creating my own line of showgirls

[NewChickenMom]

i know its going to take several years, but i would like to add some new genetics to the pool.

i guess i'm asking how to make the showgirls, as in, who to breed to who.

i have splash silkie roo and black NN's. which F1's do i breed to each other? or do i breed them back to the parents?

 

[Kev]

It is not necessary to start a new line from scratch for this reason.. pretty much the only difference between a showgirl and a silkie is the naked neck gene in the SG. (and the naked neck gene is the very same gene in all SG, Naked Necks and also all naked necked backyard mixes)

To add new genetics it would be far simpler and shorter to achieve the same result by crossing a showgirl onto a new line of silkies.

It does take many generations to achieve good type after the initial cross as silkies actually have quite a lot of mutant genes and the more genes you need to get into a bird, the harder it is, meaning more generations and/or hatching far more chicks to hit the 'jackpot'.

That aside, it does not really matter which way the first cross goes. Then by far the easiest way to proceed through the generations is by choosing the best *naked necked* bird and breeding it to a pure silke in each generation until you are happy with the results. Using a naked necked bird is important as it's a dominant gene which means to make naked necked offspring, you have to use a visibly naked necked bird to achieve that. No naked necked, it will not produce any naked neckeds- unless bred to one.

 

[burntumber]

Cool- good luck!