Silkie breeding groups - I've got a wild mix of colours, which would you put together?

[Feather and Spice]

Hey fellow Silkie enthusiasts, I've got 2 roosters and 8 hens in a lot of different colours, and am wondering what groups to form and what offspring they could produce.

I have a Buff rooster, and a Splash one.

For hens I have:

• 2 Buff
• 1 White, I assume recessive
• 1 Black
• 1 Grey-ish
• 1 Black with red chest
• 1 Paint
• 1 Partridge

The grey hen seems to have some warm undertones. I've attached a photo, and of the red-chested black too.

Of course the Buffs will go together, plus Black will go with Splash... But what about the rest? Which rooster would you pair them with? The aim is to breed as many leakage-free chicks as possible, but I realise that I'll have a bunch.

And what age is best to confirm they don't have leakage?

Thank you so much for the insight.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

I would put the white, gry (she’s probably a mixed color with blue), and black with your splash. This way you will get blue, splash and black.

With your buff your could put your partridge to get buff I think some will be partridge or you could breed her with your blue and get blue partridges

Your paint could go with either rooster you’ll get the same colored chicks
You could get other mixed colors depending on if your hens and rooster are mixed color and carry and recessive genes that are unknown.
If your breeding for leakage free you definitely don’t want to breed the recessive white to any of the roosters you have, recessive white puts leakage into the birds, plus you’ll have to work with a recessive gene, which can be a pain. In my experience my silkies start to show leakage at 2 months, but some could take longer.