Choose a Silkie Roo

[msiler]

Hey everyone! I have 3 Silkie pullets, a Gray, Black, and Partridge, and am hoping to start my breeding adventure in the spring (I have a buff roo now but he is very pet-quality). So I have a question for you all! What are your dream color crosses for each of these pullets? I want it to be a different color than the pullet, just for fun. I am not looking to show the crosses, but rather to experiment. Second, if you could breed just one color of Silkie for showing, what would it be?

For the gray, I thought it would be fun to go with a Buff roo, as the chicks will be sex-linked at birth (Grays are cockerels, one silver on gold gene, pullets are buff)

Black, I'm not sure... but probably a paint??

And partridge, I'm not sure either! How would a gray cockerel look??

I hope I get some good opinions!

 

[msiler]

Nudging this!

 

[Gray Farms]

Don't think I'll be any help. I don't like crossing colors, I keep them pure. If I had to pick one color...Whites.

 

[Sneebsey]

Although many colour varieties may be bred in the same group, producing pure offspring, this is usually done with groups which share a common e-series and groundcolour. As an example, a black cockerel could cover dun, khaki, blue, splash and paint hens and all would produce consistent offspring. When he is bred to a partridge hen, however, the offspring would all be leaky blacks.

As you mention, greys are silver partridge; with this in mind, she will produce sex-linked offspring with a partridge cockerel (I would not go with buff), however due to the presence of the partridge hen, the sex-link aspect will be lost in part; whilst all silver birds will be male, not all partridge will be female.

 

[msiler]

Interesting! This is all so cool and new to me! Why would you go with a partridge cockerel over a Buff one? I know that if I did go with Buff, it would leak into the silver males.

 

[Sneebsey]

Interesting! This is all so cool and new to me! Why would you go with a partridge cockerel over a Buff one? I know that if I did go with Buff, it would leak into the silver males.

The leakage itself is something I would avoid when breeding a pure breed such as silkies. With a partridge, all offspring will be partridge or grey (hiding gold). The partridge would be pure for their colour variety.

 

[msiler]

Ok that makes sense!
So if I crossed a Partridge Rooster with my Silver hen, would any of chicks be sex-linked at birth?

 

[Sneebsey]

Ok that makes sense!
So if I crossed a Partridge Rooster with my Silver hen, would any of chicks be sex-linked at birth?

The offspring from this pairing would be red sex links, yes. Pullets would all be pure partridge silkies. Cockerels would be grey, but hiding gold; they may show yellowish feathers in the neck and will throw both silver and gold offspring. Due to the presence of the partridge hen, however, the pen will produce partridge cockerels, too.