Help with Silkie Chick Color

[TRieland]

I could use some help with the coloring on one of the baby chicks we got a few days ago. We got this silver chick. It has 5 toes and black skin so we are assuming it is at least part silkie.

It was from a random egg we hatched. The silkie hens we have are 2 white, a black, a buff, and I think a partidge. (Or is she some other color?)

We have a few other hens like a bantam columbian cochin, millie fleur d'uccle, and a dark cornish. We have a silkie rooster (if anyone could tell me what color he is called it would also be appreciated) that looks like this:

We also have a black frizzle cochin rooster and an oegb roo.

So with those chickens any idea where the silver color came from and if it will stay that silver color?

Thanks for any help you can give me!

Todd

 

[BlackIce]

Your rooster looks like a Buff and the chick definitely looks purebred silkie. she could be a mix of the Silkie roo and either a white or black silkie hen because i believe the white and black are the only ones that can carry the gray gene... I know that with silkie chicks they can change colors as they start to feather out though so she might not keep the gray coloring...

 

[BlackIce]

partridge can also carry silver gene. however i'm pretty sure silver and partridge silkies aren't solid colored as chicks... i think the chick might just be a white silkie

 

[YardMoa]

On the one hand the rooster is a mix of some kind looking at his earlobe colour and that he has a black tail, so who knows what color genes he's carrying. His colour is called Black Tailed Buff. Buff Silkies do not have black tails.

On the other hand white Silkies are recessive white which means any other colour or pattern genes they carry are not apparent. When a white Silkie is bred to another variety of Silkie the offspring can come out almost any colour.

 

[TRieland]

They are all just TSC and local feed store quality. (I am pretty sure they get them from a major hatchery also) So no telling what the blood lines are.

But that black silkie definitely is a great mama hen. She just hatched and raised 3 babies in the begining of December and was ready for more eggs in March. Will be interesting to see what they all end up looking like.

Todd

 

[Ladybird CA]

Yes, your partridge hen is indeed a partridge silkie. The rooster looks red to me, I've ordered them and usually the red ones have black tails. If you google "red silkie rooster" the ones pictured almost all have red tails.

At least two of the black chicks look like they may be the cochin's chicks. The light silkie chick does look pure. At about a week old you would be able to see what color the feathers are sprouting.

 

[TRieland]

It really is a grab bag on what we get. We just grab some eggs that they laid in the last day or two and let the silkie hatch them. All the chicks have dark skin and 5 toes so they at least have some silkie in them. We were hoping we had gotten one of the d'uccle eggs under her but not this time. All the bantam eggs seem to look the same from our girls.

Thanks for the help and can't wait to see what they grow up into! Hopefully not all boys like our last 3!

Todd

 

[YardMoa]

It's always fun to see how these kinds of chicks feather out. I'm definitely curious about how that silver one ends up looking

 

[TRieland]

So just thought I would post some updated pictures of these guys. This is 19 days later so around 3 weeks old now.

The silver one is still silver but now has a touch of tan also.

The grey one is getting some tan mixed in also.

We are hoping this one is a Millie Fleur D'unclle silke mix.

We are wondering if this is a satin or just didn't get the fizzle gene. The only black chickens we have are a silke hen and a frizzle cochin roo.

 

[Ladybird CA]

That one probably just didn't get the frizzle gene because he/she does look like a cochin/silkie mix