Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I'll stop by and check out your HAL! I've got Silkie eggs in my bator now

 

[Tammylr]

Ok, here is an update on what I have found so far:

R/R- red dominant gene
E/E- black dominant gene
E/R- brown, red and black dominant genes together
I/I dominant white
c/c- white recessive gene that with two copies " turns off" the other colors. Most silkies are recessive white.
Bl/bl- blue dominant gene, dilute of black
Bl/Bl- splash, double blue gene that over dilutes black to a dirty white
lav/lav- lavender recessive, needs two copies to show and dilutes black and red
B/B C/c- paint, both are dominant, white/ black
B/B I/I - cuckoo, dominant, sex-linked (cuckooXblack= cuckoo males, black females)

Still need more info on all the below, dominant/ recessive, etc. will continue to look on line. I mapped out fancy rats at one point but then I got married and discovered hubby was allergic to them. He isn't allergic to my birdies though!


-Partridge
-Buff Is this a red dilute?
S/- silver
S/+ - gold
e/Wh- wheaten
Mh- mahogany
mo/mo- mottling
Di/Di- gold dilute
B/B- barring
ER/ER- birchen

All info is appreciated, I don't think I want to move much into wing types but get more of the basics first.

 

[Troubadour05]

Ok, here is an update on what I have found so far:

R/R- red dominant gene
E/E- black dominant gene
E/R- brown, red and black dominant genes together
I/I dominant white
c/c- white recessive gene that with two copies " turns off" the other colors. Most silkies are recessive white.
Bl/bl- blue dominant gene, dilute of black
Bl/Bl- splash, double blue gene that over dilutes black to a dirty white
lav/lav- lavender recessive, needs two copies to show and dilutes black and red
B/B C/c- paint, both are dominant, white/ black
B/B I/I - cuckoo, dominant, sex-linked (cuckooXblack= cuckoo males, black females)

Still need more info on all the below, dominant/ recessive, etc. will continue to look on line. I mapped out fancy rats at one point but then I got married and discovered hubby was allergic to them. He isn't allergic to my birdies though!


-Partridge
-Buff Is this a red dilute?
S/- silver
S/+ - gold
e/Wh- wheaten
Mh- mahogany
mo/mo- mottling
Di/Di- gold dilute
B/B- barring
ER/ER- birchen

All info is appreciated, I don't think I want to move much into wing types but get more of the basics first.

Silver and gold are the same gene, which is also sex linked. Silver is dominant to gold.
In males: S,S is silver, S,s is silver carrying gold, and s,s is gold
In females: S,- is silver and s,- is gold (the - just meaning there is no gene on the "w" chromosome that female chickens have, the equivalent of the Y chromosome in human males)

Partridge is the combination of color and pattern, I do not remember the genotype off the top of my head but it may be e^b e^b (the color on the E locus) PgPg (the partridge pattern) and it also takes into account the silver/gold gene. Partridge birds have gold (either s,s or s,-) and grey birds have silver S,S S,s or S,-). That is why grey silkies are also called silver partridge.

I'm also pretty sure cuckoo and barring are the same..correct me if I'm wrong, but regardless barring is sex linked and dominant.

 

[Troubadour05]

And also e/Wh is just another form of the "E" locus (like the e^b in the partridge birds), there is a website that lists a ton of genotypes I'll try to find it for you..

Also something that really tripped me up when learning this...there are different ways of writing these, for example e^b is the same as e/b and e/Wh is the same as e^Wh, the "b" and "Wh" can also be written as superscript on the e but I can't do that on my phone

 

[Troubadour05]

http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetics/mutations1.html

Check this out, it explains quite a bit

 

[Tammylr]

Found that one since last post: here is update, I took off the sex link.

R/R- red dominant gene
E/E- black dominant gene
eb/eb- partridge/brown recessive
Db/Db- dark brown effects black in Roos the most, lee in hens and red base.
e+/e+ - wild type, duck wing
I/I dominant white
c/c- white recessive gene that with two copies " turns off" the other colors. Most silkies are recessive white.
Bl/bl- blue dominant gene, dilute of black
Bl/Bl- splash, double blue gene that over dilutes black to a dirty white
lav/lav- lavender/self blue recessive, needs two copies to show and dilutes black and red
Co/Co- Colombian dominant, inhibits red
B/B C/c- paint dominant of black and white
eWh/eWh- wheaten, best expressed over red.
M1/M1- melanocytes, can make EB and birchen all black.
Mh/Mh- mahogany, dominant, enhances red.
Di/Di- gold dilute dominant, possibly what makes buff
cb/cb champagne blond recessive, also possibly where buff comes from.

Patterns:
mo/mo- mottling recessive
Sp/Sp- Spanglish dominant, moves black to end oh feather
Lg/Lg- lacing dominant
ER/ER- birchen
B/B- barring
Pg/Pg- pattern gene, lacing.
Co/Co- Colombian dominant, inhibits red
M1/M1- melanocytes, can make EB and birchen all black.
Db/Db- dark brown effects black in Roos the most, lee in hens and red base.

Pg/M1/ Co- single lacing
Pg/M1/Co/Db- lacing with laced tail

 

[Hawkeye95]

How do you get a paint? Do you have to have one to get more or what?

Wow, you dug that post up from a few years ago! ha! So, I know a lot more now about Paint. First of all, you must start with at least ONE paint bird. You can in fact breed Paint X Paint and get paint birds. You can also breed Paint to White or Paint to Black and get Paint. (breeding to Black is often thought to be the best idea, but white can certainly work too) Because of how many people have been working with this color, it is becoming easier to breed for Paint. When you use a black bird, it is best to use a black with the Silver gene (vs Gold). When you see paints that have the champagne (gold color) look to them, they are leaking the gold gene. The silver gened birds tend to look clearer and whiter. The best way to know if you have a silver gened black is to use a bird that has silver leakage showing on him. So, the black would have silver leakage in the hackles. If you use a solid black bird-- you have no way of knowing at all which gene (or both) that bird is hiding. I raise blacks, and I only breed Blk X Blk, and I get the occasional leakage. I have both Gold and Silver in my blacks. Some will leak gold, some will leak silver. I have one boy last year that leaked both! That is unusual, but it can happen. If you are interested in Paints, stay away from the Gold gene.

 

[Tammylr]

Awesome, thanks. I'm really interested in the paints but am still researching right now. I like to be well informed before taking on any new challenges.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Awesome, thanks. I'm really interested in the paints but am still researching right now. I like to be well informed before taking on any new challenges.

Paint is a NSV (Non-Standard Variety) so it is still not accepted into the Standard of Perfection, if that matters to you at all. But I do believe in the next few years, that it will be added. They still require a lot of work as you will be fighting with the gold gene from time to time, and you get a lot of cull colors from the breedings. So, you'll get Paint, but you'll get a lot of "what the heck is this color?" from the breedings as well. Those 'extra' colors won't be useful to anyone else either, as they won't be Standard colors, and it would be unethical to pass them off as Standard colors to anyone else. You'll need to rehome them or keep them, I guess. So there is that consideration. The color itself is really fun and pretty, so I understand the attraction. If you are a member of the ASBC, I would HIGHLY recomment you check out the chat groups on there about Paint and learn what you can from the serious breeders there. Good information. If you're unfamiliar with the club, just follow my link in my signature. You are doing the right thing by trying to learn as much as you can BEFORE you get them. A lot of people jump in and then have no clue what they are doing and no idea of what to do next. Recently, a guy got really upset because he bought a Paint rooster from someone, then because he had NO clue what he was doing, he bought Blue hens from that same person, thinking he could breed them together. He just assumed because the seller had them listed all at once, that they were a breeding group. He didn't do his homework, and he never asked the seller if they should be bred together. The buyer ended up being furious, and the whole thing was just ridiculous. First of all, with this being winter, I wouldn't even want to ship a bird in this weather, and secondly, make sure you aren't shipping anything from the West coast right now due to the serious outbreak of AI.

 

[Tammylr]

I'm thinking may time frame and I'm going to start with blue. Baby steps. I have a friend with 6 silkie roos that someone told her were sexed females. They aren't a year old yet and we haven't heard everyone crow but there are no eggs. I will get some picks and maybe y'all can tell us roos or hens? They will be pets first and I have a place for and unwanted females of crazy colors. The Roos will most likely become something yummy. Saw a contestant on top chef cook a silkie. Halloween episode.