Silkie / Black senlink cross?

[SilkiesForEver]

About 4 years ago (when I was relatively new to chickens) I had a white Silkie cockerel and a bunch of laying hens. I took one of my black Sexlink eggs and put it in the incubator. It hatched, and I got this,


She's very eye-catching, and lays HUGE light brown eggs everyday. So now I'm thinking, "huh, what if i made some more?"

So, what I'm wondering is, will the chicks be sexlinked? I'm not sure if that's what happened to my hen, but she does have the female Sexlink plumage.

 

[donrae]

search username nicalandia's posts--he made one a while back about crossing a silkie rooster over leghorn hens, and the chicks were sex linked by skin color. If I recall correctly he said it would work crossing any black skinned silkie rooster, no matter the color, over any yellow-skinned hen. Kinda made me want to get a silkie rooster and check it out!

 

[Old Rando]

search username nicalandia's posts--he made one a while back about crossing a silkie rooster over leghorn hens, and the chicks were sex linked by skin color. If I recall correctly he said it would work crossing any black skinned silkie rooster, no matter the color, over any yellow-skinned hen. Kinda made me want to get a silkie rooster and check it out!

Not quite correct. the hens with yellow skin and yellow legs and hens with white skin and white legs have melanin inhibitors which are passed on to male offspring and not female. Hens with yellow skin and dermal melanin have willow(green) legs and white skinned hens with dermal melanin have slate (blue) legs. These will not inhibit the melanin in their male offspring, therefore not work in this type of cross for sex-linked characteristics.

 

[donrae]

Not quite correct. the hens with yellow skin and yellow legs and hens with white skin and white legs have melanin inhibitors which are passed on to male offspring and not female. Hens with yellow skin and dermal melanin have willow(green) legs and white skinned hens with dermal melanin have slate (blue) legs. These will not inhibit the melanin in their male offspring, therefore not work in this type of cross for sex-linked characteristics.

Thanks for the education--after I posted this I became intrigued and searched a bunch of old threads on the subject--so much so I dreamed about chicken legs with different colors last night! I meant to come back here and update, but you beat me to it. So my basic understanding is it's any hen with yellow or white shanks, not skin. Better?

My husband's rolling his eyes cause I've never, ever been interested in silkies.....but now I'm thinking of the possibilities to make little half silkie sex link chicks....and researching silkie colors.....

I also saw this....the black hens with black skin are cool, but the white bird with dark skin is just the bomb!

Not my pic--I copied it from Dipsy's for sale thread...she calls them Dipsygoths....cute!

 

[Old Rando]

"~~. So my basic understanding is it's any hen with yellow or white shanks, not skin. Better? " Yes, I agree about the white bird with dark skin. I have a few fibromelanotic chickens of my own breeding and find them quite unique. A male in front and his sister on his left both from white silkie father and an araucana X sumatra bantam mother.

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Well I think I'll give it a try! Gotta wait for my pullets to begin laying, but once they do, I'll see about setting some Silkie/Sexlink eggs.