Cross-Breeding Silkies

[silkie1472]

The title is not what it seems as I am not planning on breeding my silkies with other chicken breeds, just different color silkie. From what I have read, you can breed splash, black, blue, and gray together successfully, but mine are a little different. I have 5 grown silkies. One white rooster, two white hens, one black hen, and one blue/gray (not sure) hen. My white silkies are bearded, but the other are not. My silkies do not enter any shows or anything, so what I was wondering is: What would happen if I bred my white rooster with the black hen? Gray? What possible colors could I come out with? If anyone has any pictures of this combination, please share pictures of them.

 

[silkie1472]

Anyone?

 

[donrae]

Basically, you're just going to have to try it and see what genetics your particular birds carry.

My understanding is silkies are recessive white. So, your white birds could be carrying genes for other colors that are hidden under the two copies of white they carry. Breeding them to a non-white bird, no matter the color, gives that other color a chance to express in the offspring. I think partridge is a common color to be carrying, from what I've read. Not sure about anything else. But, what someone else's birds throw isn't necessarily what your birds will throw, so you'll get your own surprises!

 

[LadyVictorian]

I am wondering this as well. My chicks are too young yet to tell what I got I hope at least ONE rooster. I have a light buff, a dark buff, a splash, and a white. I hope my splash is a roo but either way I sort of want my silkies to at least hatch a brood once just to see what I get. All of them come from a show quality breeder and all have beards. If my chicks turn out to be very nice quality maybe down the line I'll breed and show eventually. After all that is why I went to someone who breeds show quality rather than a large hatchery.

FYI does it matter what you would get if the breeder you get your chicks from keeps their parents in color specific pens? AKA the breeder keeps a buff roo with all buff hens, white roo with all white hens, black roo with all black hens etc.

 

[donrae]

I am wondering this as well. My chicks are too young yet to tell what I got I hope at least ONE rooster. I have a light buff, a dark buff, a splash, and a white. I hope my splash is a roo but either way I sort of want my silkies to at least hatch a brood once just to see what I get. All of them come from a show quality breeder and all have beards. If my chicks turn out to be very nice quality maybe down the line I'll breed and show eventually. After all that is why I went to someone who breeds show quality rather than a large hatchery.

FYI does it matter what you would get if the breeder you get your chicks from keeps their parents in color specific pens? AKA the breeder keeps a buff roo with all buff hens, white roo with all white hens, black roo with all black hens etc.

Yep, it does matter.

For any pure bred animal, there are specific colors allowed for the breed. Those colors need to breed pure. In chickens, that basically means breeding the same color to the same color. So, breeding pens need to keep like with like. If you mix say buff and black, you get pretty chicks.....but they're not a recognized color.

 

[LadyVictorian]

So lets say all my chickens are pure breed colors since the breeder I got them from keeps them in color specific groups. So say I were to breed a buff to my splash. I wouldn't just get buff and splash babies? I would get some mixed up combination that was neither buff or splash?

 

[donrae]

So lets say all my chickens are pure breed colors since the breeder I got them from keeps them in color specific groups. So say I were to breed a buff to my splash. I wouldn't just get buff and splash babies? I would get some mixed up combination that was neither buff or splash?

Exactly.

That's why color varieties are specified. It's part of breeding a pure bred animal, breeding a specific color.

 

[LadyVictorian]

Interesting then, it's not like breeding rats or mice then in which if you bred an black to an augoti you would get all augoti unless the augoti parent carried black then you would get a few black offspring but mostly augoti. Or say you breed cinnamon and lavender you would get a mix of lavender and cinnamon offspring but never a new color/pattern. But when I bred betta fish you could have situations where you bred a super red female to a super blue male and got blue and red splash offspring and then if you bred them back to an offspring that say was expressing a strong white layer you could breed lavender fish (eventually).