Paint genetics questions…

[Mountaintop Silkies]

Hi, I’m new, for years I have been using the search function here if I have questions and I usually find the answers pretty quick. I decided to join today because I have some questions about paint silkie genetics. I have been breeding silkies for the past few years and have an established BBS pen.

I hatched some silkie paint eggs from another breeder and one hen turned out to be a beauty. She has beautiful type, wings are good, feet are great with no pink pigment holes, her comb is correct. My only problem is, I don’t know what to put with her. I know dominant white and black make paint. I don’t have any blacks from my BBS pen to put with her and I don’t have any dominant whites. I know blue is a dilute of black, so if I put a blue rooster with her, would that produce a correct paint like a black will or is that muddying the waters?

I know I could test breed, but thought maybe I could ask to save myself some trouble. Thanks in advance for any knowledge you can toss my way.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

I believe you will get paint and blue paint but I may be wrong I'll tag some people who are better at genetics than me
@Amer @NatJ @nicalandia

 

[Mountaintop Silkies]

I believe you will get paint and blue paint but I may be wrong I'll tag some people who are better at genetics than me
@Amer @NatJ @nicalandia

thank you!

 

[NatJ]

I believe you will get paint and blue paint

I mostly agree, but there should also be some solid blacks and some that are blue all over. I would expect about equal numbers of each (black, blue, paint, blue paint.)

 

[Mountaintop Silkies]

I mostly agree, but there should also be some solid blacks and some that are blue all over. I would expect about equal numbers of each (black, blue, paint, blue paint.)

Thank you! So, it would technically work. Would it muddy the waters for the next generation? And, would I have a greater potential for leakage in my blacks and blues? Last thing I want is a bunch of birds with gold or red leakage.

 

[Amer]

Thank you! So, it would technically work. Would it muddy the waters for the next generation? And, would I have a greater potential for leakage in my blacks and blues? Last thing I want is a bunch of birds with gold or red leakage.

It most likely wouldn’t but there is a chance.

 

[Amer]

Gold or red leakage should show up on paint as well as black but silver leakage can hide so future generations could potentially have leakage.

 

[NatJ]

Thank you! So, it would technically work. Would it muddy the waters for the next generation? And, would I have a greater potential for leakage in my blacks and blues? Last thing I want is a bunch of birds with gold or red leakage.

I would generally expect:
Black is solid black
Blue is genetically the same as black, but has the Blue gene
Paint is genetically the same as black, but has the Dominant White gene
Blue Paint is genetically the same as black, but has both the Blue gene and the Dominant White gene

If none of the original ones have leakage, I would not expect their chicks to have any increased chance of leakage. None of them is supposed to have any gold or red coloring at all. (But I see @Amer has a good point about leakage: if a blue has the gold gene but no leakage, and a paint has the silver gene with leakage but white-on-white leakage is not obvious, you could have chicks that get the gold gene from one parent and the leakage from the other.)

As long as you can tell which ones have the blue gene (blue paint or plain blue), I don't think it will muddy the waters for future generations. The blue gene will behave the same as ever (black/blue/splash), but dominant white will cover most of the same areas with white. I don't think a Splash Paint bird would look very interesting (two blue genes, one dominant white gene: should make the bird mostly white with a few gray-ish bits.)

If you want to keep your blues and paints separate after this, most of the offspring can be sorted into the blue pen (blues) or the paint pen (paints), with blacks going in either pen and blue paints in neither. If you don't mind having them mixed, then you can sort them in any way that works for what you decide you want in the next generation.

 

[Mountaintop Silkies]

I would generally expect:
Black is solid black
Blue is genetically the same as black, but has the Blue gene
Paint is genetially the same as black, but has the Dominant White gene
Blue Paint is genetically the same as black, but has both the Blue gene and the Dominant White gene

If none of the original ones have leakage, I would not expect their chicks to have any increased chance of leakage. None of them is supposed to have any gold or red coloring at all. (But I see @Amer has a good point about leakage: if a blue has the gold gene but no leakage, and a paint has the silver gene with leakage but white-on-white leakage is not obvious, you could have chicks that get the gold gene from one parent and the leakage from the other.)

As long as you can tell which ones have the blue gene (blue paint or plain blue), I don't think it will muddy the waters for future generations. The blue gene will behave the same as ever (black/blue/splash), but dominant white will cover most of the same areas with white. I don't think a Splash Paint bird would look very interesting (two blue genes, one dominant white gene: should make the bird mostly white with a few gray-ish bits.)

If you want to keep your blues and paints separate after this, most of the offspring can be sorted into the blue pen (blues) or the paint pen (paints), with blacks going in either pen and blue paints in neither. If you don't mind having them mixed, then you can sort them in any way that works for what you decide you want in the next generation.

This info is what I have been searching for, thank you so much for taking the time to explain.

One more question. I have a blue hen that I retired from my breeding program. She was beautiful and then went through a hard molt. When her feathers grew back, she had gold leakage around her neck. Why would this come out after a molt and not show before?

 

[Mountaintop Silkies]

Gold or red leakage should show up on paint as well as black but silver leakage can hide so future generations could potentially have leakage.

Thank you!