Silkie/Marans cross?? (PICS ADDED)

[JudyMcKinn]

I have 3 Marans hens who are in a pen with other hens and with Maurice, the buff Silkie roo from KC that needed a new home, due to his operatic ways.
I have put a dozen of these Marans eggs (with Silkie papa) under a large broody hen. What sort of mutt do you think will come of this, if any hatch? Anyone know genetics, or is this strictly "whatever happens"?

Does the hen determine egg color? I know I won't have fuzzy chicks, as both sides have to have the silkie gene for the fuzzy feathers. Since the Marans eggs are large, will these be large chickens, or will the Silkie dad cause them to be smaller? Anyone got any ideas?

 

[sofimo4]

Hi a long time since last posted im new here was wanting to see any mixes to see how they look i incubated my white silkies and light sussex eggs and hatched them they were all crossed with spotted maran the light sussex chicks took their dads colour but the silkie chicks are all black i kept only one as i had hatched lavender pekins to but i will include a photo of my silkie/maran at 6weeks old now

 

[rosyposyosy]

wow... that will be either a gorgeous chicken (like the coloring of a maran + the dark egg gene and the fluffyness, kindness, and bantam genes of the silkie) or just one weird looking chicken.

you just HAVE to post pics when they are hatched.

 

[rufus]

I suspect this is going to be one of the wait and see situations. It sounds like the chicks are going to be interesting. I don't know if there is a sex linked component at work there. Please post pictures of the chicks after they hatch.

Rufus

 

[eggchel]

Hey Judy, I cant wait to see what those babies look like. Are the mothers cuckoo or black?

If the moms are cuckoo, then you might get Sex-links (females black and the males dark cuckoo) since the barred genes are sex linked .
It would be a safe guess that they would also be three quarter size, some with 5 toes, a slicked back crest, small single comb, clean legs, and possibly a beard!


Please show us pictures when they hatch and grow.

chel

 

[JudyMcKinn]

They're cuckoo. Thanks, both. Guess it should be interesting, to say the least. LOL I will take pics when they arrive, if all goes well. You don't think the buff color of the Silkie roo will come thru on any?

 

[eggchel]

Oh, I dont know much about genetics. The more I read, the more confused I get. I think it also might be possible that you would get all gold (buff) hens and all silver (cuckoo) males. What I hope, is that you will get barred buffs!!!! Buff chickens with white cuckoo bars would be so totally awesome looking!!
Here are a couple links to genetics sites. You will see that the barred gene is sex linked... the males get two Z chromosomes and the females get one Z and one W. The barring is carried on the Z chromosomes so the hen can only pass hers to the male offspring.

http://home.ezweb.com.au/~kazballea/genetics/theory.html
http://groups.msn.com/polishChickens/colorgenes.msnw
http://home.earthlink.net/~100chickens/index.html


chel

 

[JudyMcKinn]

Well, I candled, and tossed 5 clear eggs. she is still sitting tight on 7 that had something in them. Since the eggs are sorta dark (Marans) I couldn't see movement, but definate development, so hopefully something will hatch. She'll be on them 2 weeks tomorrow--they are due to hatch about Aug. 3.

 

[Arklady]

The French Marans site say that any cross with a marans will not result in a marans.. but i think we all know that. Still I would suspect the result would be a bird that lays a larger eggs than a silkie and will have a more feathery appearance with some fuzz. Since Buff is a lighter color than black and is recessive type color it would take second place to the Cuckoo colors. There would be SOME buff but it would be incorperated into the pattern of the cuckoo. The Male chicken determines egg color so the eggs would be lighter in the hatching young pullets. The hatching roos would not contribute well for the egg color being half breeds for the future and eventually the egg coloring would be washed out in future generations decending. Still it should be interesting...

Good luck

Arklady

 

[eggchel]

Judy..... what hatched???

chel