(Mini Project) Rainbow Laying Silkies.

[MysteryChicken]

Hello, gonna be creating silkies that lay colored eggs, besides white, tinted, & cream.
These are to not be confused with Silkied Easter Eggers.

These will have all the traits of a Silkie, but will lay different colored eggs.

Egg colors to be expected: Original, white, tinted, cream. (Colored Eggs: Green, Olive Green, Brown, Chocolate Brown, Blue, Turquoise, Light Blue, Light Green, Mint Chip, Minty, Pastel Greens, Plum, & pink.

These are gonna be of Large Fowl variety.

Order for the Breeding project:

Silkie X Easter Egger X Silkie

Silkie X Black Copper Marans X Silkie

Then breed these first couple mixes together.


Here's a couple egg color charts.

Project will begin next year. Most likely in early summer.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Planning to just use large breeds for these guys, not Giants like Malay.

So, will probably add in Heritage Plymouth Barred Rock, Brahmas, & Orpingtons, along with the Marans, & Easter Eggers for the Rainbow Laying Silkies.

So, I'll probably breed in an order like this:


F1s

Silkie X Easter Egger

Silkie X Marans

Silkie X Brahma

Silkie X Orpington

Silkie X Heritage Plymouth Barred Rock

F2s.

Silkie/Easter Egger X Silkie/Marans

Silkie/Easter Egger X Silkie/Brahma

Silkie/Easter Egger X Silkie/Orpington

Silkie/Easter Egger X Heritage Plymouth Barred Rock


F3s, will be bred in a randomized order, only breeding the black skin fluffy, colored egg layers.

Some maybe bred back to pure silkies, rather then the F1 - F2s.

 

[Silviaschicks]

Seems very interesting! Keep updating please

 

[MysteryChicken]

I love new projects. I hope one day I can understand enough about genetics to start my own project.

I started one project, & started learning genetics while I was working on it.

I was breeding, & reading.

I'm also still learning.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Well, the FBCM portion of the project is gonna have to wait longer. Found my only FBCM dead in the run yesterday. Her skin was was completely purple, so it was a really bad heart attack. What freaked her out so badly, I don't know.

 

[Humble Shack Farm]

Planning to just use large breeds for these guys, not Giants like Malay.

So, will probably add in Heritage Plymouth Barred Rock, Brahmas, & Orpingtons, along with the Marans, & Easter Eggers for the Rainbow Laying Silkies.

So, I'll probably breed in an order like this:


F1s

Silkie X Easter Egger

Silkie X Marans

Silkie X Brahma

Silkie X Orpington

Silkie X Heritage Plymouth Barred Rock

F2s.

Silkie/Easter Egger X Silkie/Marans

Silkie/Easter Egger X Silkie/Brahma

Silkie/Easter Egger X Silkie/Orpington

Silkie/Easter Egger X Heritage Plymouth Barred Rock


F3s, will be bred in a randomized order, only breeding the black skin fluffy, colored egg layers.

Some maybe bred back to pure silkies, rather then the F1 - F2s.

I'd love to know how this goes for you after each breeding/hatch!
I want to start my own breed with the silkies and Plymouth barred rocks. I hadn't thought about adding in other breeds to get different egg colors! I have one silkie-barred rock cross hen right now from a hatching earlier this year and she lays a darker egg than my silkies. Still bantam sized, but that's fine with me, she's laying consistently and that's more important to me than the size of the egg. I like her so much I am thinking of starting my own breed with the goal of getting more hens like her with a few more of the silkie characteristics.
I am trying to hatch some more silkie/barred rock chicks right now. I have a hen setting on four eggs for me that'll hatch on Nov. 12th. Next year I want to see what happens when I breed my original silkie/barred rock cross hen back to a silkie. I've been growing my silkie breeding flock this year so I will have new roosters to add to the mix for more genetic variety.

 

[Humble Shack Farm]

What traits are you wanting from the silkie?

Calm, Friendly, Easy to Tame Temperament
More Silkie feathering including feathered feet
Broodiness
Consistent layers

Here's a picture of my current silkie/barred rock cross hen - my inspiration.
Her dad was a buff silkie so she has the red highlights characteristic of all his chicks. I took him out of the mix for this hatch to see what color combo we'd get from my splash silkie roosters instead. I especially like her face - all tiny and round and a little fluffy up top. She's certainly not a "boring all black hen" like one of my easter Eggers.

 

[Smileybans]

This is an interesting project. I have a Silkie crossed with a Cochin that somehow lays blue eggs. I caught her laying it. I think the Cochin wasn’t full cochin but if I remember right the breeder said he was a barred rock cross. Still doesn’t make sense. But here she is. Well some of her anyway. This is the best picture I have of her. She’s been pretty good and I haven’t needed to take her picture yet.

 

[JustBabyMargo]

I’m excited to see how this turns out!

 

[FeatherTay]

I love new projects. I hope one day I can understand enough about genetics to start my own project.