Silkie mix colors - possible sex link or just coincidence?

[PrincessKiara]

Do the white ones have any kind of markings on them, or are they solid white? (Still trying to guess at the exact genetics of those white silkies.)

They look solid white where they've feathered in (wings and tail). The females are feathering in brown but it's like a lacy brown, beige and chocolate combined.

Here's pics of both

 

[NatJ]

Cute chicks! Yup, everything I know about genetics says they're sexlinks

 

[keesmom]

Was the white silkie yellow or grey as a chick?

Red sex links work not because they're a red over white cross, it works because the father is gold and the mother silver. Many white silkies are gold based. Most are recessive white that masks underlying colors and patterns as well.

 

[PrincessKiara]

Was the white silkie yellow or grey as a chick?

Red sex links work not because they're a red over white cross, it works because the father is gold and the mother silver. Many white silkies are gold based. Most are recessive white that masks underlying colors and patterns as well.

I have no clue, I bought both my white silkies as adult hens :/

 

[NatJ]

Was the white silkie yellow or grey as a chick?

Red sex links work not because they're a red over white cross, it works because the father is gold and the mother silver. Many white silkies are gold based. Most are recessive white that masks underlying colors and patterns as well.

I've been wondering about the usual genetics of white silkies.
Here's what I've thought out about the genetics involved:

Since the rooster is "red" (OP's description) with no white, then he's got to be pure for gold, and for lack of Dominant White.

I've been trying to think of all the ways to get some white chicks and some not-white.
--The hens could be genetically silver (plus unknown other genes), in which case the chicks are sexlinks. (I'd be more sure of this if either the hens, or the white chicks, had some black markings on them--because Dominant White and recessive white both affect black, but silver does not.)

--The hens could be recessive white, and the rooster also carry one copy of recessive white, thus giving roughly 50% white chicks, having no association with the sex. (5:2 ratio is not 50%, but gender is also supposed to be 50%, so that's a problem with either of these two explanations.)

--The hens could be heterozygous for Extended Black, with Dominant White also present: in which case they'd pass the black (diluted to white) to some but not all chicks. Given that there are two hens, one could pure for Extended Black and one heterozygous, which would better explain the total number of white chicks. But I would expect the dark chicks to have some white in their feathers too (Dominant White from the mother), or if one mother was not pure for Dominant White, I'd expect to see some all black chicks (Extended Black but not Dominant White.)

Any other explanation I've missed? Not knowing the genetic makeup of white silkies, I thought sexlinks were probably more likely than the other situations I could think of.

If you've got any better explanation, I'd like to hear it--I haven't come up with any way to figure it out for sure (except for waiting until the chicks are old enough to sex by other means--that can at least prove or disprove the sexlink option.)

 

[PrincessKiara]

I've been wondering about the usual genetics of white silkies.
Here's what I've thought out about the genetics involved:

Since the rooster is "red" (OP's description) with no white, then he's got to be pure for gold, and for lack of Dominant White.

I've been trying to think of all the ways to get some white chicks and some not-white.
--The hens could be genetically silver (plus unknown other genes), in which case the chicks are sexlinks. (I'd be more sure of this if either the hens, or the white chicks, had some black markings on them--because Dominant White and recessive white both affect black, but silver does not.)

--The hens could be recessive white, and the rooster also carry one copy of recessive white, thus giving roughly 50% white chicks, having no association with the sex. (5:2 ratio is not 50%, but gender is also supposed to be 50%, so that's a problem with either of these two explanations.)

--The hens could be heterozygous for Extended Black, with Dominant White also present: in which case they'd pass the black (diluted to white) to some but not all chicks. Given that there are two hens, one could pure for Extended Black and one heterozygous, which would better explain the total number of white chicks. But I would expect the dark chicks to have some white in their feathers too (Dominant White from the mother), or if one mother was not pure for Dominant White, I'd expect to see some all black chicks (Extended Black but not Dominant White.)

Any other explanation I've missed? Not knowing the genetic makeup of white silkies, I thought sexlinks were probably more likely than the other situations I could think of.

If you've got any better explanation, I'd like to hear it--I haven't come up with any way to figure it out for sure (except for waiting until the chicks are old enough to sex by other means--that can at least prove or disprove the sexlink option.)

If it helps, the father is a barnyard mix, but HIS mother was black, and his father is mostly white with some very slight yellow and black markings.

 

[PrincessKiara]

If it helps, the father is a barnyard mix, but HIS mother was black, and his father is mostly white with some very slight yellow and black markings.

And all his siblings were white too, he's the only one that turned out red

 

[PrincessKiara]

I've been wondering about the usual genetics of white silkies.
Here's what I've thought out about the genetics involved:

Since the rooster is "red" (OP's description) with no white, then he's got to be pure for gold, and for lack of Dominant White.

I've been trying to think of all the ways to get some white chicks and some not-white.
--The hens could be genetically silver (plus unknown other genes), in which case the chicks are sexlinks. (I'd be more sure of this if either the hens, or the white chicks, had some black markings on them--because Dominant White and recessive white both affect black, but silver does not.)

--The hens could be recessive white, and the rooster also carry one copy of recessive white, thus giving roughly 50% white chicks, having no association with the sex. (5:2 ratio is not 50%, but gender is also supposed to be 50%, so that's a problem with either of these two explanations.)

--The hens could be heterozygous for Extended Black, with Dominant White also present: in which case they'd pass the black (diluted to white) to some but not all chicks. Given that there are two hens, one could pure for Extended Black and one heterozygous, which would better explain the total number of white chicks. But I would expect the dark chicks to have some white in their feathers too (Dominant White from the mother), or if one mother was not pure for Dominant White, I'd expect to see some all black chicks (Extended Black but not Dominant White.)

Any other explanation I've missed? Not knowing the genetic makeup of white silkies, I thought sexlinks were probably more likely than the other situations I could think of.

If you've got any better explanation, I'd like to hear it--I haven't come up with any way to figure it out for sure (except for waiting until the chicks are old enough to sex by other means--that can at least prove or disprove the sexlink option.)

Google says this?

"White Silkie colour genetics - c/c or I/I on any other colour. In Australia, silkies tend to be c/c, or recessive white. The dominant white gene I needs to be introduced from another breed, such as white leghorn."

 

[NatJ]

Do you know whether your silkies have Australian genetics or some other?

 

[PrincessKiara]

Do you know whether your silkies have Australian genetics or some other?

Honestly no clue. They aren't good quality Silkies at all lol.