Silkie Colour Genetics

[Sazzle543]

Hello all

I have no doubt discussions related to silkie colour genetics have been started many times, so I'm sorry in advance!

I understand that white is a colour that has hidden colours and as a result, is hit and miss. So my questions are:

1. When buying hatching eggs from a breeder who has a white rooster and white hens, which produce pure white silkie chicks 100% of the time. It is safe to assume that their hidden (or not so hidden) colour is in fact white.

2. If this is correct, by putting one of these white roosters in with a mix of colour hens e.g. Paint, buff, black, blue, etc is there any way to predict (not fully, but more so than with a white rooster with a hidden colour) which colours will be produced.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Sneebsey]

Silkies are, as I understand it, Recessive White. This form of white will cover both red and black pigments, unlike dominant white which usually shows red pigment through.

Recessive white can hide anything. The bird could be silver or gold base colour, on any e-series, and with any modifying genes (barring, blue, lacing etc etc). It can also be dominant white underneath the recessive white; this is the only way it could be hiding white, but, again, there is no way to know this for certain.

Recessive white requires two copies of the gene in the offspring to express as a white bird; someone breeding a white silkie to a white silkie will always produce white chicks, as there is no way for them to have less than two copies of the gene.

There is no way to predict what the resultant offspring will look like until you actually breed them, since the cockerel's genetics are a mystery; recessive white can hide anything.

Take a look at this genetics lesson for more info on Recessive White.