Self Blue (Lavender) Silkie Thread

[BetsyOK]

I've had self blues for at least 5 or 6 years now, originally purchased from a VERY reliable Texas breeder; maybe the same person yours are from. Mine always hatched with a very faint striped pattern on the backs, similar to yours, but lighter. Unfortunately, there are many "self blues" out there that are actually dilute splashes, mistakenly believed to be self blues when they originally started hatching, as they were a very even, light blue color. Many, many of those have been sold and shipped all over. When bred with the actual self blues, they will not produce pure self blue chicks, but if bred back to the actual self blue parent, will produce about half pure self blues. I actually purchased one of those chicks (in person, at a different breeder's barn and at a fairly large price) myself, 'though I was pretty sure she was a dilute splash. Beautiful bird, but definitely dilute splash. Splash bred to splash for several generations will produce lighter and lighter chicks that are easily mistaken for self blues. Self blue is not a naturally occurring color in silkies, and that color gene was introduced many generations ago from another breed of chicken. Without that actual color gene, it is very, very unlikely or impossible to produce an actual self blue silkie

 

[paris_r]

Splash bred to splash for several generations will produce lighter and lighter chicks that are easily mistaken for self blues. Self blue is not a naturally occurring color in silkies, and that color gene was introduced many generations ago from another breed of chicken. Without that actual color gene, it is very, very unlikely or impossible to produce an actual self blue silkie

yes i worry about splashes with paints-so many can look similar and many people selling paints mix them with splashes or dont know the difference.as far as i can tell-from much net surfing- the paint gene is only in silkies (and so also in sizzles) but there is a person on ebay who states she is selling paint lf cochins, and also has splashes and blacks mixed in....

i breed d'uccles and the pattern isnt there on the sub adults, well hatchlings-by subadult hood they are solid. i worry about hidden genes because if i am going to go through the effort of breeding them specifically i dont want to waste my time, plus i am trting to get PT tested and they said i cant have any offspring from non PT eggs under 16 weeks old -so i have stopped buying eggs for a while. i was hoping to buy a bird or two from others-but if they dont know what they have i wont risk it.

does the adult phenotype of the lavender become absolutely obvious when they are adults? unless there is some unknown gene residuals in the silkies there should be no black marks on a lavender bird-nor brown-both should be faded like a porcelain d'uccle. i know white will be fine since that is a pigment blocker.--are the 'porcelain' silkies out there standardized on the mix to produce the colour? are they lavender underneath?

 

[CristinaSmith]

I am looking to buy two lavender silkie chicks, a white, and a blue cream partridge silkie chick. If you don't live in Indiana, I would need them shipped. Thanks!

 

[sljack2006]

Self blue or splash? Thank you

 

[promiselandfarm5]

If I had to guess, I'd say it's not self blue. The second pic shows several color variations (wing, neck and top knot). It is a very pretty chick!

 

[sljack2006]

Thank you promiselandfarm5

Probably a splash then.

 

[promiselandfarm5]

Your welcome. You'll know for sure as it grows. Such a beautiful Silkie.
Do you know what color its parents are?

 

[sljack2006]

He/she came from a splash/blue pen. Noticed some splashing today

 

[drumstick diva]

very pretty chick, regardless

 

[BetsyOK]

My understanding is that you'll only get genuine self blue silkies from Donnie Eldredge's original line. He is the person who bred a self blue feather-legged breed into the silkies, then refined it for a number of generations to get the self blue gene into silkies. Self blue is not a naturally occurring color in silkies, but that doesn't say that it is impossible for it to appear. Dilute splashes appear to be self blues, but they are not.

That being said, it is also not impossible the self blue gene could be carried by other silkies IF it had been introduced at some point into their gene pool. However, I doubt most people who have the true self blues will often cross them with other colors, except in working on a blue cream project.