I heard that you shouldn't breed anything but white to a white and only B/B/S together. Would breeding a Black to a White produce a gray? Why should you NOT breed them together?
Breeding a Black and White Silkie???
- Thread starter DragonEggs
- Start date
I guess it depend's on whether or not you plan on showing them or not.I have raised multiple color's of silkie's and alway's free ranged mine together.All of my chick's alway's sold quickly but then again most of my buyer's are only in them for Pet quality.I just hatched a buff/ white color with a dark ring around neck.I just love it.Hope it's a hen
.Had my first black one hatch today also from this new run of silkie's.Hen is broddy now so hoping she will saty her her first clutch of egg's she is also sitting some OE's etc.I gave her to kinda fill her nest she has been on them about 4 or 5 days now I think.
Black and White crossed together will not produce Grey. Grey is just another name for Silver Partridge. The reason you don't want to cross the two is because the recessive white in silkies can cover other colors. Here is a way I explain it:
Say you breed two colored birds (any color doesn't matter) and each carries recessive white. Then, they have offspring that end up being white due to the recessive genes. Those birds may be white, but there could be other colors that were passed on as well.
That's how I like to think of it. You don't know what could be hiding under the recessive white and mixing it with the Black Silkie could produce unknown results.
If you would like to cross them for the fun of it and out of curiosity then feel free to.
Say you breed two colored birds (any color doesn't matter) and each carries recessive white. Then, they have offspring that end up being white due to the recessive genes. Those birds may be white, but there could be other colors that were passed on as well.
That's how I like to think of it. You don't know what could be hiding under the recessive white and mixing it with the Black Silkie could produce unknown results.
If you would like to cross them for the fun of it and out of curiosity then feel free to.
- Thread starter
- #4
so, basically, you shouldn't cross for the sake of future production, IE continuing a same color blood line. If you choose to show a white silkie does it matter if it has another color gene?
it only matters to the people you sell birds to in the future.
Some of the best Silkie breeders (old school- many years ago) have crossed black to white to improve type and so now you just do not know what you will get. Heck I breed black to black and get white or other colors so that shows you somewhere white was bred in otherwise, I woul not be able to get white, I also get what I call "grey" and have gotten partridge. Another person I know had bred black to white and getten partridge as well. But, my whit epen, I breed whit eto white and I get nothing but white.
Some of the best Silkie breeders (old school- many years ago) have crossed black to white to improve type and so now you just do not know what you will get. Heck I breed black to black and get white or other colors so that shows you somewhere white was bred in otherwise, I woul not be able to get white, I also get what I call "grey" and have gotten partridge. Another person I know had bred black to white and getten partridge as well. But, my whit epen, I breed whit eto white and I get nothing but white.
- Feb 6, 2007
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One other thing to keep in mind, full disclosure. If you sell what looks to be white birds or whatever color you end up with any potential buyers must be told that they might not breed true if paired with their birds.
- Thread starter
- #8
So, since I seem to be speaking with some color experts here, I was thinking of doing a red/buff/partridge pen for breeding. How do you guys think this would turn out?
The reason you do not cross a white to a non-white is not that you might introduce unknown colour genes to a white, but rather than it is completely unpredictable as to what you will get--NO TWO WHITES ARE THE SAME. White is an OFF SWITCH. It turns OFF whatever other colours are present in the bird. You can think of white as being like grabbing some random can out of the pantry (without looking at the label) to add to your pot roast. If you grabbed a can of carrots or beans or peas, it will probably give you some decent results, but how about if you just added a can of pineapple or cherry pie filling?
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