How do you tell if your Silkie roo has a beard?

[CreamBruelle]

Hello again everyone. How can you tell if a Silkie roo has a beard? And also if I breed a bearded Silkie to a non bearded Silkie, will half be bearded and the other half not?

Thanks

 

[QueenMisha]

Well... you look. Bearded males will have a nice little triangle consisting of the beard and ear muffs. Ideally they should be oval shaped.

Not my photos, but here are some examples:

Bearded:

Non-bearded:

As for genetics, muff/beard is dominant, so a bearded bird crossed with a non-bearded bird would produce 100% bearded birds, however the beards would be smaller than in a bird pure for the gene. A small beard bird back to a full beard bird would produce 50% small beard and 50% full beard offspring, and a small beard bird to a full beard bird would produce 50% small beard and 50% non-bearded offspring.

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Well... you look. Bearded males will have a nice little triangle consisting of the beard and ear muffs. Ideally they should be oval shaped.

Not my photos, but here are some examples:

Bearded:

Non-bearded:

As for genetics, muff/beard is dominant, so a bearded bird crossed with a non-bearded bird would produce 100% bearded birds, however the beards would be smaller than in a bird pure for the gene. A small beard bird back to a full beard bird would produce 50% small beard and 50% full beard offspring, and a small beard bird to a full beard bird would produce 50% small beard and 50% non-bearded offspring.

Oh, i love that you included the genetics explanation in this post! Helpful! (Going to stare at my silkies now to analyze).