Breeding question with a gray silkie

[tamsflock]

I have a gray hen that I am wanting to get a roo for. To keep the gray color going what color roo do I need to get. Will Gray on Gray give me 100% gray. Would you cross her with any other color and still get gray?

 

[LilPeeps]

if you want to hatch 100% grey chicks, you should get a grey male. Grey does bred true. If you got a partridge male, you would get both greys and partridge. I personally wouldn't want to introduce gold to a line of greys as you will get bronzed birds coming up from the greys once you introduce partridge into the line.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Agreed. If you cannot find a grey male, you could breed to partridge to eventually get pure greys. You could also use a black showing silver in his hackles. Either should get you there, but either would require some work.

 

[tamsflock]

Thanks. I will keep looking for that gray roo!!

 

[silkielovr]

EEEWWWW I just noticed that a mention was made of a Black Rooster with silver hackles.
I have one of those...is this real bad? He is sort of nice, not real special but OK for PQ. What is the reason for this silver?
If I use him on black or Splash or even Buff is he a disaster waiting to happen??

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
For breeding to the standard for black, not good at all; as a pet, if you like him, he's great.

What is the reason for this silver?

Insufficient melanizers to cover his male pattern areas. Silver indicates that he carries the silver gene, S. If gold was showing, it would indicate he carries gold, s+. All male chickens carry two of these genes, either pure for silver, pure for gold or one copy of each. Female chickens carry only one copy, either silver or gold.

If I use him on black or Splash or even Buff is he a disaster waiting to happen??

Yes to all three. His lack of melanizers will extend to his offspring, causing a DQ in a black or blue bird (it would show less in splash, but is still a bad thing). With a buff it will dilute the buff colouring, producing white (silver gene, not a white gene) daughters or pale to cream sons (assuming they inherited gold from their mother). It could also interact with other genes as buff can be made with several recipes.​

 

[BBK]

silkielovr... Do you have a pic of yours handy? I think my black roo has the same thing going....

Hackles are the feathers B4 the tail correct? My guy..Mr. B, his gray is in his neck, like a scarf around him. It looks cool, but i know it's not good..

Melinda

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Hackles are the feathers around the neck. The ones in front of the tail are saddle feathers.

 

[Krys109uk]

The ones in front of the tail are saddle feathers.

Might be different in US but I know them as "saddle hackles".​

 

[tamsflock]

So does anyone have a picture of what a nice gray roo should look like.. Since I am on the look out and I have run into people who just might not know but are calling their birds gray and they are either blue or splash. I am wondering if the roo should look just like my hen or should he look different??