Silkie color breeding questions... blue partridge or ???

[jossanne]

Let me start by saying I'm not looking to show my silkies. I don't have SQ birds. Yet. The ones I have are PQ, and I'm not planning to sell eggs. This is just thinking about possibilities for my own enjoyment in my own flock...

I have a pretty little partridge pullet. I think her color is her best quality. She came from a pen of b/b/s and white birds, when I was trying to buy b/b/s silkie eggs. What a surprise it was to have a partridge pop out! So that's her genetics - I assume one parent was recessive white, and the other was b, b or s. This picture is not recent, but it is my most accurate one for her color.

The next batch of eggs I bought, trying to get b/b/s, has given me a little splash cockerel (now 4 months old) with a lot of red bleeding through.

So will these two bred together possibly produce blue partridge chicks? If not, what? And how badly will his red pass on if bred with a black hen?

Thanks!

 

[jossanne]

No one has an answer?

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

The only thing those two will produce, is more cross colored chicks.

 

[usschicago1]

No idea. But beautiful birds !

 

[Fay at Frizzled Feathers]

I dont know what colors you will get from the pair but i am sure you will get some pretty mixed colors . If its only for your enjoyment i would say go for it !

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Yes, the red will be passed. Yes, you will get blue partridge, but the penciling may not be as good as if bred to a partridge. However, since the penciling undoubtedly came from the white parent, the little pullet is almost certainly split for Pg, meaning that half her offspring will not inherit it. In that case, guessing her appearance is a guesswork. Check it out on hte Chicken Calculator. Henk does have a version that allows for autosomal red, but I'm not sure that it has all the other genes, too.

Anyways, the splash's daughters will probably have autosomal red on their breasts, and maybe on hackles and back. Sons will have it in same places as papa.

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

Quote:
What all this means... is that you'll still have crossed colored chicks, and these parents will never produce anything with certainty... except cross colored chicks.

 

[jossanne]

Thanks everyone for the answers. Cross colored chicks is fine, since it would all be just for more fluffy butts to run around with my layer flock. It would be fun to have some blue partridge babies running around, since I've only ever seen pictures of them. One of these days, I'm going to end up with the breeder quality silkies I want, but for now I'll just play around with my pets. If/when I have babies from these two, I'll be excited to see what colors we get!