Question about Silkie colors

[fjorddreamer]

Hello,

I was given this information awhile ago and just wanted to confirm if you all think this is accurate. I'm just trying to determine what colors I should when I breed in the spring.

Here's what I was given:

Blue to blue = 50%blue, 25%black, 25%splash
Black to blue = 50%blue, 50%black
Black to splash = 100%blue
Blue to splash = 50%blue, 50%splash
Splash to splash = 100%splash

This seems to make sense to me, but I was wondering where grey fits in. Last year I crossed my splash rooster with both my blue hen and my grey hen. I ended up with eggs from both and let one Silkie hatch them all. I'm pretty sure there were eggs from both hens. Anyway, I ended up with three beautiful blues and three beautiful splashes. One splash is much lighter...almost a lavender, maybe? Anyway, this year, I have a choice of breeding my one grey hen to either a Splash again, or a blue rooster and I just don't know what I should get with a grey as info above doesn't factor in greys. Thanks!

 

[walkswithdog]

Grey is a totally separate color. Unrelated to blue/black/splash. Blue to black yields blue/black and splash.

 

[walkswithdog]

double post

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
Blue to Black does not yield all three colors. They are correct in that BluexBlack gives 50% Blue and 50% Black.

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

1 - you'll never get lavender from those birds.
2 - by crossing your splash to a gray you've contaminated your lines and all your doing is creating cross colored chicks
3 - gray is a complete and different genetic makeup from splash or blue birds and should not be bred with blue or splash, unless you want cross colored chicks.

 

[fjorddreamer]

Quote:
Good to know! Thank you!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

What do you mean by grey? Are you talking about a bird with patterned feathers, or a bird whose feathers are a somewhat uniform grey colour?

If the former, Chris is correct; breeding grey to splash, blue or black will give mixed colours; if the later, then your grey is actually a blue, not a grey.

Genetically lavender is entirely different; in appearance the very lightest blues are about the same shade as lavenders; however blues have a darker head and hackle, and on males also the saddle. This does not occur with lavenders.

 

[fjorddreamer]

Quote:
Well, I was told she was a gray when I bought my first batch of silkies from the breeder. She was a year old at that time. She's not as dark as my blues, however, she is a solid color except for bits of gray around her neck. No, she's not patterned or splash. Just these flecks of gray around her neck. So, is there such a thing as a gray silkie at all, or did I misunderstand the breeder? She's certainly not a gray color at all. I never quite understood that. I would be quite happy if she wasn't a "gray". I am happy with my blues, splashes and buffs. I'll have to look and see if I have a close up picture of her.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

This is a grey hen:

I am guessing that yours is a blue. You said grey on her neck--silver showing in her hackles?