Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[littlecritters]

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.  

Sonoran, thank you for your valuable input and participation in this discussion.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Starting with basics, a gene is a piece of DNA occupying a specific place on a specific chromosome. The exact makeup of the DNA determines its allele. To put it another way, alleles are different variations, or mutations of a gene. In most cases chromosomes occur in matched pairs; however for the sex chromosomes, the pair are not matched. One is longer than the other, and the genes that occur on this longer chromosome are referred to as being sex-linked. In birds, these sex chromosomes are Z (the longer one) and W. Males are ZZ and females are ZW. Thus females have only one of each sex-linked gene while males have two.

The symbol for recessive white is c, and it is autosomal (not sex-linked). A lower case symbol indicates a recessive allele; an upper case one indicates a dominant allele. For the sake of simplicity, let's ignore the very uncommon red-eye and albino recessive white alleles and deal only with normal recessive white and its opposite, not-recessive-white, C+. Being recessive, c only expresses when a more dominant allele is not present, therefore a bird must be c/c for recessive white to show in the appearance of the bird. A bird that is C+/c carries (or is split to) recessive white, and can pass the gene to its offspring, but dos not express recessive white itself. Only breeding history can tell you whether a bird is split to recessive white. On a cellular level, the recessive white gene prevents the creation of all pigment for feathers. For a bird to be recessive white, it does not matter what other colour or pattern genes it carries, all it needs is c/c.

Partridge requires that a bird be brown (e^b) based, have gold (s+) ground and the pattern gene (Pg). There should also be no genes that dilute either pigment, and enhancing gold pigment with mahogany is desired.

Splash requires two copies of blue: Bl/Bl. Black requires two copies of not-blue: bl+/bl+. Blue requires one copy of the blue gene and one copy of not-blue: B/bl+. Technically, blue should also carry the genes for lacing: Pg Ml and Co, but lacing does not show well on silkie feathers, and I doubt that many blue silkies are genetically laced. These three varieties can be either silver or gold. Being a sex-linked gene, males can also carry a copy of each (S/s+), while females are one or the other (S/- or s+/-).

Chick down indicates some genes the birds carry. White or silvery chick down indicates a bird with silver; yellow down indicates a bird with gold. Some lines tend to be more of one or the other.

 

[Adoravachick]

Bye, bye!

I know! He's the one that is going with he hen with the pink comb and black spot on her head. He's bit of a mess.

 

[aoxa]

I know!  He's the one that is going with he hen with the pink comb and black spot on her head.  He's bit of a mess.

I don't see it. He's not bad to me. Looks young...?

 

[Hennyhandler]

Starting with basics, a gene is a piece of DNA occupying a specific place on a specific chromosome. The exact makeup of the DNA determines its allele. To put it another way, alleles are different variations, or mutations of a gene. In most cases chromosomes occur in matched pairs; however for the sex chromosomes, the pair are not matched. One is longer than the other, and the genes that occur on this longer chromosome are referred to as being sex-linked. In birds, these sex chromosomes are Z (the longer one) and W. Males are ZZ and females are ZW. Thus females have only one of each sex-linked gene while males have two.

The symbol for recessive white is c, and it is autosomal (not sex-linked). A lower case symbol indicates a recessive allele; an upper case one indicates a dominant allele. For the sake of simplicity, let's ignore the very uncommon red-eye and albino recessive white alleles and deal only with normal recessive white and its opposite, not-recessive-white, C+. Being recessive, c only expresses when a more dominant allele is not present, therefore a bird must be c/c for recessive white to show in the appearance of the bird. A bird that is C+/c carries (or is split to) recessive white, and can pass the gene to its offspring, but dos not express recessive white itself. Only breeding history can tell you whether a bird is split to recessive white. On a cellular level, the recessive white gene prevents the creation of all pigment for feathers. For a bird to be recessive white, it does not matter what other colour or pattern genes it carries, all it needs is c/c.

Partridge requires that a bird be brown (e^b) based, have gold (s+) ground and the pattern gene (Pg). There should also be no genes that dilute either pigment, and enhancing gold pigment with mahogany is desired.

Splash requires two copies of blue: Bl/Bl. Black requires two copies of not-blue: bl+/bl+. Blue requires one copy of the blue gene and one copy of not-blue: B/bl+. Technically, blue should also carry the genes for lacing: Pg Ml and Co, but lacing does not show well on silkie feathers, and I doubt that many blue silkies are genetically laced. These three varieties can be either silver or gold. Being a sex-linked gene, males can also carry a copy of each (S/s+), while females are one or the other (S/- or s+/-).

Chick down indicates some genes the birds carry. White or silvery chick down indicates a bird with silver; yellow down indicates a bird with gold. Some lines tend to be more of one or the other.

Thank you so much! Now I need to learn how to apply this to my birds. Thank you for taking the time out to explain that to me.

 

[ChicksNherps]

My show is on sunday! Should I bathe and groom them tonight or tomorrow?

 

[Me & Jack]

My show is on sunday! Should I bathe and groom them tonight or tomorrow?

It won't matter...whichever day you do it will be the day they get super dirty all over again. LOL

But seriously, I think bathing a few days before is best so they have time to preen themselves and get some shine back into their feathers. So, I guess tonight would be best.

 

[ChicksNherps]

No no no no!!!

At least one of my chickens is MOLTING!!! Arg! It better hold out until monday! I'm bathing Nori and a bunch of feathers are falling off. GDI!

 

[thedragonlady]

No no no no!!!

At least one of my chickens is MOLTING!!! Arg! It better hold out until monday! I'm bathing Nori and a bunch of feathers are falling off. GDI!

That's why the pros show pullets in the fall, and hens in the spring for the most part...unless they have force motled them, or have them under lights.

 

[ChicksNherps]

They ARE pullets, and it IS fall, and they already molted a couple months ago! She doesn't look bad, actually she looks really good, so hopefully she stays looking pretty for another 2 days

I love her type, too bad she has to be shown AOV.