Partridge Silkies - Nothing else

[Fur N Feathers]

These are a few of my silver partridge babies - they are 6 and 8 weeks old. Now I call these silver partridge because they have little to no gold coloring - yet they have the penciling or barring. The chinchilla gray color that I've been calling my grays have zero gold or brown and zero barring.









A couple of the "grays" for comparison.

 

[ChickNmamma]

These are a few of my silver partridge babies - they are 6 and 8 weeks old. Now I call these silver partridge because they have little to no gold coloring - yet they have the penciling or barring. The chinchilla gray color that I've been calling my grays have zero gold or brown and zero barring.









A couple of the "grays" for comparison.

I think this stage is my favorite stage, I don't know why. They aren't fully feathered,. but they are not little chicks any more. They are gangly but you can see what they will become. Love this stage, and your birds are beautiful

 

[Fur N Feathers]

I think this stage is my favorite stage, I don't know why. They aren't fully feathered,. but they are not little chicks any more. They are gangly but you can see what they will become. Love this stage, and your birds are beautiful

The "so ugly they're cute" stage?

Thank you! I think so too, but I am extremely partial. Do you know if am I calling this coloring properly? I see a lot of people calling silver partridge = grays and vice versa, but I always thought the key was the barring or penciling and they aren't the same thing.

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote: I don't think they are ugly. I think they are adorable.. really.

I love seeing their intelligent little faces before all that poof covers their dark eyes up...

I don't KNOW about the names - but I think you have it right.

My understanding is the grays are not supposed to carry the pattern, the Partridges are. I think they are also supposed to be based on a different E aliee.. but I have no clue if that has been done. But the pattern is very hard to see when they are fully feathered, sometimes it is only evident on the wings. To have the Partridge pattern right each feather is supposed to have that pattern. My Black/Red Partridge Roo shows something in his back feathers.. and I now have a smooth feathered Frizzle (Sizzle?) from him so I can see what patterns he and the Frizzle are hiding I hope.

I believe you are right there again - barring and penciling are not the same thing. I don't know if the Partridges have either one, but if they do I suspect they have the Pattern Gene (Pg) which is responsible for lacing.

The barring gene is a sex linked one and females have only one copy. Since we can't see if they have white spots on their heads (those little poof's hinder any discovery there) and barring shows up best on solid colored chicks, they could be hiding it among their fuzzy feathers.

I think that's where they get the "Cuckoos"..?

If this didn't make any sense it is because I am sleep tying, my eyes are so watery I can't see the screen.. goodnight... may come back tomorrow and edit it when I can think again..

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: I don't think they are ugly. I think they are adorable.. really.

I love seeing their intelligent little faces before all that poof covers their dark eyes up...

I don't KNOW about the names - but I think you have it right.

My understanding is the grays are not supposed to carry the pattern, the Partridges are. I think they are also supposed to be based on a different E aliee.. but I have no clue if that has been done. But the pattern is very hard to see when they are fully feathered, sometimes it is only evident on the wings. To have the Partridge pattern right each feather is supposed to have that pattern. My Black/Red Partridge Roo shows something in his back feathers.. and I now have a smooth feathered Frizzle (Sizzle?) from him so I can see what patterns he and the Frizzle are hiding I hope.

I believe you are right there again - barring and penciling are not the same thing. I don't know if the Partridges have either one, but if they do I suspect they have the Pattern Gene (Pg) which is responsible for lacing.

The barring gene is a sex linked one and females have only one copy. Since we can't see if they have white spots on their heads (those little poof's hinder any discovery there) and barring shows up best on solid colored chicks, they could be hiding it among their fuzzy feathers.

I think that's where they get the "Cuckoos"..?

If this didn't make any sense it is because I am sleep tying, my eyes are so watery I can't see the screen.. goodnight... may come back tomorrow and edit it when I can think again..
Partridge, silver partridge,grey: NONE of these should have barring. Ever. All are e^b base. e^b plus Pg equals penciling. Toss in melanotic and you have lacing, which appears very different.
Penciled males do not show the penciling. BBR, wheaten and partridge males are almost indistinguishable in appearance. (Not that silkies tend to have the first two, especially the first).

Barring dilutes skin colour, which is why getting dark combed and skinned cuckoos is so difficult (Kind of like trying to dye something dark black and adding bleach into the mix). If you added barring to a partridge, you would get a crele-like pattern. It would not be hidden. And the skin and comb would be light.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Crele OEGB from feathersite:


Not quite sure what a penciled & barred hen would look like.

 

[Mumsy]

They do look like they might be Blue Partridge, or Silver Partridge. One girl looks like the gold/partridge color - the other looks more silver to me but with a red head??? I would wait until they grow up more, maybe their next molt will look more standard Partridge colors.

The answer to the rooster question depends on what you want to work on. Both the Self Blue (lav based blue) and the dark Blue (Bl based Blue) will give you black or blue chicks.

The Self Blue will add that they are a Split and carry the lav gene which can make line breeding a mess because some of them will be self blue (if two copies) and some may be what you are aiming for, only those may or may not carry lav also.. and I don't think Partridge is a good base for Self Blue... too much red leakage (which will turn gold). The partridge will probably be hidden completely and would take line breeding to produce Partridge. You will also mess up the colors you have there already.. it might be hard to get them back as nice.

If you wanted to work on Blue Partridge you could use the dark Blue boy, just understand that your first generation may not show any Partridge - and you wouldn't want to use the girls from that cross - only the best looking boy over the Partridge girls.

An easier way would be to keep an eye out for a nice Partridge boy. Since chances are 50/50 of getting boys, and most people want to keep more girls than boys - they are available. The lady I got my pair from had some boys available from them. You may also be able to find somebody closer to you.

Thank you to all that replied and said kind things about my pullets. ChickNmamma: Your advice really helps me make a decision on where to go with these two pullets. The last thing I want to do is go backwards when starting out with them. I am a four hour drive from Karen Larson's farm. I can ask her if she has a male that will work with them. I've got plans to go down there to pick up a Buff pair in July. Blue Partridge male wasn't on the shopping list until now. I really have come to love this soft Blue Partridge coloring.

 

[minichic]

My partridge pullet Spice




And my silver partridge hen Silka

 

[Fur N Feathers]

Partridge, silver partridge,grey: NONE of these should have barring. Ever. All are e^b base. e^b plus Pg equals penciling. Toss in melanotic and you have lacing, which appears very different.
Penciled males do not show the penciling. BBR, wheaten and partridge males are almost indistinguishable in appearance. (Not that silkies tend to have the first two, especially the first).

Barring dilutes skin colour, which is why getting dark combed and skinned cuckoos is so difficult (Kind of like trying to dye something dark black and adding bleach into the mix). If you added barring to a partridge, you would get a crele-like pattern. It would not be hidden. And the skin and comb would be light.

Thank you Sonoran. What is the pattern I see showing up in my silver partridge babies, will this fade with age or just become disguised with adult feathering? Is it undesirable and something I should breed out?

My partridge pullet Spice




And my silver partridge hen Silka

Beautiful girls MimiChick and I love that name Silka!!!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: All of them look to be penciled? Could you take closeups of the silver partridge and grey together? (for comparison)
The ones atop the blue cage look to have a lot of autosomal red. Some of the ones near the beginning of you post look to have a little autosomal red.