Silkie Color Genetics

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I have seen silkies advertised as calico, tortoiseshell and red pyle. Where do these colors come from?

What happens when you mix:

buff x blue (is this porcelain?)
buff x white
buff x red

 

[LilPeeps]

Calico silkies most commonly come from greys with gold leakage. This is a disqualification in grey birds. I am not sure exactly what is being advertised as tortoiseshell. I know of a few red pyle silkies, although I believe they were the result of a mixed color flock.

True porcelain birds carry mottled, columbian, buff, and lav. Isabel is buff with lav, not blue. Breeding buff x blue will produce smutty buffs, some more black than others, with gold leaking through in the breasts of females and hackles and saddles of males. 50% of the offspring will get a copy of the blue gene, so the black will be diluted to blue.

In breeding buff x white, you can never really say what you will get. White can mask any number of genes, so what you will get depends on what the white is carrying.

In silkies, since red is just a dark buff, breeding buff x red will produce offspring darker than the buff parent, but lighter than the red.


Edited for spelling.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Black is just the lack of any other genes. Blue is its own gene, when a bird is not carrying it (or anything else that would allow it to be seen phenotypically), a bird is black.

There are both dominant and recessive whites.

First, the genetics for silkies are the same as for all chickens. With secondary patterns (patterns on individual feathers), the appearance can differ due to the lack of barbicels on the feathers; the patterns are fuzzy and indistinct.

Chickens carry only two pigments for their plumage colouring: black (eumelanin) and red (pheomelanin). Genes can dilute or enhance these pigments, move one or both pigments to different parts of the body (primary patterns) or different parts of a feather (secondary patterns). White feathers or portions of feathers lack all pigment.

Blue is an incompletely dilution gene; it dilutes all eumelain carried by the bird. One dose (Bl/bl+) dilutes the bird to a slaty grey; two doses (Bl/Bl) dilutes the bird to a splotchy grey/black on a pale to slaty grey background. The first is called blue; the second splash. Shade/tint of blue and splash vary considerably. Blue has little to no affect on pheomelanin.

The "neutral" chicken is wildtype, the genes present in the red jungle fowl. These genes are indicated by a "+" This phenotype in a chicken is black breasted red, also called gold duckwing. Red jungle fowl from feathersite:

There are actually several different "blacks." Which type is determined by the E gene. The most dominant of these alleles is E, extended black. Ideally it causes a completely black chicken, but even E needs melanizers (additional genes that add black) to create a completely black bird. Next in dominance is E^R, birchen. E^R creates a bird with pheomelanin on the head, hackles, shoulder, saddle and breast feathers; birchen-based birds do not have pheomelanin on their secondaries (wing triangle). Here are examples from feathersite:

add the blue and gold genes and you will get:

(hobby name lemon blue)


Here is a female with the birchen pattern; she also carries the gold gene:

(hobby name brown red)


Next in dominance is W^Wh, wheaten. This gene has a variable dominance: when melanizers are added, it becomes the most recessive E-allele. Pheomelanin is present on the head, hackles, shoulder, secondaries (wing triangle), and saddle feathers on males; on females pheomelanin is distributed over most of the bird, with eumelanin limited to the tail and a bit on the wings. These birds from feathersite are blue wheatens, meaning that the blue gene has been added, diluting black pigment:

Next is e+, wildtype or duckwing. Pheomelanin is present on head, hackles, shoulder, secondaries & saddle for the male; on the head, hackle & breast of the female. From feathersite:

And finally, e^b, called either brown or partridge. Male pattern is similar to wheaten and duckwing; however the hackles have black shafts; female pattern is similar to duckwing, but the breast is not salmon. e^b works extraordinarily well with secondary patterns, unlike E which only works with mottling and barring patterns. I could not find any photos of e^b birds without added pattern genes.

Most silkies are e^b based; however as new varieties are introduced and worked on, I suspect that other E-alleles are also being added.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Calico is splash plus autosomal red; that was the original use. Calling greys with red "calico" came later. I believe some who have had the greys with red started calling them tortoiseshell after those of use with the splash based tri-coloured birds complained. They are very much only a project bird at this point (both calico and presumably tortoiseshell).

Speaking from experience, buff X blue (or splash) will give some mixed colour birds, but it will also give some buff birds with diluted black pigment. It does not remove black from a bird who has black on its wings, tail or undercolour, but it does lighten it.

Most of the red silkies I have seen are much more of a black tailed red--breeding them to a clear buff will tend to add black pigment to the offspring. If you have a clear red (no black), that is not a concern.

 

[FlipFlopFarmer]

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