Silkie thread!

[NewToFarming]

Quote:
Thank you so much! I am trying to learn as much as I can and am attending my first show this coming weekend. Just to observe, not to show any of mine. I am hoping to see and learn there. Is penciling not desireable in a silkie and is a silver split OK?

 

[bacres]

Brody's Broodello :

Quote:
Oh Awesome! I was going to ask how they were doing. I'm so glad you like them, they were really nice and deserved to go to a show home! They were part of a huge hatchout I had, which is down to about six birds left. Now to move over the next group in to their space!

There never seems to be enough room for everyone.
You should get some really nice chicks out of them.
PS I have found that the birds from this line, when they get to their second year molt, the crests come back in Double the size they had as yearlings. You should see their mothers! Walking softballs!

Walking Softball!!!! Oh Yes!!!! One will be shown like next week!​

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Thank you so much! I am trying to learn as much as I can and am attending my first show this coming weekend. Just to observe, not to show any of mine. I am hoping to see and learn there. Is penciling not desireable in a silkie and is a silver split OK?

Penciling is part of certain patterns: partridge and grey. An S/s+ split would not be appropriate for either of these colours as it is incorrect for both. Females cannot be split for silver: they are either silver or gold as they only have one copy of the gene.

 

[Cindilou]

I'm going to meet a woman about some chickens today.
We're going to let our daughter pick out her own pet silkie. She is uber excited!
(Me too!)

 

[NewToFarming]

Quote:
Thank you so much! I am trying to learn as much as I can and am attending my first show this coming weekend. Just to observe, not to show any of mine. I am hoping to see and learn there. Is penciling not desireable in a silkie and is a silver split OK?

Penciling is part of certain patterns: partridge and grey. An S/s+ split would not be appropriate for either of these colours as it is incorrect for both. Females cannot be split for silver: they are either silver or gold as they only have one copy of the gene.

Promise...last question!

I am sorry, I think I have myself confused. I think I am good on the penciling but the silver split in the males has me a bit confused. When you say they are silver split for males, does it mean they carry two copies of the silver gene? Or is it they are a blue partridge for the color, but a recessive silver gene? And I shouldn't breed a silver female to a silver male for best color?
I think I will really need to dig in and research color genetics now that I am getting more into the silkies

Is there a place I can check out or something I could buy to learn more about color genetics and what would be appropriate colors to breed?

Thanks for helping me to be less confused which can be a hard task at times! LOL

 

[phasianidae]

Quote:
Penciling is part of certain patterns: partridge and grey. An S/s+ split would not be appropriate for either of these colours as it is incorrect for both. Females cannot be split for silver: they are either silver or gold as they only have one copy of the gene.

Promise...last question!

I am sorry, I think I have myself confused. I think I am good on the penciling but the silver split in the males has me a bit confused. When you say they are silver split for males, does it mean they carry two copies of the silver gene? Or is it they are a blue partridge for the color, but a recessive silver gene? And I shouldn't breed a silver female to a silver male for best color?
I think I will really need to dig in and research color genetics now that I am getting more into the silkies

Is there a place I can check out or something I could buy to learn more about color genetics and what would be appropriate colors to breed?

Thanks for helping me to be less confused which can be a hard task at times! LOL

Silver split males carry one gene for silver and one gene for gold. I would recomend Twenty 1st century poultry breeding, by Grant Brereton

 

[Brody's Broodello]

Quote:
Oh Awesome! I was going to ask how they were doing. I'm so glad you like them, they were really nice and deserved to go to a show home! They were part of a huge hatchout I had, which is down to about six birds left. Now to move over the next group in to their space!

There never seems to be enough room for everyone.
You should get some really nice chicks out of them.
PS I have found that the birds from this line, when they get to their second year molt, the crests come back in Double the size they had as yearlings. You should see their mothers! Walking softballs!

Walking Softball!!!! Oh Yes!!!! One will be shown like next week!

Too Cool which one? I might be up there Hubby was talking about going to the Farm Show. If I do go, I'll be looking for ya!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Penciling is part of certain patterns: partridge and grey. An S/s+ split would not be appropriate for either of these colours as it is incorrect for both. Females cannot be split for silver: they are either silver or gold as they only have one copy of the gene.

Promise...last question!

I am sorry, I think I have myself confused. I think I am good on the penciling but the silver split in the males has me a bit confused. When you say they are silver split for males, does it mean they carry two copies of the silver gene? Or is it they are a blue partridge for the color, but a recessive silver gene? And I shouldn't breed a silver female to a silver male for best color?
I think I will really need to dig in and research color genetics now that I am getting more into the silkies

Is there a place I can check out or something I could buy to learn more about color genetics and what would be appropriate colors to breed?

Thanks for helping me to be less confused which can be a hard task at times! LOL

When a gene is referred to as being split, it means that the bird carries two different alleles for the gene. In this case, one copy of silver and one of gold (the gene is named silver, the alleles for that gene are named silver (the incompletely dominant allele) and gold (the recessive allele). There are also a couple of fairly rare alleles for this gene.


The genetic recipe for partridge is e^b/e^b s+/s+ Pg/Pg. For a female it is the same, except that a female would have s+/- as she can only have one copy of this gene. If you add blue (Bl/bl), you will have blue partidge. To know if that is what your birds are, I would really need better photos with accurate colour. They could be greys with autosomal red, but in that case, the males would appear to be henny feathered.

http://kippenjungle.nl/basisEN.htm#basisEN is a great place to start understanding chicken colour genetics.

 

[NewToFarming]

Oh My Goodness! Thank you!
How did you ever learn all of this? I will try to get some better pics and repost and maybe "try" to get some different angles too. I will try to get the canera issue fixed this week and take the pics on the weekend. I don't get home from work until after dark so it will be tough to get some good shots during the week.
You should offer a course in silkie genetics! I would sign up!!!

But thanks for the leads on where to get started to learn more on genetics. I will try to get some homework done this week.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

First of all, it would be chicken genetics. There are no differences in the genetics of silkies than of any other breed. Each breed has certain traits, and carries the combination of genes that create those traits; no different than silkies.

As to learning it all? I still am. Begin one gene at a time, and slowly add on to your knowledge.