Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

Quote: That really would depend on the genes present in the white. They can carry ANYTHING colour and pattern wise so long as they have two copies of recessive white, they will be pure white.

If the father does not have leakage, and you are getting it in offspring, it is being passed by the mother. It rarely shows in the girls, but it can be passed on. Blacks can leak silver as well as red or gold. (Ditto for blues; in splash you probably won't notice silver leakage, but certainly would notice gold or red)

If it is in the wings and elsewhere, you have something other than a black with leakage. Could be partridge or some other variety. My partridge males often start filling in their ground colour relatively late; especially on back & wings. First red or gold you see on wings kind of looks like chevrons; about where the wing connects to the body.

Genetics of Chickencolors and Basics will give you a good start. If you can find a copy of Genetics of Chicken Colours by Sigrid van Dort, David Hancox and friends, it is an excellent resource for someone without a genetics background.
 
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[/IMG]What color would you call this chick?
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Give her some B12. You can purchase injectible in feed stores, but what is probably easier is to purchase it in the vitamin section of a health food store or pharmacy. If you get the kind that dissolves under the tongue (methyl-cobalamin) you can add a few drops of water to dissolve and put directly into her mouth. Use a high-dose pill. The ones we have are, I think, 5000 mcg.

Make sure you are giving extra nutritious feed, check for lice/mites, and watch her poops. You can also give corrid or sulmet, but I would space it so that the B12 and coccidiastat are given a number of hours apart.
I am curious Sonoran....would Polyvisol help? I have one that is doing something simiular. She is almost 3 so I don't think it would be her age. I noticed her eggs are real soft on the top. I make sure they have plenty of calcium.
 
That really would depend on the genes present in the white. They can carry ANYTHING colour and pattern wise so long as they have two copies of recessive white, they will be pure white.

If the father does not have leakage, and you are getting it in offspring, it is being passed by the mother. It rarely shows in the girls, but it can be passed on. Blacks can leak silver as well as red or gold. (Ditto for blues; in splash you probably won't notice silver leakage, but certainly would notice gold or red)

If it is in the wings and elsewhere, you have something other than a black with leakage. Could be partridge or some other variety. My partridge males often start filling in their ground colour relatively late; especially on back & wings. First red or gold you see on wings kind of looks like chevrons; about where the wing connects to the body.

Genetics of Chickencolors and Basics will give you a good start. If you can find a copy of Genetics of Chicken Colours by Sigrid van Dort, David Hancox and friends, it is an excellent resource for someone without a genetics background.
This is a very interesting book. I read an excerpt of the pdf version and enjoyed all of it.The comparison with the chicken soup was very helpful! I only saw the price in Euros though.
 

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