Self Blue (Lavender) Silkie Thread

[Sonoran Silkies]

Was the lavendar gene in existing silkies, or was it made by crossing to another breed?

Bred in from OEGB

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Oh, I did not mean to overlook the question about the Lavender gene. It is really a self blue gene, and I don't know for sure where it came from.
I know it breeds true and some of the lines are hard to hatch and the mortality of chicks and eggs is high in some of the lines.
It seems using a split is better and the quality and vigor is better too. [just my opinion from observation]
Hope this helps, maybe someone with more knowledge will reply?

The gene is named lavender; the variety is named self-blue.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: lav/lav, not Lav/Lav. lav = lavender. Lav = not-lavender. Capital letter denotes a dominant allele; lower case indicates a recessive one.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Yes, but both parents could be splash AND lavender or splash and split to lav. However, in my experience that would give more of a splash phenotype.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote: lav/lav, not Lav/Lav. lav = lavender. Lav = not-lavender. Capital letter denotes a dominant allele; lower case indicates a recessive one.

Thank you for this important correction, Sonoran! This language of genetics is new to me. There is MUCH to take in!!!

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote: Yes, but both parents could be splash AND lavender or splash and split to lav. However, in my experience that would give more of a splash phenotype.

Splash and Silkies confuse me. Are lavenders and blues commonly combined in Silkies? I have three hatched out of eggs marked "lav" from a reputable breeder that appear blue so I'm assuming splits but they aren't black. I am accustomed to blacks being used in lavender programs. Is that not the case with Silkies? Especially now that you are telling me that splash can be lavender as well. My understanding of splash is Bl/Bl and with Ameraucanas, we are careful to keep our blues and lavenders quite separate.

 

[peepblessed]

Splash and Silkies confuse me. Are lavenders and blues commonly combined in Silkies? I have three hatched out of eggs marked "lav" from a reputable breeder that appear blue so I'm assuming splits but they aren't black. I am accustomed to blacks being used in lavender programs. Is that not the case with Silkies? Especially now that you are telling me that splash can be lavender as well. My understanding of splash is Bl/Bl and with Ameraucanas, we are careful to keep our blues and lavenders quite separate.

Many silkie breeders house all colors together and are not interested in showing, maybe most breeders. Their only goal is to make pretty pets and see what unique colors show up.

 

[Brody's Broodello]

Some one may be breeding Split Lav's that were bred from what they thougt were Black to Lavender. But I have found that most people cannot tell the difference between Dark Blue & Black. So if they bred a dark blue to levender thinking that they had bred black to lav, the resulting birds were actually dark blue split to lavender. Thus they breed 2 of those together and get Blue offspring because they are breeding Blue to Blue. I have seen this quite a bit with those who do not show and have never seen a good show Black silkie, if they had they would be able to tell the difference right away.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Oy! I obviously need a SERIOUS Silkie mentor to help me in my journey ..... <sigh>

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Yes, but both parents could be splash AND lavender or splash and split to lav. However, in my experience that would give more of a splash phenotype.

Splash and Silkies confuse me. Are lavenders and blues commonly combined in Silkies? I have three hatched out of eggs marked "lav" from a reputable breeder that appear blue so I'm assuming splits but they aren't black. I am accustomed to blacks being used in lavender programs. Is that not the case with Silkies? Especially now that you are telling me that splash can be lavender as well. My understanding of splash is Bl/Bl and with Ameraucanas, we are careful to keep our blues and lavenders quite separate.
Depends on the lines. In some lines lavender was deliberately bred into blues. In others the colours have been kept very separate. I remember reading on the old silkie yahoo group a number of years ago that finding blues that had not had lavender bred into them was very difficult.

IMO, the blue (or splash) phenotype is more evident than the self-blue phenotype, even when the birds are also pure for lavender. There are SOME differences. I don't think you can have a dark blue (easily mistaken for black) that is also pure for lavender, and sometimes the phenotype shows less distinction between the darkest and lightest feathers (for example hackle colouring) than on a bird who is not pure for lavender. But the distinction IS still present; just less of a contrast.