Silkies Of A Different Color

[SilkiesnFrizzle]

I have a showing question...Next month I will be showing for the first time, I am taking her. Would I be better off showing her as a Buff or as a Red? She is very dark, with Blue undercoat...

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Not wild-type (that is e+). e^b is the correct base, and it is called either brown (as designated by the b) or asiatic partridge

striped down occurs not only in e^b chicks, but also in e+ and e^Wh. And stripes are not always present...

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

i know its a big pain in the but for people trying to breed true silver partridge, and i fully agree it should have molting in it to really fit the calico name.
but they are very pretty!! and deserve a name better than silver partridge with red leakage.
maybe silver/gold partridge would fit the birds color better??

You could always aim for silver wheaten...aka salmon

Since when is mottling a requirement for calico? First, calico is not a defined or standardized variety. Second, mottling on a multi-coloured bird sounds like you are meaning mille fleur or spangled (as in OE) or speckled (as in sussex).

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

this little girl came to be from a breeder working on a lemon blue silkie project. just wanted to get other peoples opinions on her. but i like her what ever color she's called

Yes, she's a pretty little girl, but she is not lemon blue. She looks to be a too-light partridge/blue partridge; doesn't look anything like lemon blue which in a girl is a blue bird with lemon head and hackle. There is also lemon lacing on the breast. Males add lemon to back and saddle.
This is lemon blue:

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
I never consider a good questions to be confrontational.

Your boy is Silver Partridge with red leakage. If he had no red leakage he would be Silver Partridge or "Gray", correct. The red is on a different gene than the silver/gold gene - and silver/gold is sex linked. Males have two copies, females only carry and pass one to their offspring. The males that have one gold and one silver are called Golden and they will appear silver as chicks but will appear washed out Gold when they are older. Your boy has only Silver, you are looking at the base color under that red. If he carried gold he would look Partridge by now. The red you are seeing is called autosomnal red and it is not sex linked, both males and females carry two copies, but it does not show on the females as strongly. It shows on the males, like it shows on your boy. It is the "red leakage" on all colors except Partridge, and I believe it is also used with Porcelain to create the more vibrantly colored males/females. It is diluted by Lavender but not very diluted by Blue. Its a real pain to get rid of because it hides under the females and shows on the males.

I looked at my Torti boy, and he looks very similar to your boy, just quite a bit younger..
Autosomal red is not a specific gene, but is thought to perhaps be a combination/interaction of several genes. The mahogany gene is also autosomal, and also will add red to a bird that is silver. In the tort or calico birds you could be dealing with either or both for red leakage. A proper partridge should have mahogany; porcelains should not. I believe the more vibrant porcelains are lacking two copies of lavender. Theoretically mahogany diluted by lavender would give a pinkish colour. Red leakage on males occurs mostly on wings; in females on their breasts. Autosomal red tends to be patchier than mahogany.

Females pass silver or gold only to their sons; their daughters inherit the W chromosome which does not have that, or other sex-linked genes. They inherit thir copy of sex-linked genes only from their father.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Here is my Calico boy. So from reading previous posts, would he be best used with Partridge? I do know his background, father was a Splash and the mother(s) were Black split for Lavender and/or Blue. He has great type, I just don't know who I should put him with. I have Blue, Splash, Partis, Buffs, Whites, and Blacks ( I have Blacks in a BBS pen and solid Black pens as well)

Who you should pair him with depends on what you want to achieve. Paired with blue or splash you should get more like him. Paired with partridge you would get blue partridge (or possibly partridge--I can't tell if he has one or two copies of blue) with only one copy of the pattern gene (that is an assumption that the partridge hen would supply a copy and that he wouldn't; however, it is possible that he carries it) If he has silver, and it looks like he might, it will mess with the gold of partridge. Paired with white you could get anything, including white if he carries a hidden copy. Paired with black you would probably get blues or blacks (back to how many copies of blue does he carry) with leakage.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: Calico was first used in silkies to name a splash with red leakage--it was later that folks started calling greys with red calico.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I have a showing question...Next month I will be showing for the first time, I am taking her. Would I be better off showing her as a Buff or as a Red? She is very dark, with Blue undercoat...

Beautiful! Do you know who the judge will be? If someone who is a stickler for colour, I'd probably call her red, if not, I'd call her buff so that she can place as high as possible. Look at photos of New Hampshires and ginger red OEGBs on feathersite and compare her colouring, or read through the description of reds in the standard.

 

[Fur N Feathers]

I have a showing question...Next month I will be showing for the first time, I am taking her. Would I be better off showing her as a Buff or as a Red? She is very dark, with Blue undercoat...

Gorgeous!

Quote: This one looks like a dessert!

 

[mindylee]

Soon as it warms up here in Michigan, Im gonna be looking for hatching eggs to buy and have shipped in for silkies of different colors.

Im LOVIN all the diff and unique colors here!

I cant wait till it warms up!

Any of you sell and ship eggs?