Silkie EE breeding?

[racuda]

Quote:
http://books.google.com/books?id=VMSF7m2CFTEC&q=breast+ridge#v=snippet&q=breast ridge&f=false Page 193 Second paragraph under Pea Comb.

That's very interesting! I just compared my Silkies to Cochins and I can feel the difference.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The blue egg gene is dominant over the white egg gene. The Silkie feathering is not dominant over regular feathering, but instead is recessive. You have to have a pair for the Silkie feathering to show up.

An EE may or may not be pure for the blue egg gene. You really don't know. A true Ameraucana should be pure for the blue egg gene. You don't always know that for a fact though.

An EE may have the genes for brown in her DNA, which would give you a green egg. An Ameraucana should not have any genes for the brown, which means the egg color is blue. The Silkie should lay a tinted egg. That would probably give a blue-greenish tint when crossed with an Ameraucana versus more of a green when crossed with an EE. Actual shade of blue or green is not real certain.

So I would also suggest you cross an Ameraucana with a Silkie. Not for leg color or anything like that. It should give you better odds of getting a blue or green egg layer out of the first cross. While the Ameraucana theoretically is pure for blue, I'd use a Silkie rooster over an Ameraucana hen just so I know for certain the egg has the blue egg gene. Then cross a blue or green egg laying hen from that cross with a Silkie rooster. In theory, half the female offspring should lay a blue or green egg since the hen is split for the blue egg gene. Also half the offspring should have the Silkie feathering since the hen is split for Silkie feathering but the rooster is pure. So about 1/4 of the offspring should have both the Silkie feathers and the blue egg gene. But half of those offspring may be roosters. So in theory 1 out of every 8 chicks you hatch in the second generation should be a Silkie feathered blue or green egg laying female. But that is only the odds. You would have to hatch quite a few eggs for the odds to mean anything.

 

[phasianidae]

Quote:
http://books.google.com/books?id=VMSF7m2CFTEC&q=breast+ridge#v=snippet&q=breast ridge&f=false Page 193 Second paragraph under Pea Comb.

That's very interesting! I just compared my Silkies to Cochins and I can feel the difference.

Sorry I should have made my post more clear. Breast ridge is a manifestation of pea comb which is linked to the O gene(blue egg gene).

So I meant that while most Silkies do not have the pea comb gene(and breast ridge), half of the offspring from an F1(and so on) Silkie cross carrying the O gene x Silkie would have the pea comb gene and breast ridge. Since it may sometimes be difficult to tell whether a Silkie cross has the pea comb gene or not, you could check to see if the bird in question has a breast ridge. Hope that helps

Picture of breast ridge taken by Wieslaw from classroom@thecoop

 

[racuda]

Quote:
That's very interesting! I just compared my Silkies to Cochins and I can feel the difference.

Sorry I should have made my post more clear. Breast ridge is a manifestation of pea comb which is linked to the O gene(blue egg gene).

So I meant that while most Silkies do not have the pea comb gene(and breast ridge), half of the offspring from an F1(and so on) Silkie cross carrying the O gene x Silkie would have the pea comb gene and breast ridge. Since it may sometimes be difficult to tell whether a Silkie cross has the pea comb gene or not, you could check to see if the bird in question has a breast ridge. Hope that helps

Picture of breast ridge taken by Wieslaw from classroom@thecoop

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/71540_peacomb4.jpg

The page you referenced said "the breast ridge is also characteristic of walnut combed birds since they also posess the P gene." So, Silkies should also have it.

 

[phasianidae]

Quote:
Sorry I should have made my post more clear. Breast ridge is a manifestation of pea comb which is linked to the O gene(blue egg gene).

So I meant that while most Silkies do not have the pea comb gene(and breast ridge), half of the offspring from an F1(and so on) Silkie cross carrying the O gene x Silkie would have the pea comb gene and breast ridge. Since it may sometimes be difficult to tell whether a Silkie cross has the pea comb gene or not, you could check to see if the bird in question has a breast ridge. Hope that helps

Picture of breast ridge taken by Wieslaw from classroom@thecoop

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/71540_peacomb4.jpg

The page you referenced said "the breast ridge is also characteristic of walnut combed birds since they also posess the P gene." So, Silkies should also have it.

The Silkie combtype as refered to in the Standard of Perfection is a Rose comb modified by the crest. Silkies in the USA do not generally have the pea comb gene. From what I have heard, some Silkies on other continents do.

Definition of a Walnut comb as described by the Standard of Perfection "A solid, moderately broad comb resulting from the combination of two dominant alleles for the Rose (R) and Pea (P) comb, with a surface that shows some furrowing reminiscent of a walnut half."

On page 7 of the Standard of Perfection it describes the Silkie comb as such: "An almost round, somewhat lumpy comb, inclined to be greater in width than length; covered with small corrugations on top and crossed with a narrow, transverse indentation slightly to front of the middle of comb. Sometimes two of three small rear points hidden by crest, others without points. Generally considered to be genetically a rose comb, changed by rose comb plus crest."

 

[phasianidae]

One fourth Buff Orpington, one fourth White Ameraucana, half Buff Silkie cockerel. He has a pea comb and the O gene. I will be breeding him back to Silkies next spring.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! I'll check tomorrow and see if I can feel a difference in the breast ridge of my Silkies that lay a blue egg and my Silkies that lay a cream / off-white egg --- and then I'll check the Ameraucana, etc.
That will be a useful (if I can feel a difference) later on.

Lisa

 

[racuda]

Quote:
The page you referenced said "the breast ridge is also characteristic of walnut combed birds since they also posess the P gene." So, Silkies should also have it.

The Silkie combtype as refered to in the Standard of Perfection is a Rose comb modified by the crest. Silkies in the USA do not generally have the pea comb gene. From what I have heard, some Silkies on other continents do.

Definition of a Walnut comb as described by the Standard of Perfection "A solid, moderately broad comb resulting from the combination of two dominant alleles for the Rose (R) and Pea (P) comb, with a surface that shows some furrowing reminiscent of a walnut half."

On page 7 of the Standard of Perfection it describes the Silkie comb as such: "An almost round, somewhat lumpy comb, inclined to be greater in width than length; covered with small corrugations on top and crossed with a narrow, transverse indentation slightly to front of the middle of comb. Sometimes two of three small rear points hidden by crest, others without points. Generally considered to be genetically a rose comb, changed by rose comb plus crest."

Here is the part I don't understand. On page 308 of the Standard of Perfection it specifies Male and Female Silkies have a Walnut comb. Do you think it means that a Silkie's comb should only look like a walnut comb, when it is actually a modified Rose comb?