I am just getting into silkies and wanted to see if I understood the different crosses for each color. I am not even sure if all of my questions make sense, so be patient with me!
What colors breed true - I think I read that white to white always gives white and lavender to lavender always gives lavender - is that right? Are there other colors like this?
Do some colors normally throw an odd color - such as - if I breed a gray to a gray, could I get a few black chicks? Same with any other color - or is it always random based on the recessive genes of the parent stock? And if I did get some odd colored chicks from my cross (for example gray x gray = black - even if that isn't possible) would I want to sell said offspring as a pet regardless of quality, or if it was a very nice quality bird would I want to use it in a black pen or a gray pen? Would this type of offspring be something that would go into a gray pen to darken lighter gray birds, if desired or would it have a different type of purpose?
Does the term split refer to birds that came from parents that are different colors: i.e if I bred a black to a buff would that chick be called a buff split and a black split or does split only apply to certain colors or mean something else entirely?
How to some of the non-standard colors come about: i.e. how does one get silver partridge (gray x partridge?), porcelain, cockoo etc? Do these start out as oddities from a hatch of standard color birds which are then interbred to further clarify the colors?
Is a silver partridge an accepted variation of partridge that could be shown in a partridge class? If so, are there other color variations that can be shown in the same class (i.e. light gray/dark gray? or a darker buff and one of the lighter buffs?)
What does AOV mean and is it a show class? Are all AOV birds shown together based on type regardless of coloring?
I am sure a lot of this is answered in the silkie threads that already exist, but I wasn't able to wade through the masses of info to find all of the answers.
What colors breed true - I think I read that white to white always gives white and lavender to lavender always gives lavender - is that right? Are there other colors like this?
Do some colors normally throw an odd color - such as - if I breed a gray to a gray, could I get a few black chicks? Same with any other color - or is it always random based on the recessive genes of the parent stock? And if I did get some odd colored chicks from my cross (for example gray x gray = black - even if that isn't possible) would I want to sell said offspring as a pet regardless of quality, or if it was a very nice quality bird would I want to use it in a black pen or a gray pen? Would this type of offspring be something that would go into a gray pen to darken lighter gray birds, if desired or would it have a different type of purpose?
Does the term split refer to birds that came from parents that are different colors: i.e if I bred a black to a buff would that chick be called a buff split and a black split or does split only apply to certain colors or mean something else entirely?
How to some of the non-standard colors come about: i.e. how does one get silver partridge (gray x partridge?), porcelain, cockoo etc? Do these start out as oddities from a hatch of standard color birds which are then interbred to further clarify the colors?
Is a silver partridge an accepted variation of partridge that could be shown in a partridge class? If so, are there other color variations that can be shown in the same class (i.e. light gray/dark gray? or a darker buff and one of the lighter buffs?)
What does AOV mean and is it a show class? Are all AOV birds shown together based on type regardless of coloring?
I am sure a lot of this is answered in the silkie threads that already exist, but I wasn't able to wade through the masses of info to find all of the answers.
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