Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[Adoravachick]

I'm not answering! But just curious-- are yours gold or silver based? I ran into a lady at my last show and she had the whitest whites I have ever seen and she had some how bred them all over to the silver based gene-- so no way to leak out any gold or get a brassy color. Or at least-- THAT is what she said. Thought it was interesting, but had no idea how she went about doing it.

Do you remember her name?

 

[thedragonlady]

At one point, whites were the only recognized variety, and blacks came next. Whites had the best type for a long, long time, and at that time, to improve type, you needed to use whites. As the coloured birds' type became better and better, breeding back to white became not only less needed, but less desirable, as you would not know what all genes a specific white would bring into the mix.

If you KNOW what genes the white carries, that can change the story. For example, if you hatch a white from a blue/splash pen, you know htat the bird will carry at least one copy of blue. Likewise, if a white came from a grey pen, you know that it is silver gened, etc. But any random white from a white pen, or purchased, you don't know, without experimentation, what it carries other than white.

Now, there are excellent type birds in all recognized varieties, and when breeding in a new variety, you want to use the variety that brings in the least amount of traits that will need to be bred out. So, if you are wanting to work on mottled, or chocolate/khaki, or paint, or lavender (now recognized), breeding to black is/was the desired choice. But you need to be using blacks with good type, otherwise you may get the variety into the breed, but the type won't be there.

You don't paint the house before you build it. Type first, color second.

 

[chikincrazee]

Hi ...we breed whites some have the gold gene and some the silver....the corn in the diet can cause that creaminess too and sometimes when they are growing all their pin feathers that can cause a yellowish cast for a bit. Thanks to Loralee on the compliment on our whites and I do have some young white roosters available ...they are old enough to show their stuff now ..if anyone is interested you can send me an email and i can also deliver to Silkie Nationals in Sedalia Missouri and the Ohio Nationals but i also ship.....I havent bred my whites into anything else yet as i have very nice blacks and use them to improve the paints and self blues...the other colors,,,, i have been lucky to have acquired nice bloodstock to breed so I breed them within their own variety..

 

[chikincrazee]

Hi ...we breed whites some have the gold gene and some the silver....the corn in the diet can cause that creaminess too and sometimes when they are growing all their pin feathers that can cause a yellowish cast for a bit. Thanks to Loralee on the compliment on our whites and I do have some young white roosters available ...they are old enough to show their stuff now ..if anyone is interested you can send me an email and i can also deliver to Silkie Nationals in Sedalia Missouri and the Ohio Nationals but i also ship.....I havent bred my whites into anything else yet as i have very nice blacks and use them to improve the paints and self blues...the other colors,,,, i have been lucky to have acquired nice bloodstock to breed so I breed them within their own variety..

 

[Adoravachick]

Here is the roo I was talking about earlier. He had some crest feathers pulled out. I am not sure how I feel about him.

 

[thedragonlady]

Bye, bye!

Here is the roo I was talking about earlier. He had some crest feathers pulled out. I am not sure how I feel about him.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Absolutely.

But when you are first developing a new variety in a breed, and you have to cross to a different breed to bring in the necessary genes, sometimes you have to settle for a few generations where your type is not what you are ultimately aiming for; but it should improve with each generation. It is a bit of give and take, you can't sacrifice on the type too much, but you also can't give up on the colour. Some genes are easier to breed in than others. Some varieties are much more difficult than others. Breeding mottled has proven VERY difficult. Breeding the chocolates and khakis, by comparison, has been a walk in the park. There is a HUGE difference between each generation, and most F5 and F6 birds are pretty good type.

 

[Hennyhandler]

The greys came out right in the first generation.The initial buff female, whatever she was...about three crest feathers, cochin shape and feathering, but good gold color, was culled after the first generation hatched. The buff males were culled for 4 generations, as were the 1-3 generation females after they had laid. In the 4th generation , I had showable females, but I kept no Buff males until the 5th generation. I was hatching maybe 12- 15 chicks in each generation.I kept a few White females in the 3rd generation, as they had super type, and snow white color.


The first White cross gave me 1K, and 4 females, all Buff, with light blue under fluff, from 10 eggs. The blue receded in each generation, as the buff got more intense. The type was great by the second generation. I think over the 5 generations I probably hatched no more than 75 -100 birds. I kept about 15 of them in the 5th generation, including the Whites. I always limited myself to no more than 10 grown birds in each color, so "Chicken Math" wouldn't take over. Having such a wonderful White cock bird as Lester, certainly helped keep the numbers down too.

Because I was able to use Lester on Whites, Blacks , Grey, Partridge, and Buffs, most of my colored birds, when bred to another bird of their color, would throw great Whites. None of these showed his hint of brass in the hackle in immature feathers, as they were all true recessive whites. Due to the excellent White type percentage of blood, they were all the same SHAPE too." Type makes the Breed. Color makes the Variety." cannot be repeated often enough.

Okay, I have a question. I am sorry to say I am genetically deficient. Could you please give me the genetics for dummies virgin of some questions I have. I have a white pen, partridge pen, and BBS pen. After reading this how would I know if the whites are gold gene based or silver gene based? Also, should I breed my whites to the bbs to get any yellow out? Could you explain more about the recessive gene and what would it look like in a bird?
P.S. Please rememeber I am dumb in this area.

 

[ChicksNherps]

A random though, how would a silkie look with speckled sussex coloring

I had a speckled and she was gorgeous. Would be an interesting color project for sure. Speckled silkies!

 

[aoxa]

A random though, how would a silkie look with speckled sussex coloring   I had a speckled and she was gorgeous. Would be an interesting color project for sure. Speckled silkies!

It would be pretty, but I think that would be the same complicated matter as the mottled. I wonder what it would look like...?