Silkie color genetics- any insight?

[Chicks n stuff]

 

[Chicks n stuff]

In the picture above the sciences/geneticist used capital letters for all E series foundation colors and pattern genes. They also left off the beginning E when labeling foundation color. Hope this helps you understand the picture.
Extended black (E*E),
Birchen (E*R),
wild-type (E*N),
brown (E*B),
buttercup (E*BC),
wheaten (E*WH or E*Y depending on dominance).

 

[Chicks n stuff]

 

[Chicks n stuff]

 

[Chicks n stuff]

 

[Chicks n stuff]

Comb:

bd(Breda comb/Combless)-autosomal, recessive.

DV(V-shape Duplex comb)- autosomal, incomplete dominant.

DB(Buttercup, Duplex comb)- autosomal, incomplete dominant.

R(Rose-comb)- autosomal, dominant.

P(Pea-comb) - autosomal, incomplete dominant.

R,P(Walnut-comb)- both autosomal, both dominant.

r+/r+, p+/p+(single-comb)- both autosomal, both recessive.

He+(RUGGED COMB)- Autosomal, dominant.

hel(SMOOTH COMB)- autosomal, recessive.

 

[Chicks n stuff]

http://kippenjungle.nl/breeds/crossbreeds.html

 

[Chicks n stuff]

Some of my juvenile chickens

Starting from the left we have:
Genotypes:

1. Frizzled silkie:
H+/h(non-silky)
F/f+(Frizzle)
na+/na+(non-naked neck)

2. Silkie:
h/h(silky)
f+/f+(non-frizzle)
na+/na+(non-naked neck)

3. Sizzled silkie:
h/h(silky)
F/f+(frizzle)
na+/na+(non-naked neck)

4. Showgirl:
h/h(silky)
f+/f+(non-frizzle)
Na/na+(naked neck)

5. Smooth silkie:
H+/h(non-silky)
f+/f+(non-frizzled)
na+/na+(non-naked necked)

Genotypes listed are for these individual chickens Not for all chickens with these characteristics. I know their genotype because I know their parents genotypes.

Genes:
h(Silky)- autosomal, recessive.
H+(Non-silky)- autosomal, dominant.

F(Frizzle)- autosomal, dominant, semilethal.
F/f+(frizzle)- not lethal.
F/F(frazzle)- causes brittle feathers, feather loss, and heart defects, heart problems, and death.
f+(Non-frizzle/regular feathers)- autosomal, recessive, not lethal at all.

Na(Naked neck)- autosomal, dominant.
na+(Non-naked neck)- autosomal, recessive.

 

[Chicks n stuff]

The Silkie Chicken! And the genetic makeup behind the breed!

What is a silkie? So silky is a feather type, and silkie is a breed of chicken. A breed is an animal that has a specific purpose or function. Chickens are a domesticated bird. A chicken breed has a particular set of genes that contribute to a particular body type, size, feather coloration, skin color, feather type, comb type and so on and so forth. A silkie chickens purpose is to be a pet or a show bird, they are also very broody, so they make good setting hens(hens that will make you some chicks). Obviously silkies lay eggs and can be used for meat, but that's definitely not the idea in mind when creating the silkie breed standards. There are plenty of layer type breeds of chicken, and several meat breeds too. However, I have found Silkies to be very decent layers, and they will lay you a few eggs in the winter months, which is uncommon in most breeds of chicken. They make really nice pets, as they are pretty calm as far as chickens go.

As far as appearance goes, a silkie should have five toes, sometimes they don't, four toes is the natural amount of toes for a chicken. The fifth toe is brought on by the Po(polydactyl) gene.
Gene description: Po(Extra toes/polydactyl)- autosomal, incomplete dominant, expressivity and penetrance extremely irregular.
A silkie,(or any chicken really), can have the Po(polydactyl) gene and still have four toes. I know because I breed a four toed silkie to a breed of chicken that doesn't have the Po(polydactyl) gene, and 50% of their offspring had five toes. On the other hand it's common for the Po(polydactyl) gene to cause a chicken to have more than five toes.

A silkie must have black or brown eyes, to have brown eyes a chicken must have the br(brown eyes) gene, it is sexlinked, and recessive.

A silkie will usually lay a white or cream colored egg, it's very rare for a silkie to lay any other color of eggs. I bred some blue egg laying silkies a while back, and I still have a showgirl who lays blue eggs.

A silkie should have feathers on their legs. The Pti-1 or Pti-2(Featherfooted) genes are responsible for feathers on the legs and feet of Silkies, these genes are autosomal and dominant with multifactonal
modifiers.
Please note that other breeds might have different genes controlling the feathers on their legs and feet such as (pti-1 þ / pti-1 þ , pti-2 þ /pti-2 þ ) as seen in the Houdan. The Marans is known to carry the Pti-1(featherfooted) gene. These genes have an effect on toe length as well as, and this is probably why silkies toes vary in length. Silkies are also known to be missing the toenail(s) on their pinky toe, I don't actually know what gene(s) are responsible for this, but I suspect that it's a interaction between the Po(polydactyl) gene and Pti-1 or Pti-2(Featherfooted) genes. But as far as I know, nobody knows.

A silkie must have a crest, the Cr(Crest) gene is the cause for crests on any breed of chicken, it is autosomal, and it is incomplete dominant, which is why a silkie mixed with a chicken that doesn't have a crest will have a little crest compared to its silkie parent.

Silkies can come in non-bearded and bearded. I personally prefer bearded silkies. The Mb(Beard) gene is responsible for beards on any breed of chicken, it is autosomal, and it is incomplete dominant, meaning that homozygous individuals will have better beards than heterozygous individuals. Mb(beard) is also incomplete penetrance, which means that some individuals can have the beard gene but won't have a beard.

A silkie should have dark skin, this is thanks to the combination of the Fm(Fibromelanosis) gene and the id+(dermal melanin) gene. Sometimes silkies don't have dark skin as some color genes, like sexlinked barring, dilute the dermis layer of the skin and therefore cannot come in combination with dark skin, and there are other reasons why a silkie might be light skinned as well. I go more in-depth with the reasons why a silkie might have light skin in another post here on my farm page, so if this interests you go check out that other post.

Most silkies have (h)silky feathers, but they can come in any feather type. That said, some feather types can't be shown. I'm pretty confident that there are subcategories for smooth/sain(aka regular feather), silkies and I believe most breeds can be shown as a frizzled version of the breed. But if you were to breed a silkie with a hard feather type I don't think you'd be able to show it. But I've never heard of a silkie having a hard feather type, so that's easily avoided. If you're not familiar with feather types and don't know the difference between a soft and hard feather type, an easy explanation is that most chickens are a soft feather type, the Cornish games have hard feather type and so do a few other breeds, like the Malay, and most game chickens.

A silkie is considered a bantam, but most silkies are more of a medium sized chicken. But what size your silkies are depends on what type of dwarfism they have and the selective breeding that went on in their lineage.
The three dwarfism genes:
1. adw(autosomal dwarfism)- autosomal, recessive.
2. dw(sexlinked dwarfism)- sexlinked, recessive.
3. dwB(bantam dwarfism)- sexlinked, recessive.

A silkie should NOT have a r+/r+,p+/p+(single comb), some silkies occasionally hatch with a single comb as the genes for a single comb are recessive and therefore are hard to eliminate from the silkie gene pool. A silkie with a single comb would be considered pet quality, even if they are perfect in every other way, because they would be disqualified in a poultry show. A silkie should have either a walnut comb, which is produced by having a copy of the R(Rose-comb) gene, which is autosomal, and dominant, and one copy of the P(Pea-comb) gene, also autosomal, and it is incomplete dominant. So a silkie would have R,P=(Walnut-comb). But they can also have a pea comb, to have a pea comb a chicken would need a copy of the P(pea-comb) gene and two copies of the r+(non-rose-comb), i.e. P, r+/r+=(Pea-comb).

A silkie shouldn't have vulture hocks, that is longer leg feathers at the elbow of the leg. The v(Vulture hocks) gene is autosomal, and recessive. I have had a silkie with vulture hocks and I thought it looked really cool, but it's not breed standard and it would be an instant disqualification in a poultry show.

Lastly a silkie can be any color. But, there are only eight silkie color varieties that are accepted by the American Poultry Association, 1. black, 2. blue, 3. buff, 4. gray,(gray should NOT be a recognized color), 5. partridge, 6. splash, 7. Lavender, and 8. white,- so either, recessive white, or a double dose of dominant white, it's not specified which white is officially recognized. The paint silkie is not recognized by the APA, but it is to my understanding that paint silkies can be shown in some competitions along with other unrecognized colors in the Silkie breed.

As always, thank you for reading! Feel free to ask questions about chickens, and enjoy your day!

 

[Chicks n stuff]

The Silkie Chicken! And the genetic makeup behind the breed!

What is a silkie? So silky is a feather type, and silkie is a breed of chicken. A breed is an animal that has a specific purpose or function. Chickens are a domesticated bird. A chicken breed has a particular set of genes that contribute to a particular body type, size, feather coloration, skin color, feather type, comb type and so on and so forth. A silkie chickens purpose is to be a pet or a show bird, they are also very broody, so they make good setting hens(hens that will make you some chicks). Obviously silkies lay eggs and can be used for meat, but that's definitely not the idea in mind when creating the silkie breed standards. There are plenty of layer type breeds of chicken, and several meat breeds too. However, I have found Silkies to be very decent layers, and they will lay you a few eggs in the winter months, which is uncommon in most breeds of chicken. They make really nice pets, as they are pretty calm as far as chickens go.

As far as appearance goes, a silkie should have five toes, sometimes they don't, four toes is the natural amount of toes for a chicken. The fifth toe is brought on by the Po(polydactyl) gene.
Gene description: Po(Extra toes/polydactyl)- autosomal, incomplete dominant, expressivity and penetrance extremely irregular.
A silkie,(or any chicken really), can have the Po(polydactyl) gene and still have four toes. I know because I breed a four toed silkie to a breed of chicken that doesn't have the Po(polydactyl) gene, and 50% of their offspring had five toes. On the other hand it's common for the Po(polydactyl) gene to cause a chicken to have more than five toes.

A silkie must have black or brown eyes, to have brown eyes a chicken must have the br(brown eyes) gene, it is sexlinked, and recessive.

A silkie will usually lay a white or cream colored egg, it's very rare for a silkie to lay any other color of eggs. I bred some blue egg laying silkies a while back, and I still have a showgirl who lays blue eggs.

A silkie should have feathers on their legs. The Pti-1 or Pti-2(Featherfooted) genes are responsible for feathers on the legs and feet of Silkies, these genes are autosomal and dominant with multifactonal
modifiers.
Please note that other breeds might have different genes controlling the feathers on their legs and feet such as (pti-1 þ / pti-1 þ , pti-2 þ /pti-2 þ ) as seen in the Houdan. The Marans is known to carry the Pti-1(featherfooted) gene. These genes have an effect on toe length as well as, and this is probably why silkies toes vary in length. Silkies are also known to be missing the toenail(s) on their pinky toe, I don't actually know what gene(s) are responsible for this, but I suspect that it's a interaction between the Po(polydactyl) gene and Pti-1 or Pti-2(Featherfooted) genes. But as far as I know, nobody knows.

A silkie must have a crest, the Cr(Crest) gene is the cause for crests on any breed of chicken, it is autosomal, and it is incomplete dominant, which is why a silkie mixed with a chicken that doesn't have a crest will have a little crest compared to its silkie parent.

Silkies can come in non-bearded and bearded. I personally prefer bearded silkies. The Mb(Beard) gene is responsible for beards on any breed of chicken, it is autosomal, and it is incomplete dominant, meaning that homozygous individuals will have better beards than heterozygous individuals. Mb(beard) is also incomplete penetrance, which means that some individuals can have the beard gene but won't have a beard.

A silkie should have dark skin, this is thanks to the combination of the Fm(Fibromelanosis) gene and the id+(dermal melanin) gene. Sometimes silkies don't have dark skin as some color genes, like sexlinked barring, dilute the dermis layer of the skin and therefore cannot come in combination with dark skin, and there are other reasons why a silkie might be light skinned as well. I go more in-depth with the reasons why a silkie might have light skin in another post here on my farm page, so if this interests you go check out that other post.

Most silkies have (h)silky feathers, but they can come in any feather type. That said, some feather types can't be shown. I'm pretty confident that there are subcategories for smooth/sain(aka regular feather), silkies and I believe most breeds can be shown as a frizzled version of the breed. But if you were to breed a silkie with a hard feather type I don't think you'd be able to show it. But I've never heard of a silkie having a hard feather type, so that's easily avoided. If you're not familiar with feather types and don't know the difference between a soft and hard feather type, an easy explanation is that most chickens are a soft feather type, the Cornish games have hard feather type and so do a few other breeds, like the Malay, and most game chickens.

A silkie is considered a bantam, but most silkies are more of a medium sized chicken. But what size your silkies are depends on what type of dwarfism they have and the selective breeding that went on in their lineage.
The three dwarfism genes:
1. adw(autosomal dwarfism)- autosomal, recessive.
2. dw(sexlinked dwarfism)- sexlinked, recessive.
3. dwB(bantam dwarfism)- sexlinked, recessive.

A silkie should NOT have a r+/r+,p+/p+(single comb), some silkies occasionally hatch with a single comb as the genes for a single comb are recessive and therefore are hard to eliminate from the silkie gene pool. A silkie with a single comb would be considered pet quality, even if they are perfect in every other way, because they would be disqualified in a poultry show. A silkie should have either a walnut comb, which is produced by having a copy of the R(Rose-comb) gene, which is autosomal, and dominant, and one copy of the P(Pea-comb) gene, also autosomal, and it is incomplete dominant. So a silkie would have R,P=(Walnut-comb). But they can also have a pea comb, to have a pea comb a chicken would need a copy of the P(pea-comb) gene and two copies of the r+(non-rose-comb), i.e. P, r+/r+=(Pea-comb).

A silkie shouldn't have vulture hocks, that is longer leg feathers at the elbow of the leg. The v(Vulture hocks) gene is autosomal, and recessive. I have had a silkie with vulture hocks and I thought it looked really cool, but it's not breed standard and it would be an instant disqualification in a poultry show.

Lastly a silkie can be any color. But, there are only eight silkie color varieties that are accepted by the American Poultry Association, 1. black, 2. blue, 3. buff, 4. gray,(gray should NOT be a recognized color), 5. partridge, 6. splash, 7. Lavender, and 8. white,- so either, recessive white, or a double dose of dominant white, it's not specified which white is officially recognized. The paint silkie is not recognized by the APA, but it is to my understanding that paint silkies can be shown in some competitions along with other unrecognized colors in the Silkie breed.

As always, thank you for reading! Feel free to ask questions about chickens, and enjoy your day!