Barred Silkie......

[Sonoran Silkies]

Doesn't look at all cuckoo to me--cuckoo would show up on more than just the tips of the feathers.

Very poorly laced (Pgpg Mlml) perhaps? Doesn't look like large enough spots to be mottled.

Does the colour show up on other than the breast?

Barring is dominant, so it would show up if present. The only way barring shows up partially is if another gene restricts it from certain parts of the body. But even then, entire feathers are barred.

Cuckoo hen to black or blue male will give sex linked barring: barred males and black or blue females. Cuckoo male to black or blue female will not create sex-links--all offspring will be cuckoo if the male is homozygous for barring; half of the offspring, irrespective of gender will be barred is he is heterozygous.

 

[texaschickmama]

Thanks guys. I'm learning all the time. Everyone is saying "she" is it true? I have no idea how to sex a silkie.

 

[Feathers Acres]

I think shes very pretty! maybe you could make a project out of her? mottled silkies?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

A full body photo would help ID gender, but the comb looks pretty small. Age?

 

[melissa508]

Yes, a photo showing more of her body would be great.

I created the cuckoo silkie line that is in circulation, I sold just a few at first & before you know it they were popping up everywhere between eggs swapping & some folks mass producing...if you own a cuckoo..its genes came off my farm lol. Unlike solids , you have no clue where the bird came from, the cuckoo is easy to identify..which is very nice for me since I can see how other people are doing with the line I created.

I have years or experience & extensive knowledge in breeding them. I have bred cuckoo to every color and them some.

It is highly possible that your pullet is a hybrid cuckoo, if so she would have had to have a cuckoo mother & solid color father.

if you know for sure she doesnt have a cuckoo mother, than she would be black with off colored hackle.

There was only 1 other cuckoo silkie line, he used a cuckoo polish as his foundation bird.. however he didnt continue with it & there were just a few birds around, most of them had yellow skin, theyre distinctivly different than my line, especially in the body shape.. in which has a bantam cuckoo cochin foundation.

This is a Hybrid cuckoo, she did have some barring flecks in a few places, but it molted out & she became solid colored. She is black, just bleached out from the HOT southern sun. (She has cuckoo mom x black father)

These 2 girls are typical cuckoos (left on has cuckoo x cuckoo parents, right one has Black mom x cuckoo father)

Partridge cuckoo (cuckoo father x buff mother)

 

[nzpouter]

I doubt my line came from you....

 

[melissa508]

I never sent eggs to NZ , only to the UK.

I was referring to silkies in the US though ..

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

I have a hard time believing that there is only ONE Cuckoo line in circulation in the US....

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

My cuckoos have come from my own birds. I speculate that the original barring came from a barred rock hen oops hatch. A pair of breeders I met last fall created their own cuckoo line--don't recall what he told me he bred them from, but he bred them on his own.

I know of other breeders that have bred their own cuckoos; I would certainly not say that all the cuckoo silkies in circulation come from one line.

Cuckoo is an easy colour to create; hard to perfect, at least in getting dark skin and combs. DIfferent people have had differing amounts of success. The pullet I bred last spring has a dark comb & skin.