Introduction - The Silkie Lab (Danielle)

[Noraaaaa]

Hi!! I do That's a very tricky thing to figure out! One method is to look at the down feathers and if they are blue underneath, that is going to be dark blue and not black. However, some blacks look a bit like that as a chicks, so you'd need to wait until they are older and it's not always 100%. I am developing a test for the Blue Feather gene, so people can actually tell if their bird is dark blue or black It likely won't be ready for another month though. Thesilkielab.com is my business website!

Okay thank you so much! I will def look at Thesilkielab.com!

 

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

Hi!! I do That's a very tricky thing to figure out! One method is to look at the down feathers and if they are blue underneath, that is going to be dark blue and not black. However, some blacks look a bit like that as a chicks, so you'd need to wait until they are older and it's not always 100%. I am developing a test for the Blue Feather gene, so people can actually tell if their bird is dark blue or black It likely won't be ready for another month though. Thesilkielab.com is my business website!

Welcome Danielle,

Your post has good timing! I'm beginning a breeding project on trying to develop dual purpose "silkies", essentially I want to breed a dual purpose bird that has good egg laying, silkie feathering, single combed, NO crest/vaulted skull, NO feathered legs, NO fibromelanosis and NO polydactyl toes. I literally set eggs from my silkie/easter egger rooster cross and bielefelder hen.

Is there a way to develop a DNA test to see if one of the offspring is a carrier for the silkie feathering gene? I want to make sure I hold onto silkie gene carriers as I work on breeding in/out the other traits I want. Thank you!

 

[Debbie292d]

Welcome Danielle,

Your post has good timing! I'm beginning a breeding project on trying to develop dual purpose "silkies", essentially I want to breed a dual purpose bird that has good egg laying, silkie feathering, single combed, NO crest/vaulted skull, NO feathered legs, NO fibromelanosis and NO polydactyl toes. I literally set eggs from my silkie/easter egger rooster cross and bielefelder hen.

Is there a way to develop a DNA test to see if one of the offspring is a carrier for the silkie feathering gene? I want to make sure I hold onto silkie gene carriers as I work on breeding in/out the other traits I want. Thank you!

A silkie isn't considered "good laying" so with everything else you're trying to breed out, you're only carrying forward the feathers on their bodies. That should be interesting!

Orpington's are a little bit on the fuzzy side and have everything else you're looking for, so it would make a good prospective subject, I'd think. @MysteryChicken does some silkie modification breeding, as in giant silkies if I'm not mistaken, but would be worth getting insight from.

 

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

A silkie isn't considered "good laying" so with everything else you're trying to breed out, you're only carrying forward the feathers on their bodies. That should be interesting!

Orpington's are a little bit on the fuzzy side and have everything else you're looking for, so it would make a good prospective subject, I'd think. @MysteryChicken does some silkie modification breeding, as in giant silkies if I'm not mistaken, but would be worth getting insight from.

Thank you! So the hens in my flock that I plan to use for this project are my old black Australorp, her daughter (55 Flowey Hen X Australorp), Speckled Sussex, Bielefelder, my Blue Copper Maran and maybe my standard size Black Cochin. My roosters in my project are of course my Silkie x Easter Egger, Black Copper Maran Cockerel and my Sicilian Buttercup X Bielefelder mix cockerel.

That's a perfect description of what I'm wanting to breed, an Orpington with silkie feathers. So I'm definitely not opposed to adding Orpington to the mix somewhere down the road, never had an Orpington I didn't love! I'll definitely reach out to @MysteryChicken sometime this week. Thank you.

 

[MysteryChicken]

A silkie isn't considered "good laying" so with everything else you're trying to breed out, you're only carrying forward the feathers on their bodies. That should be interesting!

Orpington's are a little bit on the fuzzy side and have everything else you're looking for, so it would make a good prospective subject, I'd think. @MysteryChicken does some silkie modification breeding, as in giant silkies if I'm not mistaken, but would be worth getting insight from.

Yes, I do breeding with Silkies, working on increasing their size. Project is just on pause for now though. Planning on moving.

 

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

Yes, I do breeding with Silkies, working on increasing their size. Project is just on pause for now though. Planning on moving.

Awesome! Do you know of any visual indicators for birds that are heterozygous for the silkie feathering gene?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Awesome! Do you know of any visual indicators for birds that are heterozygous for the silkie feathering gene?

Silkie Feathered Splits, from what I noticed are softer to the touch.

 

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

Silkie Feathered Splits, from what I noticed are softer to the touch.

Interesting, I'll go feel my birds now lol. Has that been a fairly reliable indicator for you in your breeding project?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Interesting, I'll go feel my birds now lol. Has that been a fairly reliable indicator for you in your breeding project?

It's been fairly accurate. Regardless if they're split, you won't get many that are silkie feathered through Breeding back.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Interesting, I'll go feel my birds now lol. Has that been a fairly reliable indicator for you in your breeding project?

The touch thing won't work if birds aren't silkie split, but are just soft feathered instead. These just feel more smooth.