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

[Majestic Lane Poultry]

You already have my take on this and I have been waiting to reply hoping some silkie pros would jump in.

After seeing the pictures...I still conclude that you are going to need to weed out the problem the long way. The second option is to put in a new splash roo to add new blood.

Personally, I would consider saving money for a quality blue roo or better yet something black to rejuvenate your colors. If you get a black hen and cross with your present splash roo...if you still get 'white' chicks, you know your problem is the roo with hidden white gene.

I think I am rambling...

Edited to say...might be the headache.

 

[silkieluver_07]

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Yea, I have 2 splash chicks and 2 blue chicks from Sassy Silkies growing out and hopfully one will be a nice boy! I have a black roo from Amber Waves Show Silkies, but he's still not "interested". I have three black pullets too from her but they haven't begun laying.

Once I get a nicer roo in there, my old splash roo will be taken out and used for showmanship only.

He does great and behaves very well in front of the judges.

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!

 

[silkieluver_07]

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Yep, that wouldn't stay still, so I had to hold it like that.

Plus I wanted everyone to get a good view of their foot feathering and toe spacing. This was the easiest way to photography it!

 

[Majestic Lane Poultry]

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If it looks white...it will be judged as white

 

[Krys109uk]

With recessive white one couldn't necessarily tell at hatch as down colour is not necessarily white.
Being recessive it could, potentially, remain hidden for years if no birds of the opposite sex also carrying a gene for recessive white is put into the breeding pen.

If the birds of Thomas423 are the same as the birds in question. They look recessive white. The darkish cast to the down can be caused by the presence of silver. Silver under recessive white tends to give a whiter white than gold (not silver).

Recessive white seems particularly frequent in silkies. I don't know about silkies per se. People seem very keen on crossing white silkies with other colours. Do white silkies generally have better type than the other colours?

 

[silkieluver_07]

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If it looks white...it will be judged as white

That's what I thought!

Just didn't know if there colored background made a difference or not.

 

[silkieluver_07]

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Thomas423's birds are chicks out of the same parents in the silkie breeding pen. The chicks in my original post are ones I hatched out 3-4 days ago. Monarc23 has pictures of her chicks from my eggs also... let me go see if I can find the thread of hers.

I have no clue about the recessive white. I got two of my splash birds from a breeder, and the other three from a poultry auction as chicks, so I don't know there genotype background.

 

[silkieluver_07]

Here's Monarc23 post on the chicks when they first hatched with pictures:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=206411

Here's updated growth pictures and they don't appear to have their splashing yet:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=223886

 

[Krys109uk]

You'll need to ask someone more au fait with silkies. To me the silkie feathering distorts the colours or patterns & I can't recognise the effect of various genes.

To me they look like recessive whites. People seem to cross white silkies with most other colours so I shouldn't think recessive whites cropping up is that unusual in silkies.

Suze of Sonoran Silkies will probably answer this better than I can.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

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No, splashXsplash is always splash. BlackXsplash is always blue.