Breeding questions for my silkies and cochins

[madgabmomma]

I have 2 white silkies and one black silkie. I know the black one is a rooster and I believe the 2 white ones are hens. The black one is about a month older than my two white ones and is crowing but the hens have not started laying yet. My question is what will I get if I breed the white hens too the black roo? I'm not breeding for show quality or anything like that just for fun. Also once they start laying can I incubate the eggs right away or do they need to be laying for awhile before incubating any eggs? I'm asking because I know the eggs are smaller at first and I am not sure if I incubate pullet eggs if the chicks will be too large for the eggs? I might be crazy, but it's a thought I had. Another question about my black silkie....he has a lot of gold around his collar so does that mean I could get gold silkies from him? I'm pretty new to silkie's so I know I have a lot too learn.

I also have one black cochin roo and one red cochin hen. What color will I get if I breed them? I'm mainly just trying to increase my flock size and have a little fun doing it but I'm not worried about show quality or any of that. Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

[chickenlovefever]

Quote:
I Had a black Silkie roo, and I have 2 White silkie hens also, along with a black silkie hen. I think I got one chick out of the Silkie roo and a white hen, and it was more of a grey color. I now only have 1 white silkie hen, 1 black silkie hen, and a black polish. I have effectively hatched 3 chicks out of my Black and white silkies with the black polish rooster the father. I know that The one white chick is from the white silkie and the black chick from the black silkie, but I have a greyish one.......... and I think it's from the white hen?

But I am pretty sure if you cross a white hen to the black male, you could get a mixture of things, maybe more like some grays, and i do believe that you would have more black chicks than the white ones........ And you could get maybe a gold or two.

As far as the eggs go, When ever you hatch bantam eggs, you're like, "How the HECK did that thing fit in a space that small?!" But really, when bantams such as silkies hatch, they are half the size as a regular chick. and you don't have to wait, but I did read in one of my chicken keeping books that before collecting eggs to incubate artificially, you must let the yolk set for 24 hours before you incubate the eggs ( 99.5 degrees, just so you know) and if you have to wait before starting to incubate, you can store eggs up to 5 days in an area of strictly 50-59 degrees so the egg won't germinate and have a chance of going bad.

Hope I help you!

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
well if the White are Homozygous for dominant white then you will get all white birds... but if they are Heterozygous for Dominant white(which is the gene responsible for 80% of all white breeds, the rest can be recessive white or Splash)

Quote:
no wont get grays from dominant whites, but you will get blues if you have a Splash base white...

Edit.

Try Mr. Henk Chicken Calculator, its a basic calculator for chicken colors..

here is the link
http://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html

and here is a sprint screen shot of the cross you are wanting to do

 

[robin416]

Silkies are not dom white, they are recessive.

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
then they will all be black....

 

[madgabmomma]

Thank you so much for that info and for the link! I am very curious too see what happens now

Quote:
well if the White are Homozygous for dominant white then you will get all white birds... but if they are Heterozygous for Dominant white(which is the gene responsible for 80% of all white breeds, the rest can be recessive white or Splash)

Quote:
no wont get grays from dominant whites, but you will get blues if you have a Splash base white...

Edit.

Try Mr. Henk Chicken Calculator, its a basic calculator for chicken colors..

here is the link
http://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html

and here is a sprint screen shot of the cross you are wanting to do
[URL]http://thumbnails47.imagebam.com/14132/84631f141312692.jpg[/URL]

 

[madgabmomma]

It sounds like you have had some interesting outcomes. I am really hoping too get some cool color combos but I don't know much about chicken genetics lol. My plan is just to trial and error and make changes as I go. I incubated several of my oegb eggs in the early spring but the artificial incubation hasn't worked out so good for me so far. I had 100% hatch rate with my broody hen however her chicks are so flighty and skiddish from not being handled by people. I don't really need them too be super tame but it's nice when they don't freak out and go crazy everytime I get close. The momma was so sweet until she became broody then she turned into the devil chicken.

I thought after she was done raising her chicks she would go back to normal but she hasn't. She had tons of personality before and now she avoids us at all costs.

So I'm very back and forth with weather or not too use my bators or broodys.

Thanks for the info though and sharing you're outcomes!
Quote:
I Had a black Silkie roo, and I have 2 White silkie hens also, along with a black silkie hen. I think I got one chick out of the Silkie roo and a white hen, and it was more of a grey color. I now only have 1 white silkie hen, 1 black silkie hen, and a black polish. I have effectively hatched 3 chicks out of my Black and white silkies with the black polish rooster the father. I know that The one white chick is from the white silkie and the black chick from the black silkie, but I have a greyish one.......... and I think it's from the white hen?

But I am pretty sure if you cross a white hen to the black male, you could get a mixture of things, maybe more like some grays, and i do believe that you would have more black chicks than the white ones........ And you could get maybe a gold or two.

As far as the eggs go, When ever you hatch bantam eggs, you're like, "How the HECK did that thing fit in a space that small?!" But really, when bantams such as silkies hatch, they are half the size as a regular chick. and you don't have to wait, but I did read in one of my chicken keeping books that before collecting eggs to incubate artificially, you must let the yolk set for 24 hours before you incubate the eggs ( 99.5 degrees, just so you know) and if you have to wait before starting to incubate, you can store eggs up to 5 days in an area of strictly 50-59 degrees so the egg won't germinate and have a chance of going bad.

Hope I help you!

 

[robin416]

I should toss in that they are recessive as long as you are not breeding paints. Paints are dom white. We might have more dom white Silkies begin to show up on the market as the paint popularity grows.