Silkie mix colors - possible sex link or just coincidence?

[NatJ]

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

In that case, I think the only way to figure out their genetics (if you care) is by test-mating to a rooster and observing the offspring Which is, of course, where this whole thread started--you're trying to figure out what you are seeing in the chicks!

I will definitely be curious to see more photos as they grow. And at some point, you'll be able to tell genders for sure, and then you'll know whether the genders go with the colors or not.

 

[PrincessKiara]

In that case, I think the only way to figure out their genetics (if you care) is by test-mating to a rooster and observing the offspring Which is, of course, where this whole thread started--you're trying to figure out what you are seeing in the chicks!

I will definitely be curious to see more photos as they grow. And at some point, you'll be able to tell genders for sure, and then you'll know whether the genders go with the colors or not.

I forgot to post a picture of dad! Lol here he is

Thank you for all your insight, I really appreciate it!

 

[NatJ]

Pretty! I think that color is called crele (white barring on black breasted red.)
Do you remember if he had stripes as a chick, the way some of his chicks do?

 

[PrincessKiara]

Pretty! I think that color is called crele (white barring on black breasted red.)
Do you remember if he had stripes as a chick, the way some of his chicks do?

I have pictures of him as a chick
This is in their lunchroom when I first brought him home. He's the brown, his sibling is the grey and ended up feathering in white with yellow undertones and small black markings just like their father.

And just him, this shows his eye stripes pretty well

 

[NatJ]

Cute! A few of the chicks certainly take after him!

His white father must have had white barring, too (because if his mother was solid black, then she did not have barring, and thus he cannot have gotten it from her.)

Logically, about half of his chicks should have barring too, but of course white bars on a white chick won't be noticed

 

[PrincessKiara]

Cute! A few of the chicks certainly take after him!

His white father must have had white barring, too (because if his mother was solid black, then she did not have barring, and thus he cannot have gotten it from her.)

Logically, about half of his chicks should have barring too, but of course white bars on a white chick won't be noticed

The dad has some slight black markings, and has quite a few yellow feathers. I can't remember if mom was barred or not :/ the lady who sold me Nugget and Fajita told me that a dog got her. I know she was black but I don't think it was entirely solid, unfortunately I can't really remember. I might have a photo though.

Cute! A few of the chicks certainly take after him!

His white father must have had white barring, too (because if his mother was solid black, then she did not have barring, and thus he cannot have gotten it from her.)

Logically, about half of his chicks should have barring too, but of course white bars on a white chick won't be noticed

Here's him with mom, dad and siblings!

I'm told all siblings feathered in like the dad except him.

 

[NatJ]

His mom does not have barring. His dad therefore must have barring, because he has it.

His dad probably has dominant white (turns black feathers white, but often misses a few bits.) Your rooster does not have dominant white (easy to tell because of the black on his tail and breast.)

For his siblings, probably most of them got the solid black (E gene) from their mother, or something similar from their father; and the dominant white from their father to turn black to white-- and that's why they're white.

If you want to play with the chicken genetics calculator, I could probably go through the list and figure out most of what your rooster has, and some of what his parents had. (Some people find this stuff fascinating, others find it dull/boring.)

 

[PrincessKiara]

His mom does not have barring. His dad therefore must have barring, because he has it.

His dad probably has dominant white (turns black feathers white, but often misses a few bits.) Your rooster does not have dominant white (easy to tell because of the black on his tail and breast.)

For his siblings, probably most of them got the solid black (E gene) from their mother, or something similar from their father; and the dominant white from their father to turn black to white-- and that's why they're white.

If you want to play with the chicken genetics calculator, I could probably go through the list and figure out most of what your rooster has, and some of what his parents had. (Some people find this stuff fascinating, others find it dull/boring.)

That would be amazing! I love genetics but am dumb as a rock when it comes to them ahaha

I'm gathering the current chicks aren't sexlinks, then?

 

[NatJ]

I'm gathering the current chicks aren't sexlinks, then?

Might still be...
your rooster certainly COULD father sexlinks with a "silver" hen. Unfortunately, silver hens can look just as white as some other kinds of white hens--so it all comes down to what genes your hens have

 

[NatJ]

Genetics for your rooster, and his parents, as far as I can figure them out.

I'm using this genetics calculator:
https://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html
And I'm just going down the list of genes.
(genes are listed as two things with / between, because the chicken has one from each parent, so two total. Any gene with + is thought to be the original form found in the Red Jungle Fowl, with all other forms being mutations.)

Your rooster:
e+/e+ duckwing or e+/E^Wh
e+ causes stripey chicks. It's recessive to most of the other options there, so I think either he's pure for it, or he has one copy of e+ and one of e^Wh

I think he has the __+ form of quite a few genes, so I'll just list the ones he does not (those are the default settings when you open the page)

Mh or mh+ I don't know if he has Mahogany (makes gold be more red) or not
s+/s+ he has gold/wildtype, not Silver (this is what you need to create sexlinks)
B/b+ he has one copy of the barring gene (not two, because his mom had none to give him)

Everything else in the list, I'm pretty sure he's got the __+ form of.

His mother:
E/e+ (Extended Black because of her color, e+ because she was able to pass it to her son)
s+/- (gold/wildtype on her Z chromosome, because she gave it to her son. Being a hen, she only has one Z chromosome)
b+/- (no barring, which we can tell by looking at her picture)
bl+/bl+ not blue
i+/i+ not Dominant White
Most of the others have no effect on black chickens, or are recessive so we cannot tell if she had one copy (lav is lavender, c is recessive white: we know she did not have two copies of either of these, because she was not lavender or white, but we don't know whether she had one copy vs. no copies of them.)

His father:
Probably E/e+ (Extended Black, which was then diluted to white; e+ because it was passed on to his son)
s+/?? (gold because he passed it to his son, don't know if he was pure for gold or was gold/silver split)
B/?? (Barring because he passed it to his son, I don't know if he had one copy of it or two--it didn't really show on him!)
I/i+ (one copy of Dominant White, which turns black to white but can be a bit leaky--this on a black background is what caused his appearance of mostly white with some black showing in places. One copy of i+ because that's what he gave to his son, your rooster.)

Like with the mother of your rooster, I cannot tell what other genes he did or did not have--most would not show up, given what color he was. So we only know what we can see, and what he passed to his son.

For your white silkies, they have any or all of the following:
S/- silver is needed to get sexlinks. (Because they're hens, and it's on the Z chromosome, they can only have one copy.) But we don't know for sure if they have it or not--unless your chicks show us.

E and I together can make a white bird (Extended Black and Dominant White--like the father of your rooster, but with careful selection to get a clean white.)

c/c is recessive white, and it makes a bird white no matter what other color genes the bird has (try it in the genetics calculator: c/c makes the little picture go white, no matter what you do to the other genes.)

At least one silkie must be e+/?? because of what gene got passed to the chicks: e+/e+ gives stripey chicks. (Always a chance that the stripey ones are e+/e^Wh, but that has no effect on whether they're sexlinks or not, so I'm mostly ignoring it.)

I think that's all the genes I've got figured out. I'm leaving out genes for feathered feet, crested heads, muff/beard, comb type, eggshell color--because they aren't on that version of the calculator, and because they have nothing to do with whether you've got sexlinks or not.

But it can be great fun to just start clicking things in the calculator, and watch the pictures change to show the effects of the genes. I often forget to have it cross the chickens and predict offspring, because I just enjoy making different colors of chicken pictures