Breeding welsummer and silkies

[tymbur5909]

I want to know where I can find more information on half breed chickens. I have a pure white silkie (Male) and a pure welsummer (female) that have bred. The female has now gone broody and I am waiting for babies to hatch. Does anyone know... Is the male breed dominant or the female? Silkies lay small white eggs while welsummers lay good sized brown eggs. Will my babies lay white or brown or is it luck of the draw?? Will they be poofy like silkies or smooth like welsummers. Just curious. Thanks

 

[EweSheep]

There isn't any hard information regarding to cross bred chickens. It is the luck of the draw and sometimes silkies seems to be dominant in the crests and sometimes the featherings. When you cross a white egg breed to a brown egg layer, you would get a tan egg laying daughters. Size wise, I think the Welsummer hen would carry the size but the offsprings will probably most likely be bigger than bantam but smaller than the large fowl.

Genetics on crossbred chickens are wide and vast. You never know what you will get.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

I'm curious what they will look like? Does your Welsummer lay very dark eggs. That is the only downside I see, that the eggs will not have that wonderful dark hue that Welsummers can give. Make sure to post pics of what the babies end up looking like. It's like a fun science experiment.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Certain Silkie traits are dominant so there for...I suspect that your chicks will come out with 5 toes, black skin, and the Silkie comb. I believe they will have smooth feathers on the body and have a sort of funky puffy hair-do on the top of their heads. I crossed a Silkie rooster with some Bantam Ameraucanas and got punk rocker type birds with all of the above traits, however, I crossed them with a blue egg laying bird so egg color was either going to be blue or tan. I suspect that with the Wellie being a dark egg layer and the Silkie being a light egg layer that the eggs will come out lighter than that of a Wellie and possibly darker than that of the Silkie, but may possibly still be speckled as Wellie's spray on their color like the Marans do, so the crossed chicks will probably get these traits from the Wellie. They won't be huge birds, but somewhere in the middle of the Wellie and the Silkie as the Silkie is a bantam.

Can't wait to see them...they will be interesting for sure. Good luck with your broody.

 

[EweSheep]

If the Silkie isn't a dominant white, the closest thing I can think of is the Partridge Silkie cross with a mismangled comb with weird poof on their heads.

Personally I can not see why one would want to cross these two breeds unless one wants to make a Partridge Silkie in LF size.

 

[I-Have-Happy-Hens]

Quote:
Or a silkie that lays dark brown eggs

 

[tymbur5909]

Thank you for all your help!!
As to the questions of why did I breed the two, it was an accident. I have epilepsy and a friend was watching my pullets while I was in the hospital. They are only about 6-7 months each and while I was away the Silkie apparently started mounting the Wellie. Long story short she has 4 eggs now.
I breed Sun Conures, and have for years, but I had gotten the chickens more for eggs.
(The silkie turned out to be a rooster, we had bought both as just tiny peeps, but he was so beautiful I kept him)
I have a candler but I have not candled these yet as I am not home.
I will be sure to post pics and share info.
Thanks for helping

 

[grannys coop]

I am still waiting to hear about the new babies ... did they hatch?
Grannys Coop

 

[Chickem707]

Any updates? Think I could possibly have the same

 

[Sleek28]

Any updates? Think I could possibly have the same

Yours looked so awesome! At first glance the appear to have normal feathers but I️ think those are just some really pretty Silkie feathers