New roo for the Silkie pen

Well, it's that time of year again. Time to add to the breeding groups and get things all sorted out for the new breeding season. This year there are 5 Silkie additions. A porcelain pullet, 1 black pullet and 2 lavender splits and this white cockerel. His name is Snowflake. (picture from when he was 10 weeks old)

Adding chickens to breeding groups

This year I chose to get eggs from Catdance Silkies. I really like the way these guys are growing in. The porcelain is gorgeous! You can see her in this post: Chicken Christmas Pictures The black and splits are also both very nice. I love the white, except for his one foot...but that's ok, his genetics are stellar, which means he may or may not pass it on. (I'll need to check this in his test hatches) 

It does bring me to a topic that comes up a lot though.....The children don't always look exactly like the parents. That's right! Both parents can be award winning show birds and their offspring could have flaws. I have also had less then show quality birds whose offspring have gone on to win shows. Starting with the highest quality birds definitely stacks the deck in your favor though. 

Every year I search the web for the best breeders I can find. They must be in the NPIP, and they must be new to me....or someone I haven't ordered from in at least 2 years. I order eggs and grow them out before deciding which ones to add to my breeding group. Last year I went with Indigo egg. Some of those Silkies can be seen in the first 2 pictures of this post: Our Newest Silkie Pullets (The last picture is one from our group) I hatched 13 that time and added 8 of them to my breeding group. 

With these new Silkies and minus winter losses (I really hate foxes, have I mentioned that?) it brings our Silkie pen to 22. I have a calico in the grow out pen that I'm considering adding in also, we'll give it time to get a little bigger before I decide. He can be seen in the first picture of this post: Warm Winter Day=Play time! (Sorry for all the links....I didn't want to re post all the same pics and bog down the feed)

Ok, that's it for today....I'm on my way out to change the bedding in the Silkie house and freshen up the Guinea coop. Have a lovely day!

~L

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