Millefleur and Lavendar silkie project Advice please

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Columbian is not recessive; however it is not the gene that causes the laced hackles. Not sure what does.

 

[Happy Chicken Mama]

I am glad that someone has started this thread! This is something that I have been mulling over in my head and would love some further clarification on how one would proceed... if one had enough space (I don't think that I do!).

We have:
Millie fleur cochin bantams (roo and hens - one VERY good hen)
Lavender Silkies (roo and hens - Great Roo and Great Hens)
A lone buff silkie pullet (she looks like she will finish out quite nicely) who we are thinking of getting some buff hen friends.

These seem like the right mix to start a proper British Porcelain Silkie project... they are all of the highest quality color and type.

My questions are... who would be best with whom to start??? Who do keep and whom do I cross back them to??

Was that clear? I think I got a bit confused myself. I have tried to figure this out with the chicken calculator... but have only landed in the muck so far.

Also not just color... but can I do this with our the millie roo????? I would like to keep as few roos as possible and would like to be able to start (and finish) the project with the lavender roo.

 

[Krys109uk]

Do silkies carry a recessive Columbian gene?

I'm working from what Buff Orpingtons carry, & to some extent RIR. Any buff or red bird ought to be much the same. Completely buff & red birds (including silkies) carry columbian; they also carry other genes such as dark brown columbian, which further restrict the black. Also in order to get the pattern usually known as columbian one also needs melanisers.
In my experience crossing a buff or red Orpington with a black based bird generally gives a heavily melanised type columbian effect even in the first cross this is due to dark brown columbian. I know that this is consistent & not the black bird being heterozygous for something because I have had consistently black (leakage in males) offspring from crossing the same birds to other colours.

This is how people on this forum have come up with this colour they are calling "lemon blue".

Really a proper columbian marked bird needs to be on a wheaten or eb (asian partridge) bird. The next cross ()F2) gives some columbian patterened birds which are on the correct base. Of course, as some of the genes are dominant or incompletely dominant; it is likely that quite a few of the F2s are heterozygous for columbian. This shows in better in the pullets than in the males. Some will also have genes which mess up the pattern by restricting the black further towards the tail. It would take a good deal of selection to get to properly marked columbian but it is doable.​

 

[AHappychick]

Quote:
If you want columbian pattern I know Angies SG and silkies throw that pattern and quiet often too. I hatched out 4 SG with a columbian pattern from her eggs last febuary. I kept the pullet and sold the roos because I had to many. But getting eggs from her would be a good start, althouh I do not know if she changed up her pens. She goes by the name Fowlrus on BYC

 

[Krys109uk]

My questions are... who would be best with whom to start??? Who do keep and whom do I cross back them to??

Blimey, that's a task & a half in silkies.
Personally I shouldn't use millie bantam cochins from US as they are not properly finished & may not necessarily carry the genes one expects.

I'd have thought, in order to make proper porcelain it would be best to first make mille fleur silkies & also to make isobel on whatever base one whch one would want to make the proper porcelain.

With all the different things one would need to select for in silkies, such as the skin, comb colour, beard muffs & crest, fifth toe......... before even thinking about the new colour. One could be selecting forever.