Crossing Black Silkie with Buff Brahma Bantam

[mrsmvincent]

I read that crossing silkies and Brahmas can create a sex link where you can determine male from female from color. Is this true? If so, what color would be which? Thanks so much!

 

[NatJ]

Probably Light Brahma hen with a Red Silkie rooster would work best.

I don't think you can get sexlinks from the colors you listed in your title (Black Silkie and Buff Brahma).

For sexlinks in general:
Either cross a gold male with a silver female, or cross a non-barred male with a barred female.

Some crosses can be sexed by the chick down color at hatch, others have confusing colors as chicks but can be sorted as they grow their feathers.

For Brahmas and silkies, the possibilities would be:
Silkie hen who is barred, cuckoo, or crele <--> any color of Brahma rooster
Sons will have white bars in their feathers, daughters will not (if you get chicks with large amounts of white, check any black feathers to see if they have white bars on them.)

Brahma hen who is Light or Dark (not Buff or Partridge) <--> silkie rooster that is buff, red, partridge, or any other color that looks some shade of brown
Sons will be grow feathers in white or white + black, daughters will grow feathers that have some shade of brown (usually with some black or some white as well.)

 

[mrsmvincent]

I had a black silkie roo and a bantam buff Brahma hen. I hatched the two black ones out. Can you tell if pullets or Roos?

 

[NatJ]

I had a black silkie roo and a bantam buff Brahma hen. I hatched the two black ones out. Can you tell if pullets or Roos?

I cannot tell yet. Maybe give them a bit longer, then if it hasn't become obvious, post updated pictures in the section "What Breed Or Gender is This?"

 

[Willawong Hill]

This previous thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/skin-color-is-sex-linked-in-mixes.1262009/ seems to suggest that your mostly black chicks will be girls as they have dark skin. I can't find many other places to verify this though so you might have to wait and see if that's correct.

 

[Willawong Hill]

Hmm actually looking at this other thread then maybe skin colour is not entirely sex linked? https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/black-skin-genetics.130172/

 

[NatJ]

Oh, that's a good point about the skin color being sex-linked. I was thinking of feather-color sexlinks, because I forgot about Silkies having the dark skin (so few common breeds do, that it's not usually useful.)

Yes, it would seem that dark skinned male (Silkie) with light skinned hen (Brahma) should produce daughters with dark skin, and males with light skin.

Possibly confusing points: light-skinned breeds with black feathers often have black legs anyway, and actual black skin requires some additional genes that are not sex-linked, and thus might be passed to both genders.