Silkie Breeding - How did this happen?

[MStar]

Hello all,

I am fairly new to chicken genetics and how feather color is expressed. From what I understand, a black silkie would have 2 recessive black genes (bl/bl). White is a little bit of a wild card it's a recessive white (c) that turns off the colors so it's paired with another color that's hidden.

So here's what I have, I mate a solid black silkie rooster with a white silkie hen.

I got 2 black silkies - only 1 survived , 1 partridge? I also mated the same black Silkie rooster to a a golden Laced Wyandotte and got a solid black chick, with black skin, and with 4 and 5 toes. Not sure if this would clarify or muddle things!

So for all you genetics buffs out there, what's the color genetics of my white Silkie?

Also, that is a partridge colored chick right?

Thanks for your help!

 

[TheGoldenGirlz]

 

[The Moonshiner]

Looks like a partridge chick to me.
White in silkies is recessive white. Its not paired with something else its its own pair.
To be white the chicken needs two copies one from each parent. One copy will be carried sight unseen. No copies of course equals no white and no white carried sight unseen.
Two copies of recessive white covers everything (or turns off all color).
You will not know what else she carries without finding it from breeding. With the very limited amount of chicks you've hatch it isn't possible to know at this time.
The black of the rooster is a whole different deal. Its extended black down color. Partridge is also a down color.
Extended black is the most dominate down color so one copy is supposed to cover other down color. A lot of times it doesn't quite cover everything so you end up with a black bird with some color leakage.
Since you hatched a partridge chick I would say both carry partridge. That means your rooster is extended black/partridge. Your hen is one gene for partridge and one for something else. Could be black or partridge or other. That's why you can't tell for sure.
You rooster passes on one or the other black or partridge. He passed partridge to the partridge chick and extended black to the black chicks. Unless the hen carries extended black she could of passed it to the black chicks.
Making any sense?

 

[MStar]

Looks like a partridge chick to me.
White in silkies is recessive white. Its not paired with something else its its own pair.
To be white the chicken needs two copies one from each parent. One copy will be carried sight unseen. No copies of course equals no white and no white carried sight unseen.
Two copies of recessive white covers everything (or turns off all color).
You will not know what else she carries without finding it from breeding. With the very limited amount of chicks you've hatch it isn't possible to know at this time.
The black of the rooster is a whole different deal. Its extended black down color. Partridge is also a down color.
Extended black is the most dominate down color so one copy is supposed to cover other down color. A lot of times it doesn't quite cover everything so you end up with a black bird with some color leakage.
Since you hatched a partridge chick I would say both carry partridge. That means your rooster is extended black/partridge. Your hen is one gene for partridge and one for something else. Could be black or partridge or other. That's why you can't tell for sure.
You rooster passes on one or the other black or partridge. He passed partridge to the partridge chick and extended black to the black chicks. Unless the hen carries extended black she could of passed it to the black chicks.
Making any sense?

It's starting to make sense by your explanation. The white is recessive white c/c, that's why I need 2 white birds to make a white or a non-white bird with c/C makeup! If my white hen is 1/2 partridge, and the partridge baby is a rooster, then if I breed him back to the mama hen, I should be able to get at least 50% partridge babies. That is unless he have c/C and makes a baby with recessive white!

I was looking at the chicken genetics and found a few different ways you can make the black and partridge colors:
black:
e^b/e^b, (S or s+), Pg/Pg, MI/MI, [bl+/bl+?], & other melanizers
E/E, (S or s+), & other melanizers
E^R/E^R, S or s+, & other melanisers

gold partridge:
e^b/e^b, S/S (S/-), Pg/Pg, ml+/ml+, mh+/mh+

It that right? I'm not quite sure how I got gold partridge out of the rooster with those genotype choices then...