Silkie experts...I have a toe question.

[shelleyb1969]

I have a super nice Silkie hen that only has 4 toes on one foot. She came from a reputable breeder here in Michigan who is going through breeders and selling a few of the older birds. Everything about her is show quality except for her toes...and even the spacing on them is excellent. My question is...is she worth keeping even though she only has 4 toes on one foot? I'm sure she will produce very nice chicks, but what percentage could possibly carry her toe trait? I'm not breeding to show myself, but I do want to produce nice birds for the local 4H kids.

 

[Pathfinders]

I would not have purchased nor would I breed a bird with four toes, but that's just me.

 

[shelleyb1969]

That's what's so confusing with Silkies...all of my breeders are very nice birds, not show quality in all areas, but still very nice. They came from a very reputable breeder as well. All of them have correct toes, but I do hatch chicks with 4 toes, and on a few occasions, 6 toes. I guess it's just going to take lots of sorting to get where I want to be. This hen is just so nice everywhere except that 1 foot!

 

[silkieluver_07]

If you have any 6 toed birds, I've heard that you can breed a four toed with a six toes to try and get a fived toed bird. You could give it a try and see how it works out. I know how you feel with this because I just hatched an ADORABLE silkie chick and on its left foot has four toes and on the right five.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

http://web.archive.org/web/20060316085352/marsa_sellers.tripod.com/geneticspages/page3.html has a bit of information on the polydactyly gene Po. A bird with 9 toes carries the gene; one with 8 toes does not. I don't know why you sometimes get birds with 9 toes, or sometimes ten, but split 6 & 4.

 

[shelleyb1969]

Thank you so much, Sonoran, for that link. The info found there is wonderful...it will really explain and help a lot.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Sonoran...your inbox is full

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Try email