Silkie thread!

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Recessive white is c
Dominant white is I

A bird who is c/c is completely white. Occasionally a feather or two will have colour (almost always black pigment).

A bird who is I/i+ is mostly white, but red pigment will show (think red pyle); sometimes black pigment shows instead (exchequer). A bird who is I/I is solid white, but it can be a whole lot leakier than recessive white.

Breed two recessive whites together and you will always get recessive white chicks. Breed a recessive white to any other colour and the recessive white switch is turned OFF, and you can get just about anything.

Breed a dominant white to another bird and the offspring will be partially white, but other colours/patterns will also be present.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
recessive white breed to recessive white makes white if u breed a recessive white to another color you get other colors

I thought recessive white bred to other colors would typically produce white since the recessive white covers up other colors. Dominant white allows for leakage.

Both allow leakage, but dominant white allows a lot more leakage. Recessive white does nothing unless present in two copies. Without breeding records, you will not know it is present.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
as long u breed white to white ur going get white no mater if it dom or recessive
now i have it right a dom white well through white breed to any thing

I don't think there is anyone, at this point, that can say dom white to recessive white will always produce whites. Fact is, I'm getting paints out of paint to recessive white. If your statement were true I should not be getting paints since the recessive covers other colors. And if the bird is a dom white Silkie chances are it originated from paint. Breeders are reporting they are getting paints out of the solid color birds from paints, white included.

Paint does not behave the same as the other understood colors and that is being worked on. Answers to those questions are going to take time.

Dominant white and recessive white are unrelated genes. Biologically they work completely differently.

If you breed a dominant white bird (I/I) to a recessive white (c/c), the result will be the same as if you bred the dominant white to a bird of the same genotype as the recessive white, but lacking the recessive white gene THe bird should be partially white due to the presence of one copy of dominant white (I/i+), but the single copy of recessive white will have no impact on the bird's appearance.

For simplicity I used i+, but it could be any other dominant white allele present in the recessive white bird.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

In general, a recessive gene has no affect unless homozygous (pure), and a dominant gene will express even in a heterozygous (not-pure) state.

 

[peepblessed]

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You are so knowledgeable in genetics and so good at explaining it, have you considered writing a book?

 

[Little Luna Silkies]

Thanks for clearing everything up, Sonoran!

 

[peepblessed]

I think there are lots of silkie lovers in Florida. Hope you can find good homes for your sweet boys. Here is the page link for sales. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=250783 Hope it works for you!

 

[Shayna]

Meet my new silkie chicks - I love them so much! I've been told they came from blue and black parents, however one is a funny light silver with a rust-red spot on the back it's head. I'm sharing some adorable pictures of them below. Any idea on what this off color silkie would be called and what it may grow out to look like? Do they get more spots?
I did also wonder if it could be a blood spot from hatching, however it doesn't seem to wash off, at least not easily - I didn't try hard. This chick hatched Sunday night and the spot is still there. Is staining common, and how long would that last?

 

[peepblessed]

Quote:
Precious photos!! Thanks for sharing! Love the silver & red one but have no idea on the color. I'm sure someone on here will have a clue!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
You are so knowledgeable in genetics and so good at explaining it, have you considered writing a book?

Occasionally--ever since I was in 4th grade--but I've usually thought about writing fiction in one genre or another. I used to be employed as a technical writer writing hardware, software, firmware and user manuals for various computer systems, as well as advertizing brochures for them. And once upon a time I could write excellent personnel evaluations, although the best ones were written for things like roasts. For example, "XXX gives dynamic presentations: you will think she is walking on water...which is two inches deep." or "with rare fortitude and persistance he managed to learn how to log in his time card. Phenominally, this took only two weeks of concentrated effort." Real ones are much more boring.