Silkie thread!

[SilverSilkie]

Now what about this guy? He's just a gray, correct? Too dark to be a Columbian?
I'm not sure what the Columbians are supposed to look like, exactly..

I try to explain what "light" Columbian is all about.
Their is the groundcolor which is determined by the e-allele.
In Silkies you can have a Columbian on eb (Asiatic Partridge = grayish undercolor) or on eWh (Wheaten = colored undercolor).
The light Columbian is a Silver (S) based bird (a buff Columbian is a gold (s+) based bird).
To become the Columbian pattern you need the Columbia black-pigment restrictor gene (Co).
Each gene have 2 alleles (example Co/Co = 2 dosis Columbian or Co/co+ = 1 dosis Columbian) except for the sex-linked genes (example S/S = 2 dosis Silver) here the females have 1 "full" allel and a "shriveled" allel (example S/- = 1 dosis Silver).
I not want to go to deep into the color-genetics but a basic knowledge is much handy.

To have a Light Columbian Silkie this bird need to have the following color-genes (I will write only the pure color-genes recipe).
1. groundcolor : eb/eb or eWh/eWh
2. based on Silver : males = S/S, females S/-
3. black-pigment restrictor : Co/Co
So you can see a Light Columbian Silkie can be a Asiatic Partridge based on Silver with a black-pigment restrictor gene.

 

[SilverSilkie]

Here are a couple more pics of them from yesterday.

The silkie hatch mates.

Maybe you can see some color in the little silkie scrambled better. Although that red light is on in these pics.

THe frizzle is a silkie/frizzle cochin cross. Then my white silkie does look to have some grey areas on its neck, little tiny streaks, but I can't tell if the shaft of the feather being that dark bluish color is whats causing the grayish area on the neck. The my little tiny silkie that was supposed to the a buff/blue splash. Hope these help a little more when Im trying to figure out their colors. To be honest, I really don't care. I was just interested. They could be purple. I would rather if they were all hens thou!





Here is the little one right after I got it.



Another shot

This little one is for sure a hen (it's to see by the eye-line of his pattern).
With the white and white frizzle there is no pattern so can't say yet !

 

[mama2my4]

Some pics of my two favorite five month olds. Forgive the barber job on my white cockerel, not so good at trimming yet!

Very pretty!!

 

[mama2my4]

They are so stinkin' cute!!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Is this a normal looking just hatched chick? Is the belly supposed to be round and yellowish like that?

So sorry. A few hours before hatching, they start to absorb the yolk and their bellies fill up with it. It comes in through the little umbilical cord area you see there. I'm guessing someone is killing your chicks when they hatch, that or they were not strong enough to survive... but that doesn't seem as likely.

This was one of the "Columbian" roosters I breeded some years back :

Gorgeous!!! He has a really great crest, too! I love this color!

Some pics of my two favorite five month olds. Forgive the barber job on my white cockerel, not so good at trimming yet!

Beautiful birds! They are really pretty!

THe frizzle is a silkie/frizzle cochin cross. Then my white silkie does look to have some grey areas on its neck, little tiny streaks, but I can't tell if the shaft of the feather being that dark bluish color is whats causing the grayish area on the neck. The my little tiny silkie that was supposed to the a buff/blue splash. Hope these help a little more when Im trying to figure out their colors. To be honest, I really don't care. I was just interested. They could be purple. I would rather if they were all hens thou!

I try to explain what "light" Columbian is all about.
Their is the groundcolor which is determined by the e-allele.
In Silkies you can have a Columbian on eb (Asiatic Partridge = grayish undercolor) or on eWh (Wheaten = colored undercolor).
The light Columbian is a Silver (S) based bird (a buff Columbian is a gold (s+) based bird).
To become the Columbian pattern you need the Columbia black-pigment restrictor gene (Co).
Each gene have 2 alleles (example Co/Co = 2 dosis Columbian or Co/co+ = 1 dosis Columbian) except for the sex-linked genes (example S/S = 2 dosis Silver) here the females have 1 "full" allel and a "shriveled" allel (example S/- = 1 dosis Silver).
I not want to go to deep into the color-genetics but a basic knowledge is much handy.

To have a Light Columbian Silkie this bird need to have the following color-genes (I will write only the pure color-genes recipe).
1. groundcolor : eb/eb or eWh/eWh
2. based on Silver : males = S/S, females S/-
3. black-pigment restrictor : Co/Co
So you can see a Light Columbian Silkie can be a Asiatic Partridge based on Silver with a black-pigment restrictor gene.

I'm saving this!! Great info on Columbian! Thanks for posting this!

 

[peepblessed]

Peepblessed I really hope Einstein is a Mrs. We really love it! I thought its feet feathers were nice too! It's like having a gypsy chicken to go with our gypsy horse! Ooh that might be a cool pic!

That would be a cool picture! Put your horse way in the back ground so they'll both fit!

 

[thebutress]

This little one is for sure a hen (it's to see by the eye-line of his pattern).
With the white and white frizzle there is no pattern so can't say yet !

Oh gosh I hope your right about my lil bird. I want it to be a her so badly! What is it about the eyeline color?

 

[diinman]

they are so much fun and cute

 

[peepblessed]

My hatch rate was really good this month - I AM OVERRUN WITH CHICKS NOW! I have had some really interesting looking chicks hatch this week. My Calico chicks look the oddest with the silver and blue fluff - I am getting some darker partridge colors out of my buffs, so I am assuming that someone has partridge in their background. I have a female buff with a red head and was assuming this was the case anyway - but the chicks sure are pretty. Every single buff that has hatched has had perfect little feet and nice vaults...I am acting like a lactating mother around here - every 5 minutes in the brooder room - geesh...I smell like a chick now...

Gorgeous peep!!! I always smell like chicks!

 

[diinman]

poor baby chick. not much you could have done since you did not know mom was not so nice