks like a Silkie. He could be a first generation mix, or he could be from several generations down the line after an outcross for smooth feathering. Some Silkie breeders work with Satins as well, so it's hard to say for sure. I can't comment on his quality or whether he'd be worth keeping to breed from as I'm not the most familiar with the standard for Silkies, but he very likely is carrying a silkied gene and could produce silkied offspring if he is. If you breed him to a silkied hen, about half of his offspring would be silkied if he is carrying the gene.

I'm not sure if I could resist getting Showgirls, either! Congrats on your new birds!

 

[sourland]

He's a Satin. What that means is that he has smooth feathers instead of silkied feathers, but otherwise looks like a Silkie.

ie a cross between a silkie and a hard feathered bird - perhaps a Cochin.

 

[chickmamato7]

ie a cross between a silkie and a hard feathered bird - perhaps a Cochin.

Cochin is what I was thinking, too!

 

[chickmamato7]

He's a Satin. What that means is that he has smooth feathers instead of silkied feathers, but otherwise looks like a Silkie. He could be a first generation mix, or he could be from several generations down the line after an outcross for smooth feathering. Some Silkie breeders work with Satins as well, so it's hard to say for sure. I can't comment on his quality or whether he'd be worth keeping to breed from as I'm not the most familiar with the standard for Silkies, but he very likely is carrying a silkied gene and could produce silkied offspring if he is. If you breed him to a silkied hen, about half of his offspring would be silkied if he is carrying the gene.

I'm not sure if I could resist getting Showgirls, either! Congrats on your new birds!

Thanks! I've always wanted show girls and one of them is chocolate

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh, beautiful! I love Chocolate!! I'm hoping to work the variety into my silkied Cochin bantams over the next few years.

 

[Pinedale Silkies]

I’d breed him over the showgirls, and if he does indeed carry the silkie gene, his babies should be 50-50 satin or silkie. Then if you get a few good silkie babies and you want a higher rate of silkie feathered birds, you could always replace him with one of them.

 

[Pinedale Silkies]

Apart from the satin feathers he does seem mostly to standard so seems to be of good stock.

 

[Jules5150]

He's a chocolate split and I have 1 chocolate showgirl to pair him with. A local breeder had to sell off her flock due to an unexpected move. I know nothing about genetics (yet!). I only got this trio because it came with 2 show girls and I couldn't resist. I'm worried about his feathering, though. Thoughts? I've never seen a silkie roo look like this-- very shiny, black/green rounded tail feathers and 2 hard, rounded feathers near his legs. Is he possibly a mix? Should I rehome him or breed him and see what I get?
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I like the satins, and have one in a "fun color" pen I'm going to play around with. Yours is beautiful!