Giant Silkie Project.

[MysteryChicken]

US deserve a presence of large fowl Silkie.

They exist in the US, but are considered rare. My source is Hoover's Hatchery, for bantam Silkies, & was lucky to have a Standard sized one. I think it's a throw back from their Ancestry.

I'll get pictures of me holding him to give an idea you guys on how big he is.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Good job, @MysteryChicken. Your project is going great!

Thanks.

I'll be Back Crossing my F1 to my largest silkie hens once it warms up.

The two best candidates are Poof, she's 4¼ pounds, & Fluffy not sure what her wait is.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Example of a throw back, our SQ Partridge Silkie bred with one of our regular White Silkies resulted in a Partridge Satin. Smooth Feathered Silkie.

 

[NatJ]

Example of a throw back, our SQ Partridge Silkie bred with one of our regular White Silkies resulted in a Partridge Satin. Smooth Feathered Silkie.

Are you entirely sure of the parents there?

Silkie feathering is recessive. Normal feathering is dominant.
It should not be possible for two silkie-feathered birds to produce a not-silkied offspring.

Throwbacks are usually just recessive genes showing up in later generations. (Like recessive white from two colored parents, or silkied feathers from two normal-feathered parents.)

For two silkies to produce a bird with normal feathers would require an actual mutation, the silkie gene changing back into a normal-feather gene.

Mutations are pretty rare, so I think a normal-feathered parent is MUCH more likely.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Are you entirely sure of the parents there?

Silkie feathering is recessive. Normal feathering is dominant.
It should not be possible for two silkie-feathered birds to produce a not-silkied offspring.

Throwbacks are usually just recessive genes showing up in later generations. (Like recessive white from two colored parents, or silkied feathers from two normal-feathered parents.)

For two silkies to produce a bird with normal feathers would require an actual mutation, the silkie gene changing back into a normal-feather gene.

Mutations are pretty rare, so I think a normal-feathered parent is MUCH more likely.

Yep, 100% sure of the parents. I was breeding silkies after having a 2½ week wait with the females to pass the other roosters sperm.

Only two crosses happened, one was a Silkie D'uccle cross. That one was Lavender, & cream. Second was a blue Cuckoo. Father was a Phoenix/OEGB cross. Mother must've been carrying Cuckoo.


Partridge Satin was pure with smooth feathers. I had no partridge silkie pullets at that time, so the only father was the SQ Partridge Silkie. Mother was a white silkie.


There were a few Porcelain D'uccle/Silkie cross chicks that died in their shell, so those aren't counted.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I don't have an updated picture. The chicks were sold at 2 weeks old.

The dark chocolate brown chick is the satin.

 

[NatJ]

Yep, 100% sure of the parents. I was breeding silkies after having a 2½ week wait with the females to pass the other roosters sperm.

Only two crosses happened, one was a Silkie D'uccle cross. That one was Lavender, & cream. Second was a blue Cuckoo. Father was a Phoenix/OEGB cross. Mother must've been carrying Cuckoo.

If you know there were two crosses, then I think another cross was MUCH more likely than a normal-feathered bird from two silkie parents.

But by now, there's obviously no way to prove it either way.
(Unless you cross the same two parents and get more of the normal-feathered chicks: that would be very good proof that something strange is going on!)

 

[MysteryChicken]

If you know there were two crosses, then I think another cross was MUCH more likely than a normal-feathered bird from two silkie parents.

But by now, there's obviously no way to prove it either way.
(Unless you cross the same two parents and get more of the normal-feathered chicks: that would be very good proof that something strange is going on!)

I was planning on repeating. I know for a fact that I didn't grab a RJF/Hybrid egg, cuz I had my silkies in a small coop to keep the other birds eggs separate.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Yeah, the only possible way I'd get a smooth feathered bird would be from these parents.

But only eggs from the small coop were collected, & the partridge silkie rooster was used in a few breedings with the silkie hens.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Poof, & Fluffy. The 2 hens that are gonna be bred to my F1 Giant Silkie rooster.