Do these feathers look like Silkie feathers?????

[ESofVA]

I have hatched about 20 chicks in the incubator, I have 3 hens sitting on a total of 13 eggs and 1 with a brood of 4. They are all crosses between a salmon Faverolles roo and buff, blue-buff?, black, painted, blue, and self blue Silkie hens. I think I have gotten a basic (for now) handle on the genetics of the skin color and base feather color and the pullets should be the black feathered with black or gray skin and the cockerels have buff feathers and light skin.
My questions:

1. Pullets?

A.


B.


2. A pullet??????

C.


3. Cockerel?

D.


Now the next question....
Does this chick have Silkied feathers?????

E.


E. Same chick as D. I think roo.....

 

[ESofVA]

and just for fun....

just look at those puffy cheeks and beard!! A lot of the chicks also have head "bonnets"! (sorry the pic is blurred...my hands were a bit shaky.


And a couple have red down around their eyes and 1 has the red also in cheeks and beard. This pic is not either good...maybe you can tell a bit anyway. This one not so much as the one that has it all away around the eyes and downwards.


Please let me know what you think.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

Those are all normal feathers. the silkie feathering is a recessive gene, so they need 2 genes to have the silkie feathering. Since the faverolle doesnt have the gene they only got the 1 from their mom, so all normal feathered with 1 silkie gene.

As for sexing, wing sexing only works when you breed for it(rooster with a fast feathering gene over a hen with the slow feathering gene) so I cannot help you in terms of sexing those cuties.

 

[ESofVA]

I know the "h" or hookless gene is a recessive gene of which Silkies have 2 or "hh" where as hooked feathers or normal feathers in a purebred non Silkie bird "HH" also know
"Hh" is what my F1 chicks should have and all be hooked or normal whereas in a cross of these or the F2 generation should produce 25% hookless or Silkie feathers.
The reason I have asked is at this point, is that the feathers on this particular chick are not like any of the others out of the 20 I have so far.

 

[ESofVA]

Those are all normal feathers. the silkie feathering is a recessive gene, so they need 2 genes to have the silkie feathering. Since the faverolle doesnt have the gene they only got the 1 from their mom, so all normal feathered with 1 silkie gene.

As for sexing, wing sexing only works when you breed for it(rooster with a fast feathering gene over a hen with the slow feathering gene) so I cannot help you in terms of sexing those cuties.

I wasn't referring to color but to feather length for these chicks.The feather color (dark/light all over) I believe to be, in this cross, sex-linked. Skin color...all of the light colored chicks have lt skin and the black ones black or gray skin. I believe I read this is also sex-linked.)

 

[ESofVA]

here we go...found one part I was reading:...black skin in Silkies is sex-linked.
Identifying Silkie Crosses by Alan Stanford Ph.D. and Inga Ladd

http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article.html

and maybe the other was on sexual dimorphism relating to color I think due to sex related color?

 

[Kev]

No no no NO no.

Black skin is NOT sex linked.

That article has been up for years and not edited despite being told black skin is not sex linked.

Fm (Fibromelanotic) is an autosomal dominant. That right there tells you it is not sex linked. Donj't believe me or want to check that out? Go to any other poultry genetics websites. Autosomal means not on the sex chromosomes, therefore not sex linked.

The misunderstanding probably is because Fm expression is affected by other genes like Id(Inhibitor of Dermal melanin).... and Id IS sex linked.

Sorry for a rant-ish answer- that page being cited so repeatedly and widespread misinformed comments of black skin being sex linked has become such a pet peeve. So easy to edit a couple words on that page but for some reason they are leaving it as is......

Bottom line- black skin is NOT sex linked. Spread the word!

 

[ESofVA]

No no no NO no.

Black skin is NOT sex linked.

That article has been up for years and not edited despite being told black skin is not sex linked.

Fm (Fibromelanotic) is an autosomal dominant. That right there tells you it is not sex linked. Donj't believe me or want to check that out? Go to any other poultry genetics websites. Autosomal means not on the sex chromosomes, therefore not sex linked.

The misunderstanding probably is because Fm expression is affected by other genes like Id(Inhibitor of Dermal melanin).... and Id IS sex linked.

Sorry for a rant-ish answer- that page being cited so repeatedly and widespread misinformed comments of black skin being sex linked has become such a pet peeve. So easy to edit a couple words on that page but for some reason they are leaving it as is......

Bottom line- black skin is NOT sex linked. Spread the word!

No problem!!! I am not too thin skinned!!! LOL!!! I am just working on a little genetics project I have just started. I am now moved and retired. In and near Blacksburg, VA where our old house is, my husband and I had as many as 10 research grids with 100 live traps on each (for small mammals). DIH retired as Assoc Head of Biology Dept at VA Tech. I Received my Biology Masters from UVA Mountain Lake Biological Station. I miss research terribly. I miss lab work terribly, so I recently thought of this to help me out. I taught HS for 25 yrs but, my real passion and grad deg is/was for research.
I am eager to learn! My learning is limited to internet...so my mistake here is due to that paper. So, that said.... my chicks are from my Faverolles roo crossed with my Silkie hens. The chicks are about 50% light skinned with light base feathers and 50% black (or gray) skin with black base feathers. If I identify sexes by primary feathers , I am very prone to think that all of the dark skinned/black base feathered chicks are pullets and the light skinned/light base feather chicks are all cockerels.
Help me out with the genetics just based on the base feather color and skin color in the F1 chicks. Please?????

PS
Genetics courses in college were my favorite and I was very good at them...but the years have added so much to what we didn't know back then (1970's.for my genetics classes) ...well I think you get my drift! LOL!


Ohhhh!!! and TY for the info on that paper!!! I will be sure to delete it from my collection!!

 

[ESofVA]

What about the wing feathers on E??? Some of the other chicks in the pics are of the same age. If you look closely up along the shaft from the end of the feather you can see the apparent difference in texture.

 

[Kev]

Yikes, my apologies! My rant was directed at the article only, not at you at all. I knew it wasn't 'your fault' in any way. I do wish they would edit that page as it gets referenced to quite often.

Got to run, wanted to get above to you right away and will come back to discuss a bit. Fm expression doesn't seem to be so simple or straightfoward.