Silkie x breeding questions??

[ev-chicka]

I have two silkie crossed cockerels that I am keeping this year and will be mixed with a few other bantams and a lot of standard birds. I’m wondering come spring when I hatch if I will be able to tell which chicks have silkie genes in them based on the toes? The silkie cross boys have 5 toes. Will this gene be dominant even tho it is diluted already because they aren’t pure silkie?

I’d like to be able to recognize the chicks with silkie genes for when I sell them...if I can’t guarantee that they are standard chicks then perhaps I have to seperate the bantams for breeding purposes. (I prefer not to seperate, I like it when they mix and mingle and get along...)

Thanks for your insight!
(pic of Manny b/c he’s cute and ridiculous)

 

[nchls school]

When pure silkie are crossed with other breeds the chicks all have a crest and feathered feet, some have black skin and some have pink skin, they might have five toes on each foot or they might have four or five toes on one foot and four toes on the other.

With a silkie cross rooster and another breed there just isn't any definites. The chicks may or may not have silkie traits. You will need to separate them when doing further crosses.

 

[Chicalina]

When pure silkie are crossed with other breeds the chicks all have a crest and feathered feet, some have black skin and some have pink skin, they might have five toes on each foot or they might have four or five toes on one foot and four toes on the other.

With a silkie cross rooster and another breed there just isn't any definites. The chicks may or may not have silkie traits. You will need to separate them when doing further crosses.

This is odd to hear because my pure bred Silkie male has 2 chicks. One of which doesn't have a crest but does have feathered feet and one which has a crest and clean feet. Mums aren't identified yet.

 

[nchls school]

This is odd to hear because my pure bred Silkie male has 2 chicks. One of which doesn't have a crest but does have feathered feet and one which has a crest and clean feet. Mums aren't identified yet.

I am going by my own experience with crossing silkies; which I have done a lot of with a number of breeds. I can not say you are wrong and I can't say I'm absolutely right. Only that what I wrote is what happened for me.

Below are this year's silkie cross-Dad was a full silkie and mom, a white phoenix bantam. She hatched ten chicks and, like my other experiments, all the chicks had a crest, varying number of toes, black or pink skin, and feathered feet.

 

[Oncoming Storm]

I have a silkie cross roo (my avatar). He only has one surviving offspring, but the two that came out of him as chicks both had feet feathers and the remaining offspring silkie cross-RIR has a small head tuft. I think it kind of depends on the bird. Like my polish just hatched a barred rock/silkie chick and it has feet feathers AND five toes.

This is the silkie mix

Silkie mix son

Silkie/barred rock baby

 

[Chicalina]

It is fascinating to hear other people's experiences. And such pretty birds!

I started out chickening many years ago with 5 red sex links who all looked pretty much the same, and my flock has expanded and contracted over the years with many different breeds. I now want to continue having a flock where no two birds are the same. I call them 'pets with benefits' (eggs), and I love watching them run around my garden doing their chickeny thing.