Sex-Linked Silkies?

[Let There Be Light]

Helloo, I'm very interested in getting silkies in the future. (Maybe near!) I was wondering how do you make sex-linked silkies?

 

[NatJ]

I suspect the answer is you will have to introduce a sex linked trait from a non-Silkie

The genes most commonly used for sexlinks are already present in some varieties of Silkies: gold/silver, and barring. Chocolate would work too.

--Gold/Silver sexlinks:
Rooster must be "gold" (buff, red, partridge, etc)
Hen must be "silver" (the color called "gray" should be a silver version of partridge, so it would work.)
Sons will be silver like their mother, daughters gold like their father. The daughters may have different shades of gold (buff, red, brown) and the sons may have a yellowish or dirty-looking silver color, and will probably have some red leakage in their shoulder feathers as they grow up.

--"Black" sexlinks (barred/not-barred)
As JacinLarkwell suggested, and use a barred (or cuckoo) silkie hen, with any silkie rooster that is not-barred and not-white. The sons will have white barring (and a pale spot on their head as chicks), the daughters will not have barring.

--Chocolate sexlinks
If you get a chocolate silkie rooster, you can cross him to black hens to get black sons and chocolate daughters.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I know next to nothing about chicken genetics, and nothing about Silkies. Waiting on Mystery's response, but I suspect the answer is you will have to introduce a sex linked trait from a non-Silkie, then breed to reinforce that trait, resulting in a sex linked bird which has some physical resemblance to Silkies, but is no longer a Silkie...

 

[MysteryChicken]

Helloo, I'm very interested in getting silkies in the future. (Maybe near!) I was wondering how do you make sex-linked silkies?

You can use Cuckoo Silkie Hen X Any Solid colored Silkie rooster except for white for best results. (Males will have Headspots at Hatch)

Dominant White(Silver Based) Silkie Hen X Red Silkie Rooster. (Males will be white in color at Hatch)

White Skin Silkie Hen X Black Skin Silkie Rooster(Cockerels will be white skinned at hatch)


Sex-linked chocolate is an option.

 

[All4Eggz]

@U_Stormcrow
@3KillerBs

I'm not sure how you would do that, but if you do achieve it, that would be amazing.
Keep us posted
Good luck!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

You would probably do something like a barred silkie under a bbs/red silkie.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I know next to nothing about chicken genetics, and nothing about Silkies. Waiting on Mystery's response, but I suspect the answer is you will have to introduce a sex linked trait from a non-Silkie, then breed to reinforce that trait, resulting in a sex linked bird which has some physical resemblance to Silkies, but is no longer a Silkie...

You can have bird that are pure for Silkie, but are Smooth Feathered, & white skinned.

Silkies are White Skinned birds with the Fibromelanistic gene causing their skin to be black.

Their feathering is due to a mutation, which is also recessive.

 

[Let There Be Light]

Thank you all for the replies!
I heard something about crossing black roos with cuckoo hens, but I've found that cuckoos are difficult to get a hold of. That's why I came here to ask if there was other ways to make silkie sex-links. So thank y'all again!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

TY for the education on what makes a Silkie a Silkie. I still don't want them - but now know there to be numerous silkie colors and patterns, not just the solid white, solid black, buff, and blue/splash I recall being mentioned.

Good luck in your sex linking efforts!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'm sorry. I'm weak on genetics.

I know that there are some sexlinks you make with gold and silver and some you make with barred and not-barred.

I'd recommend the genetics calculator, but I'm hopelessly lost on it.

NatJ came in and saved us both - but not until after I had the chance to embarass myself. Not only did I show my complete ignorance of existing Silkie varieties, but my brain was trying to figure out how to do autosexxing silkies, not just sex linked... Talk about being out to lunch!