Anyone want to join my blue egg laying Silkie project?

[smoothmule]

I have crossed a bantam Araucana hen with my Serama rooster and got the nicest, very blue egg laying hen that is rumpless and clean faced (the Araucana hen was clean faced so no chance of tufts anyway) so I think this is a better cross to begin with than a Silkie hen to an Araucana rooster. I am thinking that a Silkie Rooster to an Araucana hen would give better results then take any silkied pullets back to the Araucana rooster. Of course, I don't have a Silkie rooster (although I know where I can get some), I do have a single, white Silkie hen but she's not laying for me. I bought her as a young hen that had just started laying for a broody hen for my Serama eggs and I think I got the only non broody Silkie hen in the world and she hasn't laid a single egg since I got her months ago

I have a gorgeous, white Araucana rooster. The Silkie has not been with a rooster at all, she's been a babysitter for my young Araucana chicks. I may have to give her a chance to redeem herself. At least I won't have any trouble telling her eggs from the others......that is if she ever lays an egg again. This may be another reason to use an Araucana hen and Silkie Rooster.

 

[cubakid]

I read a post wowards the beginning about blue egg laying Naked Necks. it would be cool to produce naked necked, rumpless birds with a crest, and silkie feathering that lay blue eggs! wow that would take forever!

 

[1drAcres]

Silkie feathers are due to a simple recessive that renders feathers barbule-less and thus fluffy. Blue eggs are a simple dominant that colors the entire shell a blue color. Silkies also carry a slight brown tint to their eggs. Brown egg color is due to many genetic factors and is not simple to remove. The challenge that you will have with this project is removing the brown coating on the blue shelled eggs that you will produce, which will make the resulting eggs a greenish/olivish color. You'll have to do more crossing to quality Araucanas than to quality Silkies to obtain the desirable egg color. The silkie feathering will be the easy trait to obtain. Have fun with your project!

Cherrie Nolden

 

[smoothmule]

Silkie feathers are due to a simple recessive that renders feathers barbule-less and thus fluffy. Blue eggs are a simple dominant that colors the entire shell a blue color. Silkies also carry a slight brown tint to their eggs. Brown egg color is due to many genetic factors and is not simple to remove. The challenge that you will have with this project is removing the brown coating on the blue shelled eggs that you will produce, which will make the resulting eggs a greenish/olivish color. You'll have to do more crossing to quality Araucanas than to quality Silkies to obtain the desirable egg color. The silkie feathering will be the easy trait to obtain. Have fun with your project!

Cherrie Nolden

Cherrie,
The black, Silkied Serama roo is from faintly tinted eggs so green shouldn't be such an issue to fix. I've been working with blue egger crosses for a few years now so I have a pretty good handle on how to improve the egg color. I also have a black pullet so I will be able to produce both chocolates and black bantam Araucana's that lay blue eggs and have silkied feathering.

Here is my chocolate bantam Araucana project hen.


She is recessive/sex linked chocolate, double tufted/rumpless and here is her egg color



Here is the rooster


He has yellow skin, same as the Araucana's. I've made Serama to Araucana crosses before and all had pea comb and laid blue eggs, all were rumpless but none tufted because the Araucana hens I used were clean faced.

I will cross this rooster to the bantam Araucana hens, then cross the offspring to each other and there will be some silkied and of those, I expect there will be some laying nice blue eggs.

Can you picture little silkied, rumpless (some tufted some clean faced) blue egg layers? I think they will be adorable. The black rooster is just 24 ounces, large for a Serama but just perfect for my project.

 

[1drAcres]

You are right on track for producing the kind of birds you desire. Over a few generations you'll be able to sort out the heterozygous blue eggers and then you'll really be rockin' with true-breeding blue egg silkie araucanas! Great project!!

 

[smoothmule]

You are right on track for producing the kind of birds you desire. Over a few generations you'll be able to sort out the heterozygous blue eggers and then you'll really be rockin' with true-breeding blue egg silkie araucanas! Great project!!

I'd love to find a large fowl Silkied type of any breed, a large fowl hairy chicken would be so cool.

What is your goal? A Silkie type that lays blue eggs? You might have some issues with good comb type since the pea comb being modified may affect egg color.

 

[Penny Hen]

I have white Araucana breeding trio and I have some juvi white Silkies. My plan is to create a blue egg laying Silkie.

Anyone want to help? Or have any ideas?

Ooh, Ooh, There is a lady on one of the lists that is selling a Silkied Americana roo. Not half silky but an Americana roo with the silky gene. I will look and see which thread that was.

 

[deckaman225]

i have been wanting to do that i have put my silkie rooster with my ameraucana girls hoping to put some in the incubator soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Heehee! My feedstore sells blue egg laying Silkies. Their whole strain of birds lays blue eggs.

 

[Penny Hen]

Well... if you LIKE it, it's your reward for keeping them going

I'm glad you did hatch some. It's an interesting gene project. I promise if I'd have seen your posts about them I'd have been interested. Genetics is fun.

But I didn't even get interested in bantams until this year after a sort of sizzle experiment. They are addictive. Now the whole dynamic silkies sizzles etc I find very cool.

I have a bird that's very smokey that has made a few silkie/sizzle breeders question whether it's a black with demelanizers or a blue. I think he's just a darker blue. Breeding will tell but he's still young.

I have two BCM/Americana pullets that are smokey like that. They are slate gray not blue in natural sunlight.