Need help identifying the color of this silkie chick

[daytonfarm]

This chick came from a black hen but an unknown silkie roo

 

[muddyhorse]

he looks white to me. maybe a very light splash

 

[daytonfarm]

Can you get a white from a black hen? His beak looks lavender

 

[muddyhorse]

white from my very basic understanding acts as an off switch for the other colors. what are the possible colors of roo.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

If each parent contributes a copy of recessive white, the offspring is white. No way to know that the parent carries recessive white ex except is one of ITS parents was white OR it has white offspring.

 

[daytonfarm]

I'm trying to understand the genetics of this, so the black hen can carry a white recessive gene and then when bred to another either white or other color with a white rec gene could produce a white?

 

[Smoky73]

You can get white chicks out of black parents, I get them often, and yours by the red comb, and how dark it was as a chick, could be a silver gened white, and a boy. You can get that if the parents carry the silver gene. double up on the gene and you can get a silver gened white chick. The chick will probably feather in to be compltely white, but might have a hit of a smoky color to him.
The reason I say boy is my silver gened white chicks I hatch from the black parents, always have red combs and are always boys, rarely would you get a female and I can already see the comb, despite it young age. I would guess that is PROBABLY what you have.

 

[daytonfarm]

So is that rare and a good trait or is it something we don't want to continue?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Red comb you do not want, and it also looks like it might be a single comb, which is also something you do not want. Of the two, red is harder to breed out, but ideally you should find a different bird for breeding.


As for white, a recessive white parent is c/c; a non-white parent is either C+/C+ or C+/c.

The offspring of a c/c bird and a C+/C+ bird will be C+/c: there will be no way to tell visually that the bird carrries a hidden recessive white gene.

The offspring of a c/c bird and a C+/c bird will be either C+/c or c/c; about 50/50. The c/c birds will be white.

The offspring of a C/c+ bird with another C/c+ bird will be either C+/C+, C+/c or c/c; 25/50/25 You will not be able to differentiate between the C+/C+ and the C+/c chicks.

 

[daytonfarm]

Thanks for the lesson. He will have to go to a new home.