Silkie Color Genetics

[Silkiecrazy]

Hi
My daughter is doing a science project on Silkie color genetics. Is the color totally random? Meaning Is it possible to get any of the Silkie colors from any color parents? We own a small number of Silkies and have been surprised by chick color. Thanks for your help!

 

[smalltownflock]

ive wondered the same thing so I'm going to hop aboard this thread and learn with you haha hope you don't mind. I have 2 blue hens, a showgirl hen and one painted rooster. only had them since may so I'm curious to see what I will get for chicks in the spring.

 

[The Moonshiner]

No they are not random at all.
The rooster has certain genes and the hen has certain genes. Both parents contribute half the offspring genes.
Certain genes or certain combinations of genes decide the color/pattern.
Each parent can only contribute genes they carry. The combination of genes the offspring gets determines what they will look like.
It may seem random because it can vary depending on which genes they inherited. With recessives and dominates and the fact that changing one or two genes can completely change a color/pattern.
Its random on which genes the offspring inherit but set in stone what any combination of genes produce what colors/patterns.

 

[The Moonshiner]

ive wondered the same thing so I'm going to hop aboard this thread and learn with you haha hope you don't mind. I have 2 blue hens, a showgirl hen and one painted rooster. only had them since may so I'm curious to see what I will get for chicks in the spring.

What color is your showgirl and what color patches does your paint rooster have?
If your paint rooster is white with black when bred to your blue hens the chicks will be about half paints and half solids and about half blue and half black. So you can get blues, blacks, white with black paints and white with blue paints.
That's if the adults aren't carrying recessive genes.
I once had some blues and blacks which will produce blues, blacks and splash. About 1/4 of the chicks they produced were whites. Because the rooster and at least some of the hens carried one gene for recessive white. When a chick got one recessive white gene from each parent they would be white.

 

[smalltownflock]

What color is your showgirl and what color patches does your paint rooster have?
If your paint rooster is white with black when bred to your blue hens the chicks will be about half paints and half solids and about half blue and half black. So you can get blues, blacks, white with black paints and white with blue paints.
That's if the adults aren't carrying recessive genes.
I once had some blues and blacks which will produce blues, blacks and splash. About 1/4 of the chicks they produced were whites. Because the rooster and at least some of the hens carried one gene for recessive white. When a chick got one recessive white gene from each parent they would be white.

both my showgirl and rooster are mostly white with a couple small black patches. I think a half paint half solid would be a neat looking bird.

 

[chantels1]

Can I join in? We have a blue rooster. I believe he has recessive white Gene as we bred him to a white hen and had a white baby.

Now I have bred him to a blue cream and I don't know what her parents were either. Wondering the color combinations we can get. What makes a blue cream silkie?

Also the blue cream has frizzled feathers, so we should get 50% frizzled silkies and 50% standard silkie feathering correct?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I think a half paint half solid would be a neat looking bird.

That means half of the offspring... not half of the bird.