Another Silkie Breeding Question! Mottled Silkies!!

[Obsessed With Silkies]

Hi everyone! How do you breed mottled silkies? I believe mottled is not dominant so what colors would I need to breed regular black/white mottled? Then, what about mauve mottled? I'm sorry if this is confusing but I appreciate your help!

 

[Cloverr39]

Mottling is recessive, it needs two copies for it to fully express. Here's a chart I found online:

what colors would I need to breed regular black/white mottled?

Well, preferably, you'd need a black mottled. You could take any mottled color and breed it to black for a couple of generations until the color is pure black, but that's more work. I suggest getting at least one black mottled bird and breeding it to black, then breeding those offspring back to black mottled.

what about mauve mottled?

Same thing as black mottled but with the addition of blue and chocolate. There's a lot of combinations you could do with those genes involved though, so if you have any specific pairing questions, I could answer those for you, since typing out every possible combination would take a while.

 

[Obsessed With Silkies]

Mottling is recessive, it needs two copies for it to fully express. Here's a chart I found online:
View attachment 4186660

Well, preferably, you'd need a black mottled. You could take any mottled color and breed it to black for a couple of generations until the color is pure black, but that's more work. I suggest getting at least one black mottled bird and breeding it to black, then breeding those offspring back to black mottled.

Same thing as black mottled but with the addition of blue and chocolate. There's a lot of combinations you could do with those genes involved though, so if you have any specific pairing questions, I could answer those for you, since typing out every possible combination would take a while.

I appreciate you're input!! So for regular mottled, if I got a black mottled, I couldn't breed black mottled to black mottled correct? I would need to breed it to black first? Then the mauve mottled, would I start with black mottled and breed that to blue and chocolate? Would this combination also give some chocolate mottled as well? In breeding these, do certain colors need to be roosters or hens for certain genes to show and be passed down? I apologize for all the questions! Thank you!

 

[Cloverr39]

So for regular mottled, if I got a black mottled, I couldn't breed black mottled to black mottled correct? I would need to breed it to black first?

No, you absolutely can breed two mottled birds together. What I meant originally was in the case if you only had one black mottled bird and wanted to breed more. Mottling is recessive and breeds true, so breeding together mottled chickens is the best (and easiest) way to go.

Then the mauve mottled, would I start with black mottled and breed that to blue and chocolate? Would this combination also give some chocolate mottled as well?

There are multiple ways you could go about it. The easiest would be to just get mauve mottled chickens and breed them together, but that's not the only way to do it, and there are alternatives, in case you cannot get mauve mottled.

If you bred black mottled to blue and chocolate, you'd get some blacks, some blues, some blacks carrying chocolate, and some chocolates, depending on what exactly you crossed. All chicks from the mottled parents would carry mottling, so they won't be mottled themselves, but they could pass it onto their chicks.

Black mottled x blue = 50% black, 50% blue, all carrying mottling (which parent is the roo and which is the hen doesn't matter)
Black mottled (hen) x chocolate (roo) = 50% chocolate females, 50% black carrying chocolate males, all carrying mottling
Black mottled (roo) x chocolate (hen) = 50% black females, 50% black carrying chocolate males, all carrying mottling

At this point, you wouldn't have any mauve or mottled chicks yet. You could now take the blues that carry mottling and breed them to the chocolates and chocolate carriers that carry mottling.
It would look something like this:

Blue carrying mottled (roo) x chocolate carrying mottled (hen) = females: 6.25% black, 12.5% black carrying mottled, 6.25% black mottled, 6.25% blue, 12.5% blue carrying mottled, 6.25% blue mottled;
males: 6.25% black carrying chocolate, 12.5% black carrying chocolate and mottled, 6.25% black mottled carrying chocolate, 6.25% blue carrying chocolate, 12.5% blue carrying chocolate and mottled, 6.25% blue mottled carrying chocolate

Blue carrying mottled (hen) x black carrying chocolate and mottled (roo) = females: 3.13% black, 6.25% black carrying mottled, 3.13% black mottled, 3.13% blue, 6.25% blue carrying mottled, 3.13% blue mottled, 3.13% chocolate, 6.25% chocolate carrying mottled, 3.13% chocolate mottled, 3.13% mauve, 6.25% mauve carrying mottled, 3.13% mauve mottled;
males: 3.13% black, 6.25% black carrying mottled, 3.13% black mottled, 3.13% blue, 6.25% blue carrying mottled, 3.13% blue mottled, 3.13% black carrying chocolate, 6.25% black carrying chocolate and mottled, 3.13% black mottled carrying chocolate, 3.13% blue carrying chocolate, 6.25% blue carrying chocolate and mottled, 3.13% blue mottled carrying chocolate

I'm sure it could've been summarized in a simpler way, so sorry if it looks a bit messy.
So, yes, you could get chocolate and mauve mottled chicks if you bred a blue hen that carries mottled to a black roo that carries chocolate and mottled. But you would also get a bunch of other colors.

In breeding these, do certain colors need to be roosters or hens for certain genes to show and be passed down?

It starts to matter when chocolate gets involved, because it's sexlinked recessive. I did include both hen and roo versions in my pairing examples above, which show the different results you'll get, depending on which parent is the male and which is the female. If you have a question about a specific pairing that I did not include here, let me know.

I know this is a lot, and I hope I haven't missed anything. Hope this helps!

 

[Obsessed With Silkies]

No, you absolutely can breed two mottled birds together. What I meant originally was in the case if you only had one black mottled bird and wanted to breed more. Mottling is recessive and breeds true, so breeding together mottled chickens is the best (and easiest) way to go.

There are multiple ways you could go about it. The easiest would be to just get mauve mottled chickens and breed them together, but that's not the only way to do it, and there are alternatives, in case you cannot get mauve mottled.

If you bred black mottled to blue and chocolate, you'd get some blacks, some blues, some blacks carrying chocolate, and some chocolates, depending on what exactly you crossed. All chicks from the mottled parents would carry mottling, so they won't be mottled themselves, but they could pass it onto their chicks.

Black mottled x blue = 50% black, 50% blue, all carrying mottling (which parent is the roo and which is the hen doesn't matter)
Black mottled (hen) x chocolate (roo) = 50% chocolate females, 50% black carrying chocolate males, all carrying mottling
Black mottled (roo) x chocolate (hen) = 50% black females, 50% black carrying chocolate males, all carrying mottling

At this point, you wouldn't have any mauve or mottled chicks yet. You could now take the blues that carry mottling and breed them to the chocolates and chocolate carriers that carry mottling.
It would look something like this:

Blue carrying mottled (roo) x chocolate carrying mottled (hen) = females: 6.25% black, 12.5% black carrying mottled, 6.25% black mottled, 6.25% blue, 12.5% blue carrying mottled, 6.25% blue mottled;
males: 6.25% black carrying chocolate, 12.5% black carrying chocolate and mottled, 6.25% black mottled carrying chocolate, 6.25% blue carrying chocolate, 12.5% blue carrying chocolate and mottled, 6.25% blue mottled carrying chocolate

Blue carrying mottled (hen) x black carrying chocolate and mottled (roo) = females: 3.13% black, 6.25% black carrying mottled, 3.13% black mottled, 3.13% blue, 6.25% blue carrying mottled, 3.13% blue mottled, 3.13% chocolate, 6.25% chocolate carrying mottled, 3.13% chocolate mottled, 3.13% mauve, 6.25% mauve carrying mottled, 3.13% mauve mottled;
males: 3.13% black, 6.25% black carrying mottled, 3.13% black mottled, 3.13% blue, 6.25% blue carrying mottled, 3.13% blue mottled, 3.13% black carrying chocolate, 6.25% black carrying chocolate and mottled, 3.13% black mottled carrying chocolate, 3.13% blue carrying chocolate, 6.25% blue carrying chocolate and mottled, 3.13% blue mottled carrying chocolate

I'm sure it could've been summarized in a simpler way, so sorry if it looks a bit messy.
So, yes, you could get chocolate and mauve mottled chicks if you bred a blue hen that carries mottled to a black roo that carries chocolate and mottled. But you would also get a bunch of other colors.


It starts to matter when chocolate gets involved, because it's sexlinked recessive. I did include both hen and roo versions in my pairing examples above, which show the different results you'll get, depending on which parent is the male and which is the female. If you have a question about a specific pairing that I did not include here, let me know.

I know this is a lot, and I hope I haven't missed anything. Hope this helps!

Thank you so much! I think I'm almost done asking questions
So, really I could start off with black mottled, chocolate mottled, and mauve mottled, breed each to their color so black mottled to black mottled and chocolate mottled to chocolate mottled etc. and have mottled offspring correct? And out of curiosity, what would happen if I breed a paint hen to a mottled chocolate rooster? I am so sorry I have so many questions but I truly appreciate your response!!

 

[Cloverr39]

So, really I could start off with black mottled, chocolate mottled, and mauve mottled, breed each to their color so black mottled to black mottled and chocolate mottled to chocolate mottled etc. and have mottled offspring correct?

That would be correct for black mottled and chocolate mottled, but since mauve is on a blue base, it would follow the same rules as BBS (black, blue, splash).

So, mauve mottled x mauve mottled = 50% mauve mottled, 25% chocolate mottled, 25% mauve/chocolate splash mottled

If you wanted to hatch 100% mauve mottled chicks, you could breed chocolate splash mottled to chocolate mottled.

And out of curiosity, what would happen if I breed a paint hen to a mottled chocolate rooster?

Paint hen x chocolate mottled roo = 25% chocolate females, 25% chocolate paint fenales, 25% black carrying chocolate males, 25% paint carrying chocolate males.
All carrying mottled.

I am so sorry I have so many questions but I truly appreciate your response!!

That's no problem at all! I'm happy to help

 

[Obsessed With Silkies]

Thank you! I believe my last question is this, so I will be starting off with mottled and breeding that to mottled. I saw on one breeders page that in one of their chocolate mottled pens, they included just chocolate hens as well. So they had a mottled rooster, mottled hens and then chocolate. Is there a benefit to doing that or would breeding mottled to mottled work just as well?

 

[Cloverr39]

Thank you! I believe my last question is this, so I will be starting off with mottled and breeding that to mottled. I saw on one breeders page that in one of their chocolate mottled pens, they included just chocolate hens as well. So they had a mottled rooster, mottled hens and then chocolate. Is there a benefit to doing that or would breeding mottled to mottled work just as well?

I'm not a breeder of any mottled varieties, nor have I had the chance to work with mottling in my own birds yet, so I don't know the finer details of breeding mottled chickens that an experienced breeder would.

I did read that when mottled is bred only to mottled for too many generations, the pattern can start to become uneven or hyper-mottled (too much white), which is why breeders cross their mottled birds to plain ones every so often to correct the pattern. I imagine this would also be accompanied by selection of proper pattern expression, and choosing mottled birds that complement each other.

I suggest looking more into it, maybe asking some mottled chicken breeders about it, they might be able to answer your question more accurately.
Good luck with your project!

 

[Obsessed With Silkies]

Thank you for all your help @Cloverr39!!