Silkie Breeding Questions

[Amer]

Ok thanks. I have a pure white hen, and a blue frizzle with 4 toes, and the roosters daughter. If you buy chicks from Atwoods or any feed store are those chicks pure and pure color? One one questionsorry for all the questions. Example: Pure Silver Duckwing OEGB x Pure Mille Fleur , then you get a cross, how would you make these babies pure?

Yes, you can get pure, if poor, Silkies from feed stores.
Long story short, you couldn’t cross a Duckwing OEGB with a Mille Fluer and get pure babies. You could, but it would be a pointless endeavor you wouldn’t want to try. Involves lots of crossing back to the parent with the desired traits.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

Yes, you can get pure, if poor, Silkies from feed stores.
Long story short, you couldn’t cross a Duckwing OEGB with a Mille Fluer and get pure babies. You could, but it would be a pointless endeavor you wouldn’t want to try. Involves lots of crossing back to the parent with the desired traits.

Ok thanks!

 

[Egg Snatcher]

You guys DON'T have to answer this.
Just out of curiosity how many times would it take to make a cross breed pure?

 

[Amer]

You guys DON'T have to answer this.
Just out of curiosity how many times would it take to make a cross breed pure?

There is not set amount of generations, but if you keep breeding similar looking offspring or breed the offspring back to one parent with the successive generations, you’ll eventually have birds that breed true.

 

[Willawong Hill]

Agree with all of the above. Check at the feed store that you have the right comb, skin colour and number of toes on a silkie. It's a bit of pot luck. I've seen mention on here of people getting nice silkies from a feed store/hatchery but also a lot of poor quality birds. If you're able to I'd suggest a breeder where you can see the parent stock is more reliable.

I'm not sure what you meant with your cross- would you be trying to get a bird that looks OEGB but with millfluer colouring (from a d'uccle?)? That would be seriously difficult and take a long time as you have to breed in the milifluer but also breed out the duckwing. There's an old thread on here about the creation of the millifluer pekin (cochin bantam), i think its called mili cochin info, and it took them years and they were starting with all pekins (buff columbian x mottled) rather than having another breed in the mix which would add another level of complexity.

There is no set number of generations it takes to make a pure bird, it depends on how close the two birds are, for example trying to get a pekin (bantam cochin) with silkied feathers would probably take less time than trying to get a barred rock/brahma/phoenix with silkied feathers as they are more similar in body shape etc. It would also depend on how many different genes you're working with (silkied feathers is just one gene, if you wanted silkied, frizzled feathers you're working with two separate gens and you need both to be passed on and if you add more complex colours in then you have a heap more you need to control). Basic theory is the same in all cases, do a heap of matings, keep the chicks most like what you want and cull the others from your breeding program. You can get anywhere if you have enough time/space/money but it might take a lot of all three.

 

[AllenK RGV]

I would for sure invest some money into the SOP book. The comb on yours is as horrible as my "show quality craigslist" silkies. But with time effort and generations you can probably get some nice looking stock. None of mine to date even have melanistic bones, though they have the blue ears, 5 toes, and other decent features. I am currently removing all of my silkie roosters from the gene pool and no longer incubating their eggs in hopes of ending that line. However, the nefarious silkies have their own plan to grab a load of eggs and run off to hide them somewhere, brood and keep coming back.

I did make an interesting to me discovery recently with a silkiexBlack sumatra and rediscovered dormant genes on the Sumatra line as all of the whites from the silkie were replaced in a Black Breasted Red Pattern supposedly they(sumatra) had this color in the 1850's.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

Agree with all of the above. Check at the feed store that you have the right comb, skin colour and number of toes on a silkie. It's a bit of pot luck. I've seen mention on here of people getting nice silkies from a feed store/hatchery but also a lot of poor quality birds. If you're able to I'd suggest a breeder where you can see the parent stock is more reliable.

I'm not sure what you meant with your cross- would you be trying to get a bird that looks OEGB but with millfluer colouring (from a d'uccle?)? That would be seriously difficult and take a long time as you have to breed in the milifluer but also breed out the duckwing. There's an old thread on here about the creation of the millifluer pekin (cochin bantam), i think its called mili cochin info, and it took them years and they were starting with all pekins (buff columbian x mottled) rather than having another breed in the mix which would add another level of complexity.

There is no set number of generations it takes to make a pure bird, it depends on how close the two birds are, for example trying to get a pekin (bantam cochin) with silkied feathers would probably take less time than trying to get a barred rock/brahma/phoenix with silkied feathers as they are more similar in body shape etc. It would also depend on how many different genes you're working with (silkied feathers is just one gene, if you wanted silkied, frizzled feathers you're working with two separate gens and you need both to be passed on and if you add more complex colours in then you have a heap more you need to control). Basic theory is the same in all cases, do a heap of matings, keep the chicks most like what you want and cull the others from your breeding program. You can get anywhere if you have enough time/space/money but it might take a lot of all three.

This is what I'm trying to get. This Mystery Chickens rooster.

 

[Amer]

This is what I'm trying to get. This Mystery Chickens rooster.View attachment 2392510

That would only take one generation to get. If you want Mille Fluer Old English, however, they already exist. When you said Silver Duckwing OEGB to Mille Fluer I wasn’t sure what you meant.

 

[Eggs by Happy Chickens]

@aSoftsilkie @Chicks 'n ducks

I like your signature bible quote!

 

[Egg Snatcher]

@Willawong Hill, @Amer, @AllenK RGV, I was wondering how the buff gene works in silkies. If I breed a buff silkie to a Mille fleur would I get a silkie with the patterns of a Mille Fluer? If I breed a buff Cochin to a Mille fire would I get a Cochin with Mille fleur patterning?