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Fancy (and obviously unclear) way of saying that I was not sure whether it is more common to find gold or silver in US silkies. When I first got into silkies, almost all white chicks had white to silvery down--that seemed to be pretty universal among all the breeders I spoke with, with the silver defnitely indicating that the bird carried silver, white being a possibility of either. In the last few years I have heard about yellow-downed white chicks, and many seem to think they are more common than white or silver downed ones. I do know that during this time buffs and partridges have become much more popular and common, and they are all gold. And greys seem to have declined in popularity until the last year or so. So, I really do not know which ground colour is more common here in silkies.
I would have to say that in my experience, I think E based US silkies are pretty rare. The very best Black lines probably are E or E^R based, but most are probably not. And if the bird has any other base, chances of the offspring being black when crossed to a white is pretty low.
So if I understand good the US black Silkies are eb or e+ melanized, WOW. This is completely new to me ! Yesterday I spook with Sigrid about Italian breeds, almost completely black except for the Silver wingtriangle and she was a little surprised also !
I know a E/E or ER/ER bird need Ml to can become a complete black bird (difference in both is the green glow on the chest). All other "ground-colors" eWh/eWh, eb/eb and e+/e+ have a wingtriangle (duckwings) so you say the black US Silkies show no sign of a duckwing (gold or Silver) ?
I like to know more about this if possible.
Finding an e+ US silkie is probably even rarer than an E based on. Most are e^b based. e^b blacks usually have enough melanizers to cover the wing triangle and saddle, but often are lacking in covering hackles. Wheaten based birds are only common in partridge or buff; better quality birds tend to be self-buff, but that can be a really difficult colour--combs and skin get too light. Partridge based buffs tend to have darker combs and skin, but have noticeable undercolour and black in wings & tail. Greys are weird. I'm beginning to think the standard requires a blue birchen for males.
