Creating a colour?

[Lobodugald]

Hi everyone.

I have always wanted black Silkies but cannot find any in South Africa. I was wondering if I can make them myself and if it is a good idea or not. (I don't like breeding animals because obviously you cannot keep all the birds and have to sell some and then they end up being neglected because people in this country neglect and abuse animals to the max so I don't know if I should actually do this or not.)

Maybe you can give me some advice....

If anyone does think it is a good idea, these are the birds I have to work with to try and make some black Silkies....

1.) White Silkie HEN
2.) White Silkie ROOSTER
3.) Silver-Partridge Silkie ROOSTER (Has wry neck by the way, adopted him like that at the age of 3 years)
4.) Black Pekin HEN
5.) Black Frizzled Pekin HEN (Sold to me as purebred BUT has NO feathers on head, neck and legs!)

I also have Buff Orpington HEN and White Leghorn HEN but don't think they will be useful for this project.

Any input would be great please and thank you everyone.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Any input would be great please and thank you everyone.

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

Check out this color calculator...
color calculator

It doesn't account for leakage of pattern but it can give you a good basic idea of your outcome.

White can be hiding other colors underneath and sometimes makes it a wildcard to your outcome.

When breeding Silkies to standard feathered birds... your first generation offspring will all be hard feathered. If you breed that first generation back to a Silkie then your second generation will produce a percentage of Silkie feathered birds.

If you aren't working toward the Silkie standard of perfection you can use any of your birds to breed towards a Silkied offspring. Some folks here in the US are even trying to make Silkied Jersey Giants and Brahmas as they want the larger size.

All though Silkies are a breed... the Silkie feather gene can be bred into any breed.

If you plan ahead... you can eat your extra offspring and never worry about them getting abused. Silkies dress just fine for the table! If dispatched quickly and humanely, sometimes they are even composted or used as pet feed. These are definitely the things you need to decide before hand. Good for you for considering the animals welfare!

I am a genetics amateur and not even close to fully understanding, but hope this is somewhat helpful!

You might check the "where am I, where are you" section here on BYC... may some more folks in your area to network with...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threadloom/search?query=south africa&tab=618

 

[Lobodugald]

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

Check out this color calculator...
color calculator

It doesn't account for leakage of pattern but it can give you a good basic idea of your outcome.

White can be hiding other colors underneath and sometimes makes it a wildcard to your outcome.

When breeding Silkies to standard feathered birds... your first generation offspring will all be hard feathered. If you breed that first generation back to a Silkie then your second generation will produce a percentage of Silkie feathered birds.

If you aren't working toward the Silkie standard of perfection you can use any of your birds to breed towards a Silkied offspring. Some folks here in the US are even trying to make Silkied Jersey Giants and Brahmas as they want the larger size.

All though Silkies are a breed... the Silkie feather gene can be bred into any breed.

If you plan ahead... you can eat your extra offspring and never worry about them getting abused. Silkies dress just fine for the table! If dispatched quickly and humanely, sometimes they are even composted or used as pet feed. These are definitely the things you need to decide before hand. Good for you for considering the animals welfare!

I am a genetics amateur and not even close to fully understanding, but hope this is somewhat helpful!

You might check the "where am I, where are you" section here on BYC... may some more folks in your area to network with...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threadloom/search?query=south africa&tab=618

Oh wow you see now, I knew this would be a good idea to join this group!
What a lovely reply and how kind you are!
Thank you so much for this wonderful help you have given me here today, I really appreciate it!
Yes I also think it is a better idea to eat my birds rather than sell them.
I am also trying to study genetics, it is so much more complicated in chickens than it is in dogs for example (when I had more money I used to travel the country showing my dogs, did this my entire life, now there is no more money no matter how hard one works and how many jobs one has in this country so chickens are a way cheaper option)
I love putting my birds on show and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg! Also, I have discovered that I actually truly love chickens, what wonderful precious pets!!
You are very kind and thank you once again for your wonderful helpful reply to my question!! Have a most wonderful day!!

 

[Chooks man]

your best option to create Black silkie is to work with a White rooster over a Black hen .
if the rooster is white recessive than the chicks will be black .
if the rooster is dominant white double factor than all the chicks will be white with black dot on them , if he is white just one cory than half of the chicks will be white the other half will be black . those will be your F1 progeny ,
Select the best pullets and 1/2 cockerels and mate them together to get F2 . this progeny will be a mixture of colors and feather type ,select the black silkie chicks and work with them to make F3 .
you can always cross back to a pure silkie to fix the feathers type .and keeping a black color .

all the best with your project .love when people take a new project to work with .
chooks man

 

[Lobodugald]

Wow thank you so much, this is so exciting, I might actually do it!
Well I suppose I have to do something each time a hen gets broody so why not use my own eggs instead of always buying eggs in and ending up with unwanted birds.
For example, the last time I had a broody hen I purchased some Pekin eggs because Pekins are my favorite and the chicks that hatched out were huge with NO Pekin in them to speak of and they grew up to look like what I could only describe as being RIR cross Leghorn! Luckily I was able to find homes for them all!
Let me take your advice and try this project, thank you sooooo much!!! :-D

 

[EggSighted4Life]

if the rooster is dominant white double factor than all the chicks will be white with black dot on them

They can have more than one black spot in that instance and it is called Paint...taken from google images, I used to breed them..

Wow thank you so much, this is so exciting, I might actually do it!
Well I suppose I have to do something each time a hen gets broody so why not use my own eggs instead of always buying eggs in and ending up with unwanted birds.
For example, the last time I had a broody hen I purchased some Pekin eggs because Pekins are my favorite and the chicks that hatched out were huge with NO Pekin in them to speak of and they grew up to look like what I could only describe as being RIR cross Leghorn! Luckily I was able to find homes for them all!
Let me take your advice and try this project, thank you sooooo much!!! :-D

Been there, done that...

Agreed, time to work with your own birds and have tons of fun!

 

[Lobodugald]

They can have more than one black spot in that instance and it is called Paint...taken from google images, I used to breed them..
View attachment 1991276

Been there, done that...

Agreed, time to work with your own birds and have tons of fun!

Wow, this is so confusing. Google says that white Silkies are recessive white but now I hear that a white can be dominant and wow the white with black spots look nice but I don't think they will be accepted at shows so I really have to be careful here.

I really wish I could afford to buy a genetics book and study genetics, I cannot believe how expensive these books are just looking at them on eBay earlier, my word!

I don't want to breed colours that are not accepted in the breed standard because then i'll have to sell them as pet chickens and oh my word you people just do not understand how people in this country neglect and abuse their pets. We have an animal protection act but the police do not enforce it, they do not even know what it is, they laugh at you if you report animal abuse or neglect to them and they say "there are no such laws, people can do whatever they want with animals"

Anyway, I am just so glad that I found this website with all you wonderful helpful and knowledgeable people who are so willing to help, thank you soooo much everyone!!

Happy new year by the way....

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Wow, this is so confusing. Google says that white Silkies are recessive white but now I hear that a white can be dominant and wow the white with black spots look nice but I don't think they will be accepted at shows so I really have to be careful here.

Bearded Paint was accepted this year.
Genetics is so broad and confusing... yes it's true that Silkies are commonly recessive white. But some are dominant white, I haven't yet figured out how that works.. Paint was fun project to work on, but not the easiest and you should work with the color YOU like and desire! Black should be a lot easier to work with. @The Moonshiner might be able to spread a little light on that subject.
https://americansilkiebantamclub.org/pages/silkie-standard

Paint Silkie Genetics

http://www.chickencolours.com/Translation Dutch paint articleX.pdf

Do you guys happen to have libraries where you could borrow books? Or just E books? College libraries? Anyways.. books don't get my attention as they can be quite dry. But this type of learning is so much fun!

 

[Lobodugald]

Bearded Paint was accepted this year.
Genetics is so broad and confusing... yes it's true that Silkies are commonly recessive white. But some are dominant white, I haven't yet figured out how that works.. Paint was fun project to work on, but not the easiest and you should work with the color YOU like and desire! Black should be a lot easier to work with. @The Moonshiner might be able to spread a little light on that subject.
https://americansilkiebantamclub.org/pages/silkie-standard

Paint Silkie Genetics

http://www.chickencolours.com/Translation Dutch paint articleX.pdf

Do you guys happen to have libraries where you could borrow books? Or just E books? College libraries? Anyways.. books don't get my attention as they can be quite dry. But this type of learning is so much fun!

Oh wow that is awesome, I do like the paint but I see they have not yet added it as an acceptable colour on the Poultry Club South Africa website but i'll keep a look out, I think it is stunning! But yes, black birds are my favorite, they are so rare around here. I cannot even find a black rooster for my black Pekin hens, ha ha it's crazy.

I think the Silkies that are dominant white are ones that have had another breed bred into them back down the line, not sure ha ha, hoping mine are recessive though.

Ha ha, no I remember there was a library in town the last time I checked in 1989 but white people cannot get into that area anymore nowadays, you'll get killed very quickly. We hide at home and try do everything on the internet, just going shopping is terrifying lol. That's a great idea, maybe I can find an ebook on genetics, never thought of that because looking at the computer screen hurts my eyes but I could always find a printing shop and get it printed I guess, great idea!!

Thank you for the helpful links, lovely to read!