Silkie Smooth - Breeding Responsibly

If you were planning to breed silkies its important to understand the Standards of Perfection (SOP) for the breed. Research faults and how to avoid them in your breeding program. Show quality lines fetch higher prices, thats because of the effort and diligence that goes into their linage to ensure they meet all the standards consistently within the line - years of notes, charting and testing.

Breeding for personal enjoyment is perfectly acceptable, it would be important however to price accordingly and advertise your birds or hatching eggs as such. This is the best practice, offering transparency to the buyers. Your birds may be lovely and enjoyed by many, but let the buyer determine if yours are the right fit as some may be looking to show them once of proper age. It's also the easiest way to avoid unnecessary disappointment or a bad reputation within the community.

You should not breed faulted birds and sell them as "show quality", while you may get a good looking chick without the same obvious faults of its parents that doesn't mean that fault wouldn't be carried down the line in the genetics. Many birds that are shown are used for breeding and developing programs around, so an unexpected fault in the next generation can be detrimental to a program if the bird is a carrier for a recessive genetic issue - better to be transparent if there is information available. 

It's also not advisable to demand high rates on colour alone. While some colour mutations are considered rare or take more effort to perfect, the responsible way to offer these lines is with caution. Unless a colour can be "bred true" or you can provide genetic test results to show if the bird is a carrier or not for a colour trait you may simply have a few sharp looking "one off" birds. That doesn't automatically mean they command a higher price, as even within the colour group their are better quality examples than others.

Knowing and researching the genetic traits and lines of your birds, selectively breeding for SOP and ensuring optimal health are the key factors (for any colouration) to set pricing standards. Colouration may then further set cost differences. After all, a healthy well bred bird is always more valuable than just a pretty one...