Silkie mix chicks with 4 toes

[SeaGal4]

Hi all! I just hatched a couple bantams. The owner of the eggs said hen was a silkie and roo was a silkie cross. The babies ended up being 1 yellow with darkish yellow skin, 1redish with pink skin, and 1 black with black skin. But all of them have 4 toes. How does the black one have black skin but 4 toes? Is that not considered a silkie? Anyone have insight on this? First pic is of the father.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi all! I just hatched a couple bantams. The owner of the eggs said hen was a silkie and roo was a silkie cross. The babies ended up being 1 yellow with darkish yellow skin, 1redish with pink skin, and 1 black with black skin. But all of them have 4 toes. How does the black one have black skin but 4 toes? Is that not considered a silkie? Anyone have insight on this? First pic is of the father.

Some Silkies that are pure can hatch with four toes.

The fact that one of the parent was not pure makes it a cross breed having some traits of either parent.

Some chicks can be Silkie feathered... that doesn't make them a Silkie. They may be Silkie cross.

Even Silkies that don't have the correct number of toes or skin color can still be pure Silkie... Just not quality as far the standard of perfection goes.

In this instance... since the hen IS Silkie and the cock is a Silkie cross... I might expect 50% of the chicks to be Silkie feathered.

Especially in project colors like paint they can skin color that shows up pink.

The simple answer to your question according to your stated facts is... your chicks are 3/4 Silkie (in theory)... but NOT pure.

Any Silkie with 4 toes... gets CUT from my breeding program. It is not acceptable when breeding to the standard of perfection. Since ALL my breeding stock ARE pure... I would sell them as PET/laying quality Silkies... not for showing or breeding.

Skin color is JUST skin color. In cross breeds you can get any. Having a correct skin color of a particular breed does NOT make a chicken that breed.

I know this is coming out very matter of fact like... But I promise is meant to be friendly and helpful!

Also... (cute birds BTW ) That rooster has a straight comb as well as the hen in the pic. Silkies should have a walnut comb. They can be bearded or non bearded, but ALL should have a crest and blue ear lobes.

IF that picture is of the hen and roo that produced your chicks... the hen is ANYTHING but a Silkie (maybe cross at best). She isn't Silkie feathered, no feathered legs, no crest, wrong skin, shank, lobe, and beak color.

Anyways, I don't mean to pick anyone apart... they are lovely birds regardless of actual heritage. But I hope this helps to answer your question.

Congrats on your hatch!

 

[PrettyChickens15]

Some Silkies that are pure can hatch with four toes.

The fact that one of the parent was not pure makes it a cross breed having some traits of either parent.

Some chicks can be Silkie feathered... that doesn't make them a Silkie. They may be Silkie cross.

Even Silkies that don't have the correct number of toes or skin color can still be pure Silkie... Just not quality as far the standard of perfection goes.

In this instance... since the hen IS Silkie and the cock is a Silkie cross... I might expect 50% of the chicks to be Silkie feathered.

Especially in project colors like paint they can skin color that shows up pink.

The simple answer to your question according to your stated facts is... your chicks are 3/4 Silkie (in theory)... but NOT pure.

Any Silkie with 4 toes... gets CUT from my breeding program. It is not acceptable when breeding to the standard of perfection. Since ALL my breeding stock ARE pure... I would sell them as PET/laying quality Silkies... not for showing or breeding.

Skin color is JUST skin color. In cross breeds you can get any. Having a correct skin color of a particular breed does NOT make a chicken that breed.

I know this is coming out very matter of fact like... But I promise is meant to be friendly and helpful!

Also... (cute birds BTW ) That rooster has a straight comb as well as the hen in the pic. Silkies should have a walnut comb. They can be bearded or non bearded, but ALL should have a crest and blue ear lobes.


IF that picture is of the hen and roo that produced your chicks... the hen is ANYTHING but a Silkie (maybe cross at best). She isn't Silkie feathered, no feathered legs, no crest, wrong skin, shank, lobe, and beak color.

Anyways, I don't mean to pick anyone apart... they are lovely birds regardless of actual heritage. But I hope this helps to answer your question.

Congrats on your hatch!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

IF that picture is of the hen and roo that produced your chicks... the hen is ANYTHING but a Silkie (maybe cross at best). She isn't Silkie feathered, no feathered legs, no crest, wrong skin, shank, lobe, and beak color.

Reading the original post again, I see the first pic is noted as the sire (being a Silkie cross) but not the hen being the dame to said eggs. It was a little confusing. I realize I am getting kinda wordy, so please add smiley's where needed to make you feel my true friendly intent.

I also want to add that the Silkie feathering gene has been bred into other breeds... such as Cochin and even Polish. I'm not sure if it popped up as recessive gene on that breed or if it was an intentional out crossing to get the gene and bred back toward the standard of the specific breed.

The later is my guess... because doing these kind of projects is fun and people see something they like but wanna bring it to what they already have.

I'm considering breeding my bantam Ameraucana to my Silkies for bantam OE... Maybe back to Silkied... to make a Silkie OE... That breeds TRUE. That's a lot of work though and I'm not currently feeling that committed to projects when I have so many breeds and varieties I am working hard to achieve top quality SOP.

Breeding true would be another part of the equation that makes something considered a breed or not.

I'm not sure your dark chick will have Silkie feathers when it grows out... but it might... the roo has one Silkie gene on his side and the hen had 2... Might be 50% silkie feathered offspring... sorry I don't have that info in the top of my head... but you might be able to find a simple Punnett square that will give you predicted outcomes.. It might be only 25% silkied..

I can't tell Silkie feathers from down in young chicks, not sure there is any difference. Oh there are so many things... and genetics have become of special interest to me... sorry for going on and on. I know just enough to get in trouble!

I hope you become excited about genetics as well. It can be so fascinating!

And oh so much fun to see the chicks turn out.

 

[SeaGal4]

Wow thank you so much, all of your posts were very helpful! I knew they wouldn't be pure, just was a little confused as to what they could be because dad was a mix. I'm in love with their fluffy buns!! Cant wait to see what they turn out to be. This was just a fun experiment to try hatching for the first time! I'm hatching sizzles (frizzle silkie mix) next. Got the eggs from The Feather Barn on ebay, check her out! They're SO cute. Talk about genetics !!! Shes bred 15 generations

 

[SeaGal4]

Updated baby photos. Curious to see what they become! The brown ones are interesting. One dark, one light. And they have different colored skin! What a mixed pool of DNA

Mom was a silkie, dad was a silkie mix (last photo). Any thoughts? Their feathering is different??

 

[SueZoo]

Updated baby photos. Curious to see what they become! The brown ones are interesting. One dark, one light. And they have different colored skin! What a mixed pool of DNA

Mom was a silkie, dad was a silkie mix (last photo). Any thoughts? Their feathering is different??

 

[SueZoo]

To me, the parent birds in last pic don't look like they have any silkie at all in them,. the chicks do not have silkie feathering or combs and as you said they don't have the classic extra toe or consistent black pigment. So I really question the likelihood of silkie in any of the birds... but that's OK, your chicks are very cute !

 

[SeaGal4]

To me, the parent birds in last pic don't look like they have any silkie at all in them,. the chicks do not have silkie feathering or combs and as you said they don't have the classic extra toe or consistent black pigment. So I really question the likelihood of silkie in any of the birds... but that's OK, your chicks are very cute !

The mother IS a silkie. She is NOT the hen pictured. Only the father is picture. And he had a silkie mother but they dont know the father. He is not a silkie obviously but hes gorgeous whatever he is. I got the eggs from a friend, so she knows the eggs were for sure silkie.

The babies are def not silkies as they have feather coming in and very feathered feet.
Just didnt know if anyone has had anything similar with mixed silkies I know it has to do with genes and there can be 100 options LOL just fun to see others opinions!

 

[SeaGal4]

To me, the parent birds in last pic don't look like they have any silkie at all in them,. the chicks do not have silkie feathering or combs and as you said they don't have the classic extra toe or consistent black pigment. So I really question the likelihood of silkie in any of the birds... but that's OK, your chicks are very cute !

Also I've never seen feathers like theirs before!!