Silkie Color Verification and Breeding Program

[Slothinc]

UPDATE: girl is definitely a blue and the boy is a light gray confirmed by breeder.

Blue is not going to work with any of my other chickens going to swap blue out for colors that will work. Thanks everyone

Yay! So glad you got breeder confirmation!! If I were you, I would keep the black roo and hens together in their own space so you can have a lavender/black pen. If they all 3 carry lavender, you can get 25% lavender chicks in the first generation. Lavender is my absolute favorite silkie color and is very rare and hard to find. As such, you can sell them for more. But if breeding lavender, especially if selling them as such, then you should keep your pen with only blacks and lavenders and nothing else.

Then you could have a fun color pen using the gray boy and the other girls which would give a mix of different colors.

 

[BlendedFamilyFarmSilkies]

Yay! So glad you got breeder confirmation!! If I were you, I would keep the black roo and hens together in their own space so you can have a lavender/black pen. If they all 3 carry lavender, you can get 25% lavender chicks in the first generation. Lavender is my absolute favorite silkie color and is very rare and hard to find. As such, you can sell them for more. But if breeding lavender, especially if selling them as such, then you should keep your pen with only blacks and lavenders and nothing else.

Then you could have a fun color pen using the gray boy and the other girls which would give a mix of different colors.

Yes, that’s what I was thinking! Do lavender chicks sell for more than other colors? If so how much?

 

[Slothinc]

Yes, that’s what I was thinking! Do lavender chicks sell for more than other colors? If so how much?

They definitely do. It can vary depending on what your local market is, but I would say in my area they could sell for at least double the price of the standard colored chicks. Lavender and lavender split eggs sell for more as well. If selling eggs, it’s best to have at least one lavender parent. For example if you have a lavender rooster in with hens that are lavender and black split to lavender hens, then more chicks would hatch out lavender.

Lavender x lavender = 100% lavender chicks

Lavender x black split = 50% lavender, 50% black split to lavender

Lavender x black (not split) = 100% black split to lavender

Black split x black split = 25% black (not split) 50% black split to lavender 25% lavender

Black split x black (not split) = 50% black split 50% black not split

In breeding your split birds together I would probably only keep the lavender chicks because I don’t like having black chicks and not knowing if they are split or not. Or if you do keep some lavenders from that breeding you could cross them to the black chicks that are unknown (you won’t know if they are split or not) and the chicks resulting from that breeding you will know 100% that all of the black chicks are split to lavender.

Hope that makes sense!