Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Its hard to say. White in Silkies is recessive. Think of it like throwing white paint on a colored wall. The color on the wall is still there, you just can't see it.
If you want to be (more) certain of what color offspring your birds will produce, stick to breeding like colors together

 

[Tammylr]

What offspring will I get if i cross a black silkie female with a white silkie male?

Depends if you have dominant white or not. If your white bird has dominant white then you get paint chicks, I/I. If it is recessive white, c/c, then you get whatever is hidden under the white mixed with black. Most likely a bunch of black chicks that carry recessive white.

 

[andreacroyle]

A paint is genetically a black bird that is heterozygous for the dominant white gene. Typically silkies are recessive white which is another white gene entirely so if you were to start from scratch to make paints you would have to introduce the dominant white gene from another breed. Any white gene is not JUST white. The white is a "mask" for whatever color is underneath. The bird will get 1 copy of each gene from each parent, so if the offspring are black with "ii" as their dominant white genotype, they do not have dominant white and will be black. If they do get a dominant white gene from each parent and have "II" they will be all white. If they only get one dominant white gene they have "Ii" and this is what is said to cause paint. Because they only have 1 dominant white gene the white "mask" isn't strong and gets holes in it, showing the black coloring underneath.
Another thing to consider is that dominant white only masks black pigments, not red. For example red Pyle is black breasted red with dominant white, it leaves the red but makes all the black areas white.
I know it's very confusing, hope this helps!

how do you find out if your white silkie has a dominant gene or not ? I just hatched some mixed old english bantams with my white silkie roo and not one of them look very silkie-ish. 3 out of 7 got the black skin but they all look like OEB chicks.

 

[Tammylr]

how do you find out if your white silkie has a dominant gene or not ?  I just hatched some mixed old english bantams with my white silkie roo and not one of them look very silkie-ish. 3 out of 7 got the black skin but they all look like OEB chicks.

Did you get any that had white bleeding through on them? Dominant white, even with only one copy, will show through. Recessive white won't show unless you have two copies. So if they all have black skin but otherwise look like the oeg I would say you have recessive white which is more common.

 

[Troubadour05]

Depends if you have dominant white or not. If your white bird has dominant white then you get paint chicks, I/I. If it is recessive white, c/c, then you get whatever is hidden under the white mixed with black. Most likely a bunch of black chicks that carry recessive white.

Purebred Silkies do not carry dominant white, that is a color that has to be bred into the breed.

 

[Troubadour05]

What offspring will I get if i cross a black silkie female with a white silkie male?

The only way to know for sure is if you know what color the white is hiding on your male. Recessive white in Silkies is just a "mask" of sorts. If your black Silkie carries a recessive white gene then you could get white chicks, if she does not you will have colored chicks. Like I said the color you get will depend on the "genetic color" (I guess you could call it that :] ) of your rooster.

 

[Troubadour05]

how do you find out if your white silkie has a dominant gene or not ? I just hatched some mixed old english bantams with my white silkie roo and not one of them look very silkie-ish. 3 out of 7 got the black skin but they all look like OEB chicks.

What color were the OE bantams, did they have any white in them or their relatives/ancestors that you know of?

OEGB's can be tricky, as they can carry recessive white, dominant white, or even both, so it is hard to tell.

 

[Tammylr]

Purebred Silkies do not carry dominant white, that is a color that has to be bred into the breed. 

As I was told, there is no "pure breed" chickens and I have a paint silkie currently. That is black with one copy of the dominant white gene. Her name is nugget. MOST of the time hatchery silkies are recessive white and it is difficult to find a dominant white silkie but folks have been working on them for a few years now. Silkies do in fact come in dominant white. The only way to know for sure what you have is to do a test breeding to a black bird and see what pops up. That's if you don't know the birds history. Thank you.

 

[henney penny]

This is my silkie rooster,I think he is so handsome what do you think?

 

[henney penny]

This is great info! I got paint eggs from someone on ebay,I guess he only showed the nice looking roosters.Anyway,out of all the eggs I got 2 black roosters,3 paint roostets,one buff rooster and one paint pullet.2 of the roosters have that champagne color you are talking about,hoping the other one will stay on the white side.Will be breeding him and the paint pullet along with my black hen and 3 whilte hens,I may throw in my white showgirl to