Interesting crosses?

[goldysgirl]

My first year bantams are really laying well and I was thinking about hatching a few eggs if I get a broody. I was wondering if I would get any interesting results if I crossed a different breed with my black tailed white japanese roo. In that pen I have these hens- black sumatras, buff columbian wyandottes, white crested black polish, and some oversized white silkies that were marked as bantams but are the size of my large fowl. I was hoping to have some patterned hens, but the partridge cochins I ordered all ended up being roos. I have partridge cochin, buff columbian wyandotte, white silkie, and white crested black polish roos free ranging if any of those would make an interesting cross. Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[goldysgirl]

No replies. Is my question in the wrong forum or not a good question? Maybe I am just not patient enough lol.

 

[BreanneRN]

Well, I'm interested... I love Silkie crosses myself, they are always, cute, unique, and interesting... Last year someone advertised a Silkie crossed with Appenzeller-Spitzhauben, and the chicks were adorable, but didn't really even look like chickens, more like a wild crested dove or something. Beautiful though... I think breed your Silkie to any of them, or all of them, you will have beautiful, unusual, baby chicks! And they are the ones most likely to go broody, too.

 

[goldysgirl]

Thanks so much for your reply! I have multiple pairs and could do purebreeds, but I love surprises and funky chickens!

 

[coach723]

There are some people on her that are very good at genetics and what happens with crosses, I'm not one of them! I think it's interesting, but I never have any idea what traits are more dominant and what combo's work out to what. I have crosses and I think it's fun to watch them grow out and see how they turn out. If you are patient maybe one of the really knowledgeable people will see this thread and have some idea's.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

White silkies usually have recessive white. They could be hiding any color under there; black, partridge, buff, any combination of those. Black tailed white and buff columbian are basically the same coloration (one has the silver gene, and one has the gold gene). Breeding them won't really give you anything new. Black is pretty dominant, so polish or sumatra crosses will probably be mostly black, especially on hens.
For the most patterning, buff columbian or black tailed white x partridge could give you some nice partially pencilled hens. The silkies also might have some nice patterning under that white.

 

[BreanneRN]

From a first generation Silkie cross, you will get regular feathering (non-silkie), feathered feet (but not as much as the Silkie, unless bred to another feathered, like the cochin), 5 toes... probably partial melanistic (that which makes the skin dark). 2 kinds of white in Silkies, used to be just recessive white, but interbreeding has caused some to have dominant white. I'm going to send your thread to @sylviethecochin, she is good at this and can tell you more... She has helped me a lot in the past (and thanks for that!)

 

[sylviethecochin]

black sumatras

Black, maybe some silver leakage on the shoulders and necks of the males. Silver leakage on the chests of the females.

buff columbian wyandottes

You'd get silver columbian hens and lemon/gold columbian cockerels (they'd look silver, but there should be some gold leakage in random places)

white crested black polish

Same as with the sumatras. I know nothing about crest genetics, so I'll leave that alone.

white silkies

These're almost certainly recessive, but like @BreanneRN said, there is a slight possibility that they aren't. If they aren't, white chicks. If they are recessive, they're probably partridge underneath, so you might get some nice pencilling leakage on the female chicks' backs. They will be silver.

ROOS:

partridge cochin

Meh. Same as above, but all that's silver will be gold (Interestingly, if you used a gold rosoter over a silver hen, you'd get lemon (looks silver) males and gold females.) and you'll get some random pencilling leakage on the ones that aren't black. Maybe pure pencilling on the offspring of the silkies because, again, partridge is the most likely colour.

buff columbian wyandotte

This is the cross I would use, for pure functionality. I like large, egg-laying hens. Same as above. Black conquers all for the first generation, and you might get some pencilling leakage out of the silkies. All chicks should show gold or gold leakage.

white silkie

Same as for the female silkies.

 

[goldysgirl]

Awesome! Thank you all so much for the info! I will post pictures if I hatch any funky chicken crosses.

 

[BreanneRN]

I will look forward to seeing them! So don't forget...