Partridge Breeding Towards Showing.

[Villa delle Rosa Silkies]

I'm relatively new to BYC & to breeding Silkie chickens. From 6 Silkie eggs that I hatched in an incubator 14 weeks ago, I have this rather gorgeous partridge boy .... this photo was taken when he was 13 weeks old. Although I'm not very knowledgeable about partridge genetics or SOP, Zuni does have a black breast, black tail, & lovely dark, rich coloring. His underfluff is a darkish grey & his crest is black with a peppering of orange towards the back ..... & more orange seems to be coming in. I know the crest should be totally orange, but I have been told that a black crest or peppered crest is not a disqualification when showing. I live in New Zealand, & I cannot get hold of the SOP here, but I have been told it is very similar to the SOP in America. Partridge is not very much liked here, & I only know of two other breeders working on it, & one has suggested that I mate him with a nice partridge hen. Unfortunately, although I had 3 partridges in this hatching, all 3 are crowing boys, & I don't have any other partridges. I put this question in a Genetics & Color FB group, with a pic of Zuni, & a lady very knowledgeable on genetics, said he was very nice & that as I did not have access to a partridge pullet/hen, but I do have a white silkie adult hen, & white silkie baby chicks of 3 weeks old, where I will hopefully get some girls ..... to mate him with all the white girls I have, in the hope that one at least will be hiding partridge genes. I also have a gorgeous black girl, 14 weeks old, but she is a Sizzle Silkie, & I don't want to be having Sizzle partridges. My white adult hen is the mother of the 6 white 3 week old chicks, & she is in a run with my 8 month old white silkie roo. I think the two of them would be distressed, if I removed her. So I am going to have to wait until my 3 week olds grow up, & then mate any girls in that group, with him ... they are not related. My questions are ..... firstly, what do people think of this young boy (bearing in mind that in this pic he is only 13 weeks old) ?...... secondly, do you think he is nice enough to show, when he is old enough (how old do they have to be) ? ........ thirdly, when I mate him with any white, unrelated girls from my second group of hatchings, will they all come out white, but hiding his partridge genes? .... or will some actually be partridge? ...... Do I then have to breed the best of his daughters back to him? ....... If none of those little girls are hiding partridge genes, what color chicks am I likely to end up with out of those first matings? ...... Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Cyprus]

Is he bearded? Are the whites bearded? Do you have pics of the breeding whites?

All chicks hatched will be white, het Partridge. Breed back daughters with the best body type and darkest combs and wattles. F2 offspring will be 50% partridge, 50% white het Partridge.

 

[The Moonshiner]

(Unless from a paint group) white silkies are recessive white so no whites when crossed with a partridge.
In the states we do get some whites that are partridge so there's a chance of producing a partridge from that pairing.
All will carry recessive white sight unseen so you'll likely always have some pop up whites later down the road.

 

[Villa delle Rosa Silkies]

(Unless from a paint group) white silkies are recessive white so no whites when crossed with a partridge.
In the states we do get some whites that are partridge so there's a chance of producing a partridge from that pairing.
All will carry recessive white sight unseen so you'll likely always have some pop up whites later down the road.

So are you saying that if I breed this partridge boy to white girls, I will get all partridge? We don't have Paint Silkies (to my knowledge) here in New Zealand, so all white silkies are recessive.

 

[Villa delle Rosa Silkies]

Is he bearded? Are the whites bearded? Do you have pics of the breeding whites?

All chicks hatched will be white, het Partridge. Breed back daughters with the best body type and darkest combs and wattles. F2 offspring will be 50% partridge, 50% white het Partridge.

I'm pretty sure he's not bearded, but I really haven't even given that a thought (I'm very new to silkies) ..... I know my white roo is not bearded, & although I was told that my adult white girl is bearded, I have to say that she looks just the same as my roo .... I've seen bearded whites, & she doesn't look like them. So I would say that both parents of my little white chicks are not bearded .... & I would hazard a guess & say that my young partridge boy is not bearded either. The whites he would be breeding with (when they are old enough) only turned 3 weeks old yesterday.

 

[The Moonshiner]

No I'm saying there is a chance to.
It depends what else the whites carry. It is usually extended black but I've seen some that were partridge. If yours are partridge or carry partridge then you should produce some. If yours doesn't carry partridge then you won't but you could breed any pullets back to your rooster or any of the offspring together and produce some. So you can get there in two generations for sure.

 

[Villa delle Rosa Silkies]

No I'm saying there is a chance to.
It depends what else the whites carry. It is usually extended black but I've seen some that were partridge. If yours are partridge or carry partridge then you should produce some. If yours doesn't carry partridge then you won't but you could breed any pullets back to your rooster or any of the offspring together and produce some. So you can get there in two generations for sure.

Thank you. The white chicks who I would breed with this partridge boy are from my adult white silkie pair, & I have no idea what is in the background of either of them. I got the roo when he was 4 months old, from a lady who had bought him from someone else, thinking he was a pullet. She knew nothing about his background. The hen I have only had for 3 months, from a local breeder, & she got her from somewhere else as a chick. As she breeds only for fun, I doubt she would know anything about the hen's background. So it will be a total surprise as to what I will get, though another person said they will be all white carrying partridge, & then to breed the girls back to their father, & 50% will then be partridge, as you have said also.

 

[The Moonshiner]

The white is recessive so all offspring will carry one gene for it but none will get two copies so they won't be white unless the rooster carries one white gene.
That could be a possibility. Since you don't know what's under the white or the background of them its gonna be a wait and see deal.