Buff Bearded Silkies
The Buffs were the last color variety that I got into, and are definitely one of my favorites. Unfortunately, 2008, my hens are too heavily feathered for my male to breed them naturally without clipping, so I have had to do some serious haircuts and some AI to get fertility.
These are some pictures of my buffs.
Zazu has been sold, though I hated to do it, I needed a new male. Finding a Buff Male that is the quality I want is quite a challenge. I find way too many buff silkies are too light in color and have practically a white underfluff, so I stay away from those if I can. I have been told that a few of the top breeders have intentionally bred blue cocks to buff hens to lighten the black in the tails of the buffs, but that I should not keep any buff cockerels from this mating. Not sure why, but anyway, I have a blue cockerel in there now and he has great type and heavy foot feathering (though is not in condition in the pics).
This year, 2009, I have decided to change things around a bit. I let go of some of the older birds that were not so good and introduced a new Blue male. I have not hatched any buffs yet this year, but plan on setting a few in the next week or so. I have been checking eggs, and it seems the fertility is going good.
Birds did not turn out like I hoped and got no buff chicks. Got mixed colors, blue with buff in them, and have all been sold. Rooster passed away suddenly after the heat we had this year. I have recently purchased a new buff cockerel who I should receive in the next few weeks from Bren in TX. These are some pictures of the new sire I will use next year.
He has been giving fertile eggs and I have also acquired a new buff male to add some much needed color to the variety. They are getting way too light in the undercoat. Here is Buddy, and he is very red as you can see. But, he is very young, only about 5 months old, but has nice feet, and nice comb color, although his crest is small, my hens are not small crested. They should complement each other nicely.
As you can see, this girl here is extremely light.
Pictures of the girls
