Are these silkies silver and gold based or something else?

[2ndTink]

Ooh ooh, I might be wrong, but I know something! OK, so with the dominant white from the paint, it can dilute the skin a bit and it may darken up over the first few days.

I'm not sure on the spots, it will be interesting to see if those spots feather in black!

 

[Slothinc]

I now wish I was keeping this baby to be able to know for sure what it looks like when it grows up Maybe I will ask the person if she will text me updated photos haha.

 

[2ndTink]

I now wish I was keeping this baby to be able to know for sure what it looks like when it grows up Maybe I will ask the person if she will text me updated photos haha.

Yes! We need update photos!

 

[Debbie292d]

I don't really know for most of it.


The most common chicks to have both silver and gold would be males of the various Red Sexlink types (ISA Brown, Gold Comet, Red Star, etc.) Those males just look yellow when they hatch, pretty muchthe color you would expect for a chicken that will grow up white.

Silver is considered dominant over gold, because it is mostly what shows. That effect is stronger when the chicks are young. The yellowish color, and red leakage, often show up when those males are partly grown, rather than being obvious from the beginning.

Here's a perfect example of your last statement and how much a silkie chick can change colors. This was a chipmunk chick, and thought it'd be a brownish partridge. It's from the old "pet quality" group we have. He had no red in him until he got a couple of months old.

 

[Slothinc]

I’m guessing all three chicks are recessive white (no idea how???) never had a white silkie so I guess that the roo and at least one of my hens carries recessive white All three are feathering in white so far. Especially surprising on the dark gray chick.

 

[2ndTink]

They grey chick is super cool, and I have no clue about him (ok, or the other two )

I don't think the two silvery chicks are recessive white, the recessive whites I have seen were a white-yellowy down. Maybe yours are silver partridge? It will be interesting to see them as they grow, those feathers can still change colors as they go through their molts.

It seems you have some fun hidden genes in your birds!!!

 

[Slothinc]

They grey chick is super cool, and I have no clue about him (ok, or the other two )

I don't think the two silvery chicks are recessive white, the recessive whites I have seen were a white-yellowy down. Maybe yours are silver partridge? It will be interesting to see them as they grow, those feathers can still change colors as they go through their molts.

It seems you have some fun hidden genes in your birds!!!

It is such a mystery to me! That is why I had initially wondered if a “silver base” could give them that silvery look. I believe all three of these chicks came from the same mom, but I believe it is one of the moms I gave away before they hatched. Either the brownish one (I believe she had some silver leakage) and the paint mom with very few spots (or maybe they were just light spots, I guess maybe it’s possible she was a blue paint.) Will be interesting to watch but so far all three are just feathering in white so

 

[NatJ]

I don't think the two silvery chicks are recessive white, the recessive whites I have seen were a white-yellowy down.

I am pretty sure that recessive white chicks can have a variety of down colors, depending on what other genes the chick carries (recessive white makes all the feathers white, but apparently does not do such a good job on the chick down.)

For example, White Jersey Giants are recessive white, but the chicks have down that ranges from gray to black. That would be because they came from Black Jersey Giants, and have the genes to be black all over (except that recessive white is making all the feathers grow in white.)
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/white_giants.html

For the particular chicks in this thread, I don't know whether they are recessive white or not. I just cannot rule it out at this time.

To know for sure, once they grow up, they could be bred to a colored chicken to see if any white chicks appear. If the colored chicken does not carry recessive white, then no chicks will show recessive white, so any white chicks would have to be caused by other white genes instead.

 

[2ndTink]

@NatJ Thanks! I didn't know that about the chick down!

 

[Slothinc]

Just as an update, the two NN ended up being white cockerels. I rehomed them. And the one frizzled silkie is a pullet and she’s still here with me. So they for sure weren’t sex linked by color.