Silkie x LF Cochin??

[mikarod]

I'm thinking of AIing my LF Blue Cochin with silkie sperm in order to increase the size of broody birds.

Do you think this cross would be successful? Would the chicks come out with the strong "urge" to brood since both breeds are nknon for their broody abilities???

What about the skin color, etc? Would the chicks come out silkified??

 

[LilPeeps]

The birds would likely have a tendency toward broodiness.

The skin color would be darker than a cochin's, but lighter than the silkie parent's.

All the f1 chicks would be smooth feathered, carrying the silkie gene. If these birds were bred back to a silkie, 50% would have two copies of the gene, and therefore have silkie feathering and 50% would be smooth, heterozygous for the silkie gene. if you bred f1 x f1, you would get 25% smooth, without the gene, 50% smooth, het for the gene, and 25% with silkie feathering.

 

[mikarod]

Thank goodness! I believe I will stick with the F1 generation as the weather here would NOT be ideal for silkied feathers.

I was worried all offspring would come out with silkied feathers. I'm glad to know that is NOT the case! Thank you LilPeeps!

 

[chickNjake]

that sounds good to me! If you do don't forget to post pictures!!!

 

[mikarod]

Would using a bird that has already shown broodiness at least once be the best candidate for the AI?

I'm not sure if broodiness is genetic but I'm fairly certain that it is because of the fact that my Minorca "line" was a broody line.

 

[hinkjc]

Yup, I firmly believe broodiness is genetic and I would AI known broodies. Good luck.