Mixing Silkie Roo and Leghorn hen

[CaliTexan]

So I wanted to make a newish thread about mixing Silkie rooster with a Leghorn hen. One of the things I found from a previous post was that all the female will have a black beak, body, and black feet and all the male will have a peach colors. Little nervous to have one female and seven males. Only time will tell... I wanted to try this mix solely for having smaller more docile hens that lay huge white eggs. Has anyone had experience with breeding these types? Any pros and cons? And did any of The peach color beak and feet turn out to be hens? I'm attaching some pictures of my hens. They were born just before Christmas time.

 

[CaliTexan]

Here are my baby chicks at 2.5 weeks old. We have 7 roos and 1 hen. I'm hoping by some miracle one of our boys will be a hen.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I've done Silkie rooster over Brahma hen, & got a male with yellow skin. I have no females to compare right now, but will be doing another sexlinked crossing soon.

 

[MysteryChicken]

My chick at around the same age as yours.(Old pictures)

 

[Chikyboy]

I am planning to get this cross from a friend.

 

[Ridgerunner]

One of the things I found from a previous post was that all the female will have a black beak, body, and black feet and all the male will have a peach colors.

I have a problem with this type of blanket statement. Silkies come in all sorts of colors and are notorious for being crosses. Their genetics aren't always pure. You are not talking about feather colors but beak, skin, and feet colors. I can't remember the details but I think some of these can be sex linked so that is possible as far as I know. But that would require especially the father to be pure for the sex linked gene. I just don't trust Silkies to be that pure.

If I did the math right you have about a 3% chance of getting 7 boys and 1 girl. Seems like the odds should be even less than that so maybe my math is off. That ratio is certainly possible though, whatever the odds.. Looking at them some are showing masculine features even that young.

I'm trying to not be too optimistic because I do think you have several boys there, but wait a few more weeks before you totally panic. Sure wishing you some good luck.

 

[CaliTexan]

Thanks for the clarification! I was so worried about having tons of boys! I don't particularly care about the same color. Just research I did on backyard chickens someone stated that the color skin depended the sex but it's nice to know that that is not the case.

 

[CaliTexan]

They are growing up! Here are some collages of each chick! (I think I did one twice )