WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH THIS ROOSTER

HI I just checked the feet on my silkie rooster and he only has 4 toes on one foot. Not good for a breeding bird is it? Its not listed under silkie disqualificatins but I don't have the SOP with the general disqualifications. I wouldn't have known except he has something stuck in his feathers and I cleaned it off. HEs the only rooster I have

Geri

I looked in my SOP and it states Silkies should have 5 toes. I would guess that would be a DQ if he only had 4 on one foot.
I am having a heck of a time getting another silkie rooster here with good feet and confirmation. I am getting one brought back from Manitoba this week and hoping his feet are good.
As for breeding I am not sure if the toes would be a recessive gene or not? If it was dominate gene then I would use him for breeding but cull any chicks with the wrong toes.

Does anybody know if this is recessive or dominant?

The fifth toe is dominant.

Did you check your hens?

poplar girl wrote:The fifth toe is dominant.

Did you check your hens?

Thank you . What does that mean in breeding?

Hen 1 - 5 toes, best of breed at fall show
hen 2 - daughter of hen 1, 5 toes

hen 3 - bought at same time as rooster only has 4 toes on left foot. probably related to rooster
Rooster is in with hen 1 right now.
GEri

If he only has 4 on one foot, it might just have been a development thing.

Is this right...

If I breed him to a hen with 5 toes, which is dominant... all the offspring should have 5 toes? Funny that the hen I bought with himonly has 4 on the left foot as well .
Geri

Rasilon wrote:Is this right...

If I breed him to a hen with 5 toes, which is dominant... all the offspring should have 5 toes? Funny that the hen I bought with himonly has 4 on the left foot as well .
Geri

This should only show up if he was bred to a hen with the 4 toe recessive right? But is it something you wan tin your lines?
Geri

WOW I got two stars

Geri last year we had 2 hens with 4 toes on one foot, 5 on the other. We bred them to our 5 toed rooster, and half the chicks came out with 4 toes, or a partial 5th toe. So I would say anything that came out with less than 5 toes get rid of, and work from there. You will have to watch as the years come that nothing in the 4 toe category comes out, but if you keep breeding them back to a 5 toe line you should work out of this, (I think). We have gotten rid of the 4 toe hens now, and are working on the fifth toe pointing up and out as it should.

I don't agree that is was just a developmental thing, I think it is a genetics issue with the lacking of the 5th toe.

This is all I could find so far (might look more later).

Five toes is dominant, but the gene can express to various degrees. If a bird has only 4 toes on EACH foot, then each parent carries at least one copy of not-polydactyly. If a bird has 9 toes, it can indeed have two copies of polydactyly, but it could also have one copy. A bird with one copy can have 10 toes.

Lack of a fifth toe on Silkies is a disqualifaction. If you look under general DQ's in the Standard of Perfection it is there. Just a note to people using the SOP you must not only look under your breed but you also have to look to your general DQ's and point cuts for info.

Also 4 toes is a genetic thing in Silkies and I would comment once again that it is sad to see people who sold these birds to you were not upfront. You will have to proceed carefully as these things always come back to haunt you. My opinion only but depending on your goals you may want to source another cock bird or cockerel, I know it is hard some times but in your case you might ask Hidden where she is getting her's or look to Ontario maybe. Do you get Feather Fancier as you could look in the ads there. What color are you working with?

Heather

Let me just add more fuel to the fire. Once you get past the fifth toe, have a look at the fourth one.

If that fourth toe does not point backward the bird has "duck foot" and this is also a DQ.

Sue

Blah, duckfeet, silkies are prone to that from my understanding, wrong? right? Seems I remember something about that. Only had that once in my flock, on one rooster only, blah!! Have a most wonderful day, CynthiaM.

viczoe wrote:

Also 4 toes is a genetic thing in Silkies and I would comment once again that it is sad to see people who sold these birds to you were not upfront. You will have to proceed carefully as these things always come back to haunt you. My opinion only but depending on your goals you may want to source another cock bird or cockerel, I know it is hard some times but in your case you might ask Hidden where she is getting her's or look to Ontario maybe. Do you get Feather Fancier as you could look in the ads there. What color are you working with?

Heather

Well if its going to keep popping up I do not want to breed 4 toed birds. Hidden is getting a splash rooster. I am now looking for a Partridge Silkie rooster with all his toes. I had one partridge silkie egg come from Alberta on the weekend. With my luck it will hatch and it will be a hen. lolololol If anybody knows of anyone with Partridge silkies who may have a rooster for sale please let me know. To bad there isn't anyone on Ty's route, he is heading to Winnipeg as we type. Thanks Geri

CynthiaM wrote:Blah, duckfeet, silkies are prone to that from my understanding, wrong? right? Seems I remember something about that. Only had that once in my flock, on one rooster only, blah!! Have a most wonderful day, CynthiaM.

Don't you dare blah duck foot, Cynthia! It is a DQ as well and a very common problem in the fifth toed breeds. It is tied to issures with that fifth toe. I am shaking my finger at you right now! (Hee hee!)

Sue

Just something I noticed with some silkies I got from a hatchery before. That the silkie appeared to have just 4 toes on one foot, but on closer examination, had 2 nails coming out of the toe, and the toe actually looked like it was 2 joined together. (I had taken pictures, but deleted them needing more space on my computer.) I'm trying to remember, but I think it was the back toes... (it's been a few years now, and the birds is long gone, when I first got started getting silkies).

Is this genetic or a developmental thing?