Please explain the genetics of a Splash Silkie

[Wild Chicken]

Hello.......I'm hoping that you experts in silkies can help me out here. I purchased some very pricey hatching eggs from a woman that lives an hour away from me that has show quality Silkies. I purchased 6 splash and 6 blue. The chicks that hatched out of the splash batch are 6 weeks old and still pure white.

She has whites, blues, blacks, buff and splash. When I emailed her questioning if the splash started out as pure white (as I have never had splash silkies so I don't know what to expect) here is her explanation:


"Blue and Splash are both blue variants-meaning they can throw a variety of colors-white, greyish blue, blue, splash, and even black. However, if they are born white, they will usually mature out to be a very pale blue-if from blue parents-or with a light splashing if born from splashes. I have had a few splash hens that I thought for sure would be pale blues and ended up surprising me between 6-9 months old! I have also had a few that actually stayed white, but threw splash or blue. Go figure."


I spoke today with a friend of mine that has just starting breeding sq silkies and she has a splash and said that this is not correct.....that the woman probably gave me white silkie hatching eggs instead of the splash.

I don't want white.....

Soooooo I would like it if those that have been breeding splash silkies could tell me what you think

My next thing was.....what are the chances of getting 4 all white chicks IF they were splash....??????

Do you think it would be right of me to call this woman back if she did in fact sell me the wrong "colored" eggs? It wouldn't be a big deal, but I paid $30 for this dozen eggs......and since my husband is unemployed, I used birthday money to buy them and I am really bummed because I really don't care for white chickens....no offense......

Thanks in advance for being so helpful

 

[Elite Silkies]

Splash can be born white and get their splash coloring later. Can you post pics? Usually the whites are born with a yellowish color.

 

[Wild Chicken]

 

[Elite Silkies]

They do look extremely white. Very pretty though. When they were born what color were they? White or Yellowish? I guess you can just ship them to me

 

[Wild Chicken]

They were white when they were born. And I do think they are very pretty too......I already have a trio of white silkies, even though I don't care much for white birds. I really had my heart set on splashes. Do you think they will "splash" out

when they get older? And do you think maybe this was an over sight on the woman's part and these are really whites? I just think it's odd that I would get 4 all whites.......

I would love to ship them to you if you would ship some splashes my way

LOL!!!

 

[Elite Silkies]

My splash babies that are about 2 weeks now have a bluish color to them. They are def. not white. My splash hen hasn't been laying much here lately. She is starting to pick back up. I wish I had some splashes to send your way, I would in a heart beat. All I have old enough right now are Blues.

Maybe, we can get some more Silkie people to jump on board and see what they think. I don't how long it could take for them to splash out. Mattie and Marolyn already had their splashing when I bought them, but they were 3 months old when I got them. So, I know it should be before 3 months.

 

[Wild Chicken]

I appreciate your input. My friend was under the impression that splash or blue wouldn't throw white (but like I said, she hasn't been doing this long).....and I don't have the slightest idea

I guess my next thing would be to find someone else that has splash silkies and get some eggs/chicks from them? I just liked that she was an hour away and I could pick them up instead of having them shipped.

 

[Elite Silkies]

It's hard for me to tell which ones are splash because I house 2 black hens, 1 splash hen with a Splash Roo.

Maybe, you could sell them in the BYC Auction. You might just get enough to buy a few more dozen.

 

[Funky Feathers]

They sure don't look like Splash babies to me. They look like Whites. I have some Pet Quality Splash I will be selling soon. PM me if you are interested.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Those chicks are whites, not splash. You should ask if she had her colours separated into breeding pens.

Two splash parents could throw ~25% white offspring if they each have one copy of recessive white. Yes, splashes can (and often do) come later, but the chick down is usually a pale silver with a yellow under-tone or blue & white. My white chicks have almost always had white down--I've had only a couple that I can remember that had yellow down, and it was very pale yellow.

$30 for a dozen silkie eggs is not particularly pricey, although I do understand that $$ can be tight. Regardless of cost, however, you purchased splash, and that is what you should have gotten. Or at least a mix of blacks, blues & splash.

"Blue and Splash are both blue variants-meaning they can throw a variety of colors-white, greyish blue, blue, splash, and even black. However, if they are born white, they will usually mature out to be a very pale blue-if from blue parents-or with a light splashing if born from splashes. I have had a few splash hens that I thought for sure would be pale blues and ended up surprising me between 6-9 months old! I have also had a few that actually stayed white, but threw splash or blue. Go figure."

The above comment is somewhat misleading. Both blue & splash result from the blue gene. Blues carry one copy of the gene (Bl/bl+) and splash carry two (Bl/Bl). Continual breeding of splash to splash is said to wash out the splashing. Blues can vary in colour from pale slate to nearly black; splash background colour can vary from white to medium blue, but is covered by irregular streaks of dark blue. I have never ever heard of a blue chick hatching out white.

Incidentally, your dark chick is partridge, not blue.​