Silkie question

[abooth]

Hi everyone, I have silkie eggs in my bator right now. I am hoping to get some breeding stock out of them. I see some folks selling eggs where all the different color silkies are penned together. So my question is if all the colors are together what is the resulting offspring. Will they hatch out in the traditional colors or will they look like mixes? If these mixed color birds are bred will it be a big mystery what the color of the chicks will be? I ask because the eggs I have are from assorted colors of birds that were penned according to color but I only have one of some of the colors and will therefore have no mate of the same color for those? I know that blue black and splash can go together and I have several that will be white. I have single eggs from partridge, buff and cuckoo. Thanks.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Unless you are working on a specific project, are only wanting mixed varietys for pretty backyard birds, or are not collecting eggs for hatching:

white X white ONLY

blacks, blues or splash can be together, but the blackest blacks come from black X black

partridge X partridge (you can also include greys; however males will end up with a mix of the silver/gold gene ratehr than being pure for one or the other)

buff X buff is best (crossed to partridge will give you partridge that are too pale and buffs that are smutty; crossed to splash, blue or black will give a buffs, blue/blacks & birds that are a mix of the colours)

cuckoo can be bred together or crossed to black or blue. Always cross a cuckoo to a bird with as dark a comb and skin as possible.