Recessive white gene in my bbs silkie pen? Pics of chicks!

[Sonoran Silkies]

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I have heard that the splashing an contrast can thus be reduced, but not experienced it myself. I did have one of my first splash offspring who had very few splashes, and they didn't develop until she was noticeably a pullet--so not for many months. She was, however not from splashXsplash as I only had one splash, a cock, at the time.

 

[Dustin Biery]

I guess the one thing I am taking away from this thread is making sure your customers know of this when buying. That is the major problem of not knowing which bird is carrying the white gene. I think until you have traced it back to the parent bird with the white, I would be careful with the advertisement of splash.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

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.....Nothing is wrong with these "white" chicks right? I could still show them if they dont have any off colored feathers? Sorry for all the questions!

If they meet the standard in all other ways, they are white--there is nothing wrong with them. In fact, you know a lot of the genetics behind them, and so can reliably breed them to black, blue or splash and get black, blue or splash offspring. That same statement cannot be said about a random white silkie.

I do NOT believe it is a problem, and it cannot be caused by ONE parent. It comes from BOTH parents. What you can and probably should say when you sell chicks or eggs is that some of your birds carry recessive white, and that your pens therefore produce black, blue, splash & white.


Whites can and do occasionally show up in a coloured flock. White is the original colour for silkies--the only colour for hundreds of years. Sometime back in the seventies and eighties people started breeding colours into these white silkies. To get type correct, they had to breed back to whites, so white is in the background of all silkies. With the most established colours, assuming they have not since been bred back to white, it has mostly been eliminated. But even so, might occasionally crop up.

However, a lot of folks, especially those new to the fancy, will read old information and believe that to improve type you need to breed to white. While that was once true, there are now often better colour/pattern choices if type needs to be improved.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

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Agreed, although if the ad reads "black, blue, splash & white," it should be covered.

 

[Dustin Biery]

I agree. Just think for their well being and reputation, you have to add the white in there.

 

[HatTrickSilkies]

Those chicks will turn white and most will develop red combs. Note how they look at hatch, oddly colored green/gray/pale beaks. That dirty grayish down color, usually darker around the eyes. All of these birds turn white. And then what do you do with them? Unfortunately, the thinking that these birds "are" or "can be used" with whites (or heaven forbid other colors) has become common because after all, they have to be good for something, right? Wrong. If you pay attention to some of the "silver gene white silkie" threads or "why does my white silkie have gray in it's tail, must be silver gene white" threads you'll see what I mean. That's how a lot of these "white surprise birds" get used. It's just another justification for something that should be culled out of the silkie breed. Yet, very few people have the foresight to get rid of something before it becomes their line and someone else unknowingly ruins their line with it.

This phenomenom of "white" hatching out of blue, black and splash has been going on for several years. I have yet to hear a reasonable explanation for it or identity of the "gene" behind it. I can tell you it's become a sort of joke to breeders who strive to keep their colors pure and breed to the standard. That's why some breeders specify that they have "pure Andalusian" Silkies, meaning you hatch out only what you are genetically suppose to. No other funky colors. No good comes from these "genetic surprises" that hatch out like this. None.

I could go on but my point is, if it looks "off" or wrong accept the fact that is very well could be "off" or wrong. Not every silkie that hatches is worthy of any kind of breeding. I don't mean this to be a harsh post at all, but want to stress the fact that all it takes is one bad bird to ruin years of something you've been working on. I don't like to sugar coat anything when it comes to silkies, as I know the frustration in losing an entire breeding season(s) to something I wish culled out from the get go. Live and learn.

~ Nikki

 

[silkieluver_07]

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Agreed, although if the ad reads "black, blue, splash & white," it should be covered.

Yes, I will contact all the customers that have bought eggs from me and tell them that some chicks may be white. I will offer them a partial money return. From now on I will say in my egg sale thread that they come from bbs parents but you have a chance of white offspring also.

Thanks everyone for your input! I really appreciate it~

 

[silkieluver_07]

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Nikki, I am glad that you took time to reply to my thread. I dont think your post was harsh at all. I wanted opinions on this, and you answered it.

The two white chicks I hatched have the dark skin and their beaks are not the greenish colored beaks. Would you suggest that I sell these white colored chicks to pet homes? Or could I keep them to develop my own line of whites?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I don't agree with Nikki's post that they will necessarily develop red combs and be poor quality birds, but I do think it a good idea to keep track of several of them to see how they develop into adulthood--preferably long enough to see not only their development but also that of any offspring.

I do stand by my comment that it is the recessive white gene showing up. On lots of forums, including here, a very common (probably the single most common) question is "what will I get if I breed my white silkie to ..." And thus white keeps getting infused into colours...

 

[HatTrickSilkies]

Nikki, I am glad that you took time to reply to my thread. I dont think your post was harsh at all. I wanted opinions on this, and you answered it.

The two white chicks I hatched have the dark skin and their beaks are not the greenish colored beaks. Would you suggest that I sell these white colored chicks to pet homes? Or could I keep them to develop my own line of whites?

No no, don't use them to develop a line of whites. I would cull or pet them out.

Can you send me pics the dark beaked 'white' chicks you are talking about (unless they are in post 1 and I missed them). You still can hatch out splash chicks and splash chicks can be very light based and take several weeks to feather in. But there is a big difference between those and the grayish/white chicks you also are hatching.

~ Nikki​