Silver Bantams

[Guest]

I have one silver bantam pullet, hatched from a flock downwind from your stock, John. Am looking for a cockerel...or eggs or chicks. Don\'t really have room for other color diversions, no matter how beautiful!

Rosemary
Colorado

[Guest]

Zip, nada, Big \"0\"? Nobody has silver bantams available at present?

If I can\'t find silver, what else could I breed my silver pullet to?
I\'m hoping to get going on this project this summer...
How could I create my own silver ameraucana bantams?

Rosemary

[bantamhill]

I would suggest using a black or blue hen/pullet for the initial cross. Then breed the resulting pullets back to their sire. You should at the end of the second generation have some silvers.

Michael

[John]

using a black

If you want to get into a breeding project that would also be my first choice.  
I just hatched a half dozen or so using that cross this past weekend.  I\'ll keep the pullets and use a silver cockerel over them next year.  I\'ll then cull any black chicks and save only the ones with wildtype markings.  The following year I\'ll do the same thing again and hope to be back to some \"pure\" silvers by then with improved type (and other qualities) compared to my present strain.  The present strain is as good as I\'ve seen in 25 plus years, but still lacks in type compared to most other varieties.

[Mike Gilbert]

I went down the same road about 4 or 5 years ago.   I found that it is easy to lose the good silvery top color on females.
Many of the ones I am getting now are way too dark.    My original intent was to try to reduce the female shafting, but it stands out even more against a darker top color.   Male color does not seem to be an issue.

[grisaboy]

I have hatched about 35 silver bantam chicks this year.
They are still too small to tell if I will have males that are good enough to share.  A couple are looking promising.  I hope to bring some to the Nationals in Ohio this fall.
I won\'t sell eggs or chicks because I still get too many off color birds (Besides, if I do get a really nice male, I want first crack at him for my own breeding flock).
I have had several people requesting birds so I am sure what I have available won\'t last long.

Curtis

[Guest]

Oh, PLEASE consider me for a cockerel or a pair. Do you ship birds? I am in Colorado.

Rosemary

I have hatched about 35 silver bantam chicks this year.
They are still too small to tell if I will have males that are good enough to share.  A couple are looking promising.  I hope to bring some to the Nationals in Ohio this fall.
I won\'t sell eggs or chicks because I still get too many off color birds (Besides, if I do get a really nice male, I want first crack at him for my own breeding flock).
I have had several people requesting birds so I am sure what I have available won\'t last long.

Curtis

[grisaboy]

Post again in October when I have a better idea of what I have.  I won\'t get rid of anything until fall.  Then it will be first come first serve.

[John]

Curtis,
I \"still get too many off color birds\" also, but I\'m getting a higher percentage of good ones each year.  I sorted thru the started birds this weekend and found a couple young silver bantam cockerels with a little red in thier shoulders.  They went into the \"reject\" pen.  Several years ago they may have been the best I had and used for breeding.
I\'ll try to bring a pair to the National to show.

[Guest]

Ok, now I\'m in even deeper. My little niece was visiting this weekend and she and my bantam silver *bonded*...they spent the weekend \"playing,\" with the pullet letting Cady carry her around, sleeping in her lap, etc....and so now I\'ve sorta promised Cady a trio next summer for 4H showing.

Oh, somebody, please, I need to find a cockerel this fall.... :thinking:

[Mike Gilbert]

If you don\'t need show quality, I recently discovered that a former member near me has carried on a line of silver bantams that I started many years ago and no longer have.
While this is more of a female line (very little shafting), the males are not all that bad.  Some will show a little reddish color in the shoulders.    What he has hatched this year are only about 2 months old, and we would want to wait until they are at least four months old in order to pick one of the better ones for color, temperament, and type.

[Guest]

I\'d be interested to consider this, thank you for offering to help.

SQ has been my goal, though, as I\'d like to show them here in Colorado and it also sounds like my niece has pretty serious 4H in her area.

[Guest]

Post again in October when I have a better idea of what I have.  I won\'t get rid of anything until fall.  Then it will be first come first serve.

Hi, I\'m still looking for a nice Silver bantam cockerel. Any possibilities out there?

[grisaboy]

I have several Silver cockerals but they are not show quality.  They have nice white top color with no red but they all have white specks on their breasts.  A couple are darkening up and I will keep those two.  The rest look pretty hopeless.  They may be alright in a breeding pen, if you can\'t find anything else, but they won\'t go very far as show birds.  

Curtis

[Jean]

Curtis,

The cockerels/cock birds with spotted chests are best to hatch nice pullets.  You want dark females and nice black breasted cock birds to breed good males.

So, what I am saying is you should have two lines to breed good silver duckwing males and females.