Cochin/silkie crosses, what will I get?

[shelleyd2008]

I have some young birds running around here that came from a white silkie hen and a black mottled cochin bantam rooster. Some are pure white, one pullet is pure black, and the black cockerels are black with red, gold, or silver 'leakage' on their saddles and hackles. My dad and son both want me to keep some of them, so I've decided to keep all the whites (1 roo and 2 pullets) and the black pullet. I have a few youngsters inside from this mix too, so any pullets from those I'll keep as well.

So what will I get if I breed these? I assume since they are all split to mottled and silkie I should have a 50/50 chance of getting mottled, silkied, or both (in the same bird)?

I guess what I'm wondering is how I would cross these to get either mottled silkies or silkied cochins? I'm sure it would take a bit of work, but either sounds like an interesting combination

Any tips are appreciated.

 

[signaturefarm]

I had an accident years ago.... Golden laced cochin with Silkie. Made some Very Ugly babies. Had red walnut comb on some. Most came out hard feathered with some stray silkie feathers on head. Tried to have a crest and some came out with a vaulted skull.
Now, if you plan to work on a certain look in this cross. It will take quite a few generations to get. But 1st generation will be UGLY!!!
Good luck with it...Maybe yours will look better than my accident did..... LOL!!!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Do you mean first generation as in the ones that are directly from the silkie hen and cochin rooster? I've already got those, none of them are ugly, all have feathering like a cochin and small crests. Some have black skin but the white ones have yellow toenails. They are also all straight-combed.

Here is one of the white pullets, I think she is very pretty. Most of them have better cochin 'type' than some of my cochins

I'm wondering what I'll get if I cross these silkie X cochins together or if I should pair them up with a pure silkie or pure cochin.

 

[catwalk]

If you breed them together, you have a 25% chance of any offspring being silkied, and 25% chance of them being mottled. The probability of both of those traits showing up on the same bird are slimmer. If you breed back to the white hen, many of the chicks will also be white, so you won't be able to tell which are also mottled. What I would do: Breed a pure black cock back to the white hen, and watch the black chicks as they grow up. If any of them carry the mottling gene, it will only be in one dose, but it may be possible to tell who they are. There will be a small white tip in a random adult feather or two to indicate that they carry mo. I don't mean the white foot feathering that chicks often have; that often grows out. Breed those together, regardless of the presence of silkied plumage. Hopefully, some of the F3's will be both silkied and mottled. Then you can start breeding back to purebred Silkies to improve type. Good luck!