Calling Silkie experts/lovers!

[SnowHugs]

I’m diving into the silkie world! So of course, I have some fun questions for anyone who is familiar with silkies! I have had other chickens and breeds for a while, but not silkies. This will also be my first single breed coop

I have some chocolate mottled eggs in the incubator, so I am curious to see what all I can do with them in my breeding project. What crosses could I get if I paired them with other color types? Like a splash, blue, or white?

And what does a split mean? A few of the eggs are chocolate split, and three are black split. I am new to all of this genetic stuff!

Any other silkie advice is appreciated!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi!

I'm a silkie breeder too.

Split chocolate mottled will most likely mean those chicks will be chocolate in appearance but carry a mottled gene. The split blacks will wind up looking black, but carry a mottled gene. Split chocolates are females and split blacks are males.

I have one of each I am growing out and plan to breed in the spring, so starting my mottled project too!

My chocolate split will act as a mottled if with another mottled, but as a chocolate mottled if put with a chocolate or any other color. Same for the black. So these will create more chocolates, blacks, mottled, and split mottleds. Their offspring that are full mottleds, then can be bred together for more full mottleds.

This thread I used a lot as it covers chocolates, but not mottled. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...n-color-genetics.1219858/page-2#post-19511066

 

[SnowHugs]

Hi!

I'm a silkie breeder too.

Split chocolate mottled will most likely mean those chicks will be chocolate in appearance but carry a mottled gene. The split blacks will wind up looking black, but carry a mottled gene. Split chocolates are females and split blacks are males.

I have one of each I am growing out and plan to breed in the spring, so starting my mottled project too!

My chocolate split will act as a mottled if with another mottled, but as a chocolate mottled if put with a chocolate or any other color. Same for the black. So these will create more chocolates, blacks, mottled, and split mottleds. Their offspring that are full mottleds, then can be bred together for more full mottleds.

This thread I used a lot as it covers chocolates, but not mottled. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...n-color-genetics.1219858/page-2#post-19511066

Thank you! Some of the splits are from a black rooster that was a split to chocolate, and he was with chocolate mottled hens. I’m mostly going to want the mottles to have a lot of white in them, but with all these genetics, I’m not sure how it would work. Would you have to keep the ones that have a lot of white for their chicks to have a lot of white or would you have to look at the darker ones genetics? Soo confusing