Silkie Sex Links

[Sachasmom]

Are Grey silkies Silver? I'm trying to figure out the genetics calculator and its not outputting what I thought it would, LOL

I was *trying* to come up with Sex links for next years spring auctions, Would breeding a Male Red (or Buff) to a Grey Silkie hen yield Sex Links?

I'm just sooo tired of people responding to my CL ads wanting girl silkie chicks! Just trying to think outside the box here, I know Cuckoo would work, but I figure it would be harder to find Cuckoo hens that it would Grey (Since I already got a grey chick out of my whites)

 

[RAREROO]

Yes Grey Silkies are Silver Partridges and assuming that they are still pure for the silver gene being that they came out of the whites, then yes they should still work.

If you bred a partridge rooster to them, it should give you partridge pullets and Silver/gold split males ( look more like greys but would have some gold coloring in them )

And if you used a buff or red roo, you wouldnt get the partridge pattern as you would with a partridge roo, but you should still get gold pullets.

 

[Sachasmom]

What color would the males be using a Buff or Red over the Silver, Silver?

If I used a Barred Female and a Black male, Would I end up with properly colored blacks? I realized the barreds still need some work. Would I end up with decent blacks I could use elsewhere in my programs (Like with BBS or Lav) or would they be funky leaky blacks?

I'd rather make blacks than unshowable Silkie colors...

I should probably start hunting for stuff now If I'm going to do it for next years sales.

I'm hoping that doing Sex Links in the silkies will help me identify which are pullets in the other colors sooner, I have a whole bunch of fuzzy butts now that I have no clue on sex!

 

[RAREROO]

The roosters would be about the same color either way, they would be silver with some gold coloring showing.

And I'm not sure one the blacks in silkies as I dont really breed them, I just know color genetics. I bought some black Silkie eggs and hatched a pair and they had red leakage. But you know there may be a more interest in blue pullets as well so if you breed a blue roo to cuckoo hens you will get blue and black hens and blue and black cuckoo roos, and with a Splash roo on cuckoo hens, you will hatch all blue hens and blue cuckoo males.

And how will you sell your male chicks? not many people are going to want males. But you may be able to charge more for guaranteed pullets that you would be able to afford to pretty much give the males away.

 

[Sachasmom]

I figured I would ship the males to the auctions. Or I can pair/trio them up like they do here at the auctions too, seems like every hen comes with a "bonus" roo! My luck I would hatch 90% males...

I suppose I could always cull the males and feed them to the Chihuahua, not that there is much meat on a Silkie, although the Foxes here found them awfully tasty! (They helped themselves, I didn't give them the Silkies!

)

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

If you mix in cuckoo, you will bring in light skin. Those working on cuckoo are working HARD to eliminate that, so it would not be welcomed. Yes, greys are silver; I don't know of any way a grey hen could be impure as far as silver goes. A hen is either silver or she is gold. Nothing in between. I am not sure that pairing a grey to a red/buff will give you chicks who are sexable at hatching. I have a difficult time telling greys from partridge until they are older. I can guess, but not be certain. And to toss in goldens (S/s+) cockerels? No way would I be able to tell.

And then what will you do with the males?

 

[RAREROO]

Ohhhh yeah I forgot about that I know with Silver and Golden Partridge rocks, that the Silver chicks are also a dark cinnamon color as chicks and hard to tell about untill they start getting either silver or gold feathers, so Silkies would probably be the same way.