- Aug 2, 2009
- 82
- 4
- 29
I already have a beautiful white rooster. But a few months back I bought a beautiful "White" rooster for a very reasonable price for my white silkies. I was told it had the "Silver gene". If I look closely at this rooster especially on his back I see gray. The same color one would find around the kneck of a gray silkie. It is hard to see if you don't know what to look for.
Long story short now I have yellow chics (real whites) and I also have yellow chics with splotches of this "gray" on various parts of their bodies("Silver Gene"?) Heads and backs mostly. These "Silver Gene" chics are beautiful (All 5 toes are extremely full feathered) but even though I have a great deal of space to experiment. I would rather nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand and my mixed pen takes up most of my alloted space. My questions are................
Is this trait desirable?
Will these chics grow out of this trait?
Can it be bred out and still retain the feathering on the feet?
I don't know for sure how old the roo (silver gene) I bought is.
I have really nice smoker and I can't think of any better chicken suited for smoking than a silkie. Just kidding!.....well maybe not.....hmmmm
Long story short now I have yellow chics (real whites) and I also have yellow chics with splotches of this "gray" on various parts of their bodies("Silver Gene"?) Heads and backs mostly. These "Silver Gene" chics are beautiful (All 5 toes are extremely full feathered) but even though I have a great deal of space to experiment. I would rather nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand and my mixed pen takes up most of my alloted space. My questions are................
Is this trait desirable?
Will these chics grow out of this trait?
Can it be bred out and still retain the feathering on the feet?
I don't know for sure how old the roo (silver gene) I bought is.
I have really nice smoker and I can't think of any better chicken suited for smoking than a silkie. Just kidding!.....well maybe not.....hmmmm