Black to Black breeding in Silkies

[Northwood Silkies]

Is it possible to hatch out chicks of other colors other than black? I bought some black eggs from someone and I hatched out blue and splash and not one black. The only thing I can think of is that some of the blacks in that pen are actually dark blue and not black or they mismarked the eggs.

 

[pips&peeps]

You could have gotten blue because it is possible to have a bird that looks black but is actually blue.

I have heard that there are a couple silkie breeders that did not seperate their lavender cross birds a few years back and do not know which birds are carrying the lavender gene. You could get a white bird if they both the male and female were carrying recessive white.

Why don't you contact the breeder and let them know what color chicks you have and maybe they can explain to you what may have happened?

 

[Debbi]

Black x Black = 100% Black

You are right, there is a dark blue bird in there somewhere.

ETA: Make that TWO blue birds in there if you are getting Splash!

 

[ultasol]

Yes,.. sometimes in silkies it can be difficult to tell dark blues from blacks. I look at the down in the cushion and feather shafts to help me make the determination on questionable birds. Test breeding can also be done.

 

[Northwood Silkies]

pips&peeps :

You could have gotten blue because it is possible to have a bird that looks black but is actually blue.

I have heard that there are a couple silkie breeders that did not seperate their lavender cross birds a few years back and do not know which birds are carrying the lavender gene. You could get a white bird if they both the male and female were carrying recessive white.

Why don't you contact the breeder and let them know what color chicks you have and maybe they can explain to you what may have happened?

Yes, I have contacted the breeder and they were shocked as I was. I asked if they have hatched eggs out of that pen and they said yes and that they got all black. So, I said well maybe you mismarked the eggs on accident and they said no that they bring a pencil out and a egg carton and collect the eggs and write what pen they come out of right away.
I then said well maybe you have some dark blues in that pen that look black and they didn't say anything about that.
But it's like "How can you hatch all black chicks out of that pen" and I hatch blue and splash? Unless they hatched all dark blue chicks that look black. I did hatch out some that were dark blue and they almost look like black but they are not.
Here is a couple pics of the chicks I hatched out.......

 

[racuda]

My splashes hatch out way lighter than that, a greyish white. Yours look like blues to me.

 

[BeckyBird]

You know, I hatched some silkie eggs last year, and they looked like yours. I thought they would end up blue, which was fine with me, because I didn't have any blues. However, all 3 of the "blue" babies turned out to be black. So, keep an eye on them, and maybe black feathers will grow out of the fuzz. Here is a photo of my 3 babies that most certainly grew up to be midnight black adults!

 

[Northwood Silkies]

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Do you have a pic of them as adults? I do hope they do turn out black

 

[Northwood Silkies]

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There are a couple of really light chicks that I hatched that are splash. The pic makes the chicks look darker than they appear but most look to be blues.

 

[juliaaa]

Either way, I think that they are just too cute!