Silkie Chick Colors - dilution gene? Red + blue genetics?

[PeaEggThief]

Hi!

I'm a newbie to silkies and chickens in general. I was testing out my incubator for the upcoming peafowl breeding season and am using the eggs of my silkies (also for incubating pea eggs). I thought I'd get a pretty standard color chick, but I'm shocked at the range of colors and now I'm maybe becoming a bit of a silkie addict as well!

My one hen is a partridge (chocolate/gold coloring), my other hen is a self blue and my rooster looks like what I've seen called a porcelain - someone said he was columbian with red leakage. I'm really not sure... this photo doesn't capture this slightly lemony shade he has in his hackles.

What I'm seeing from eggs are Patridge (some more white, some more golden), self blue, white and a darker grey... what's interesting is there are some strange ones: a partridge pattern with a pastel quality to the markings: or a orange tinged overall; blue-ish grey with a golden/white blended quality; white with very orange tones blended over the head and down the back/wings.

Type 1: standard partridge? Some have a more golden color to their face and body than others.
Type 2: ?
Type 3: ?

This photo doesn't show the yellow / blue-grey quality, but you get the idea. Are the markings almost like a partridge patterning?

Are these all white? Will they loose the orange tinge?

Thanks in advance!

These silkies are addicting - it's just really interesting to see what hatches out every batch!

 

[HappyClucker7]

Bump

 

[LadiesAndJane]

@LynnaePB any ideas? It is a bit over my head!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Hi!

I'm a newbie to silkies and chickens in general. I was testing out my incubator for the upcoming peafowl breeding season and am using the eggs of my silkies (also for incubating pea eggs). I thought I'd get a pretty standard color chick, but I'm shocked at the range of colors and now I'm maybe becoming a bit of a silkie addict as well!

My one hen is a partridge (chocolate/gold coloring), my other hen is a self blue and my rooster looks like what I've seen called a porcelain - someone said he was columbian with red leakage. I'm really not sure... this photo doesn't capture this slightly lemony shade he has in his hackles.
View attachment 2624077


What I'm seeing from eggs are Patridge (some more white, some more golden), self blue, white and a darker grey... what's interesting is there are some strange ones: a partridge pattern with a pastel quality to the markings: or a orange tinged overall; blue-ish grey with a golden/white blended quality; white with very orange tones blended over the head and down the back/wings.

View attachment 2624078

Type 1: standard partridge? Some have a more golden color to their face and body than others.
Type 2: ?
Type 3: ?

View attachment 2624079

This photo doesn't show the yellow / blue-grey quality, but you get the idea. Are the markings almost like a partridge patterning?


View attachment 2624080
Are these all white? Will they loose the orange tinge?

Thanks in advance!

These silkies are addicting - it's just really interesting to see what hatches out every batch!

Do you have individual pictures of all the possible parents?

 

[PeaEggThief]

Do you have individual pictures of all the possible parents?

Here is the little trio I have out there (sorry, their little temporary run looks awful, but I have a few young 2nd generation olive eggers who are still getting used to coming and going from the coop, so everyone has been shut in the run for the last few weeks).

Roo (named Robert Townsend):

Hens: the partridge is Anna Strong and the blue-y one, who is a but wet from staying out in the rain just now is Agent 355. They were all named after the Culper Spy Ring.

These hens were really just supposed to be pea egg hatchers... but the range of colors in the chicks is so interesting! I'm having a lot of fun hatching silkies!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Here is the little trio I have out there (sorry, their little temporary run looks awful, but I have a few young 2nd generation olive eggers who are still getting used to coming and going from the coop, so everyone has been shut in the run for the last few weeks).

Roo (named Robert Townsend):

View attachment 2641790

Hens: the partridge is Anna Strong and the blue-y one, who is a but wet from staying out in the rain just now is Agent 355. They were all named after the Culper Spy Ring.

View attachment 2641791

These hens were really just supposed to be pea egg hatchers... but the range of colors in the chicks is so interesting! I'm having a lot of fun hatching silkies!

The rooster has a mixed coloring. He’s silver/gold split, looks to have columbian genes, and probably has partridge as well. Since he had a white chick, he must also carry recessive white. It’s likely that the hens also have hidden genes. Silkies usually aren’t bred pure for color.

Your gray-colored hen is blue. She also likely has other genes as well.

There’s a lot of mixed colorings in the chicks that don’t have any specific name. You probably have a lot that appear to be specific colors, though, such as blue, black, white, buff, silver columbian, partridge, blue partridge, silver partridge (gray), blue silver partridge, blue silver columbian, blue buff (columbian), and any mix of those colors.

 

[PeaEggThief]

The rooster has a mixed coloring. He’s silver/gold split, looks to have columbian genes, and probably has partridge as well. Since he had a white chick, he must also carry recessive white. It’s likely that the hens also have hidden genes. Silkies usually aren’t bred pure for color.

Your gray-colored hen is blue. She also likely has other genes as well.

There’s a lot of mixed colorings in the chicks that don’t have any specific name. You probably have a lot that appear to be specific colors, though, such as blue, black, white, buff, silver columbian, partridge, blue partridge, silver partridge (gray), blue silver partridge, blue silver columbian, blue buff (columbian), and any mix of those colors.

This is really interesting! That accounts for the range of colors I'm seeing. Their color inheritance is so much more complicated than the peafowl (though I don't own many pea splits, so that's probably where some of the exciting egg "gambling high" comes in here... the excitment of the unknown).

Thanks so much for all that info! I'm really new to owning chickens... but I'm loving these guys!

 

[LynnaePB]

I was writing out a response but RoostersAreAwesome already covered it!

I love the variety of babies you got!

 

[PeaEggThief]

I love the variety of babies you got!

I'm shocked at how different they all are... at first I thought they were all partridge and blue, but then I saw a darker grey, and then this orangey white, and these muted partridge pattern, and these lemony/blue patterns.

Hatching these guys out is terribly, terribly addicting! Silkies are a bit of a gateway drug, I guess!

 

[Aaronleon]

All those golden ones are white. Buff would be more of a richer tan color. They're white I promise, I've owned them.