Longterm Crossbreeding Project of Brahma, Polish, Silkie, Ayam Cemani, Araucana and Malay

[Slothinc]

Following your project, it sounds very interesting. So are you hoping to have feathered legs but not feathered feet? I didn’t even realize those were two separate genes.

 

[Skyeknight]

Update time! I have bought a new Silkie pullet that does fit my preferences. She should be large fowl instead of a bantam and she has a beard and more obvious partridge colour.

The pullets have been introduced to the Ayam Cemani rooster at the end of June. Sadly they are afraid of him and the 2 other hens. The Ayam Cemani also has the other 2 hens as clear favorites. The pullets have gotten more bold lately. They do not lay eggs yet. Normally I do not use artificial lights during winter, but I will this time to hopefully get some chicks from them before 2026.

The pullets are almost 6 months old now.

 

[Skyeknight]

So the other Silkie I already had did go broody. And I decided to let her hatch some eggs and do a "fibro" test run.

These 6 chicks were the result. These are all from the Ayam Cemani rooster, 2 of which from the Silkie and the other 4 fibro mutts. The middle one with the lighter beak was the only confirmed rooster chick as of now. The black one on the right was a half Silkie but died after a week, it had 4 toes on all feet. The other half Silkie somehow was ablue chick and has 5 toes on only 1 foot.

Here are some more pictures to enjoy!

In this third picture the half Silkie is all the way on the right, with the rooster chick right next to (presumably) her.

My phone camera quality really sucks. The one is the middle is the half Silkie, she has gold leakage on her chest. I also still weigh her weekly, just like the purebred pullets.

Now the interesting result of the "fibro" test is actually the rooster chick. Sadly he died at 6 weeks old. His mother is the white hen in the previous post, she is splash barred and white shanked. This means that this rooster inherited a single allele for barring and dermal inhibitor. Both of which inhibit fibro. The barring is confirmed by the headspot in the first picture of this post and the slight barring visible in the tail and wing feathers. He is not fibro in contrast to his sisters as he still had light skin, which was visible when he stretched his neck. As he aged his comb and legs really darkened up. I did not expect that to this amount at all! I assume he would have returned to red or mulberry comb colour with age?

 

[Skyeknight]

I'd be interested in seeing the weights you got at various ages.

That is quite a lot of weights to type out and not fun to look at, so might do a graph in the future. In the meantime if people are interested in a specific weight at a specific age, feel free to send a message.

Following your project, it sounds very interesting. So are you hoping to have feathered legs but not feathered feet? I didn’t even realize those were two separate genes.

Thank you! Yeah I am hoping for something like that, but it's more a preference than a breeding goal. I will also have to see how the Brahma and Silkie pullet will do this winter with a probable muddy run.

Amer can explain the genetics behind it way better than I ever could, so I will refer you to this post instead.