Chocolate silkies genetics

[Hendragon]

Hello all! I recently got some eggs so that my son could raise some silkies. The first eggs I chose because the breeder has a lot of showgirl and I thought that he would think that they were funny. She sold us two dozen chocolate silky x chocolate silky eggs. I expected to see a lot of chocolate chicks when they hatched. Only 18 were viable. Of those four have hatched so far. Two of them are white, with white skin beak and feet. Two of them are black. None of them are showgirl. I am interested to see what the rest of the eggs hold, but I am confused as to the colors that we are seeing. I think his best plan going forward will be to sell this initial bunch and start back with breed standard, but I find myself mildly curious if there's another rooster in this breeding pen, or if it is normal to get white and black chicks from this pairing. I think that the all white chicks are strange to begin with.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi,

The breeder probably had a black hen with the chocolates as those will make sex-link chicks. Blacks are roosters, chocolates are females. White chicks are not a part of this pairing, whether it was all chocolate or black and chocolate. She just gave you eggs from another pen is my guess.

They should not have white skin, so those are not purebred silkies unless it's partial white, partial black, then maybe from a paint or mottled pen.

Some variations of silkies can have areas of white skin, or red combs, such as cuckoos. Paints and mottled have white skin areas. Otherwise, most all other variations of silkies should have solid black skin and very dark, mulberry color, or nearly black combs and wattles.

 

[Hendragon]

Hi,

The breeder probably had a black hen with the chocolates as those will make sex-link chicks. Blacks are roosters, chocolates are females. White chicks are not a part of this pairing, whether it was all chocolate or black and chocolate. She just gave you eggs from another pen is my guess.

They should not have white skin, so those are not purebred silkies.

Thank you for your reply! Does that go for all chocolate roo to black hen pairings? Sounds like a useful biological trick to have.

 

[Debbie292d]

Thank you for your reply! Does that go for all chocolate roo to black hen pairings? Sounds like a useful biological trick to have.

Yes, that's how I was breeding my chocolates before. I breed/hatch/sell a lot of silkies and people were actually asking for those black cockerels as they are split to chocolate (carrying a chocolate gene).

Now my chocolate pen is mauve rooster with chocolate, mauve, and chocolate splash hens, so to my knowledge, those will all be straight run. I'll have some hatching next week, but it's not like I'll know the sexes then. I'll look it up to be sure.

 

[Debbie292d]

Here's a thread I kept and used a lot. It says orpingtons, but same thing for silkies. This will help you!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...n-color-genetics.1219858/page-2#post-19511066