Silkie Color Genetics

[Debbie292d]

Can I ask what you think of this bird @Amer ? She hatched pure black. Now she is kind of a dull black/almost even brown but maybe it’s sun bleaching. And she has the gold on the head neck and chest but not saddle area. It seems to be a very clean line at the back of the neck but a little muddled in the front.

I would call that a gorgeous partridge silkie!

 

[Amer]

I would call that a gorgeous partridge silkie!

It hatched black, she said. I would have said partridge as well but that stopped me. Upon closer inspection her back and tail are solid black.

 

[Slothinc]

It hatched black, she said. I would have said partridge as well but that stopped me. Upon closer inspection her back and tail are solid black.

Yeah I would have guessed partridge as well, but I haven’t ever seen a partridge chick with this particular coloring. And unless the chipmunk stripes were hiding in the black, it definitely was not visibly partridge at hatch. She was so solid black at hatch that we named her Inkwell.

 

[Debbie292d]

Thank you! I have always kind of just said that she is gold birchen, just for completely lack of knowing what else may be going on. It does seem strange because I have never ever seen birchen in a silkie before. But I guess it can happen.

This girl is 5 years old and I bought hatching eggs from a local breeder who just had mixed color silkie pens. So I have no clear idea of how she came to be. I don’t know what birchen can produce when crossed with other colors but maybe I should look it up. If she was bred to black, do you know if the birchen pattern would pass on?

That's like this one. She came from eggs I bought from the only silkie breeder within an hour from here. I found out it's called a grey moorehead partridge, so asked her if she had a rooster like her. She didn't even know what it was saying it came from her "fun" pen. Remind me never to have a "fun" pen, lol. I need a rooster so breeding her to a white rooster. So far, we're getting close, as I'm getting partridges, but not the black heads (moorehead), yet.



Her chicks are that one in front and the one to the far right.




The mother as a chick. I'd have never guessed.

 

[Amer]

That's like this one. She came from eggs I bought from the only silkie breeder within an hour from here. I found out it's called a grey moorehead partridge, so asked her if she had a rooster like her. She didn't even know what it was saying it came from her "fun" pen. Remind me never to have a "fun" pen, lol. I need a rooster so breeding her to a white rooster. So far, we're getting close, as I'm getting partridges, but not the black heads (moorehead), yet.

View attachment 4101670

Her chicks are that one in front and the one to the far right.

View attachment 4101671


The mother as a chick. I'd have never guessed.

View attachment 4101672

Well, her chicks are cute! Moorhead is caused by the Charcoal gene which is recessive, so no surprise it hasn't come back up yet!

 

[Slothinc]

Well, her chicks are cute! Moorhead is caused by the Charcoal gene which is recessive, so no surprise it hasn't come back up yet!

So to produce moorhead, would Debbie want to breed a male chick back to the mom? It’s a very pretty color!

 

[Amer]

So to produce moorhead, would Debbie want to breed a male chick back to the mom? It’s a very pretty color!

Yep

 

[Debbie292d]

So to produce moorhead, would Debbie want to breed a male chick back to the mom? It’s a very pretty color!

Do you two know that the Silkie group on Facebook is the most knowledgeable bunch of folks about silkies?



I was looking for a breeder, and those four leads they gave were dead. Most had told me put her with a white rooster, so that's who she's with, along with the two paint girls that I'm trying to get a dominate white from as well. Only a couple thought a black rooster, so I could try that too.

Breeding her to one of her own is an idea I hadn't thought of, so in a couple of weeks, when preorders are done, I can start saving for myself. I'll try that out!

 

[Slothinc]

Do you two know that the Silkie group on Facebook is the most knowledgeable bunch of folks about silkies?

View attachment 4102257

I was looking for a breeder, and those four leads they gave were dead. Most had told me put her with a white rooster, so that's who she's with, along with the two paint girls that I'm trying to get a dominate white from as well. Only a couple thought a black rooster, so I could try that too.

Breeding her to one of her own is an idea I hadn't thought of, so in a couple of weeks, when preorders are done, I can start saving for myself. I'll try that out!

I bet @Amer will have a good idea of what color to breed her to. I don’t have any experience with gray or Moorhead!! But yeah it makes sense that if you take one of her male offspring and breed him back to her, 1/2 of the chicks should have the Moorhead gene.

 

[sean_wonder]

Can I ask what you think of this bird @Amer ? She hatched pure black. Now she is kind of a dull black/almost even brown but maybe it’s sun bleaching. And she has the gold on the head neck and chest but not saddle area. It seems to be a very clean line at the back of the neck but a little muddled in the front.

This is exactly the coloration that my friend's bird has!

And they all hatched black also, gradually developing the buff over time... I don't have the time to really absorb what has been said in the rest of the thread but I may have questions if it wasn't answered what your Silkie was lol