I need some genetic help please

[Chic Chick]

I've hatched about 4 doz red silkies out already this year, and even tho the parents are from hatchery stock I'm happy with their looks as I just want a flock for broodies. Now I just hatched out a light colored one with white skin and legs. There is absolutely no chance of it being cross bred here and I'm curious and would like some help in finding websites to help me understand this....I understand the parent silkies could be mixed with another breed and I'm wondering how many generations before this gene could be bred out.
TIA

 

[GreenGoddess]

OMG.. Unfortunately I don't have a clue on genetics but I had to reply to this.. When i first looked at the pic, i thought the poor chick had 3 legs.. I was sitting here wondering why on earth you were worried about white legs when there is clearly another problem here!! Then I saw two heads and realized you were holding two chicks!!

Although that does make me wonder.. I have production reds that I was told were pure.. The guy told me that he had them in a completely seperate pen than the rest of his chickens.. But, my rooster has white legs and one of my hens has two or three black and white speckled feathers.. Other than that, they look exactly like pure production reds.. When i hatched their chicks out a little over a week ago, the chicks looked to be black sex links (although it is too early to tell at this point) but I would love to find out the answer to this also.. I figured out that *somewhere* they were mixed with speckled sussex.. But again, the guy told me they were seperated until after the chicks were hatched and were only put in with the rest of his flock because of snake problems... Curious...

Goddess

 

[wclawrence]

I can explain your problem. It is actually quite simple. The mother and the father of that light skinned chick look normal right? The gene responsible for the dark skin is called Fibromelanosis. This gene will make the bird dark even if it is heterozygous. So the father and mother have one copy each, resulting in most chicks getting at least one copy of the gene, and a few to get none. If you test mate all your silkies to something besides a silkie, preferably light skinned and on a light e-locus (wheaten), then you will be able to tell by the resulting chicks which birds in your flock have only one copy of this gene. If you only breed birds that have two copies of the gene, you will get all pure chicks.