SILKIES ~ Updated pics on page17

[BBK]

thanks destiny for clarifing the gene coloring.
It seems a little confusing tho if you stick with same colors, that would be the better bet.
one more question.... if you breed self colors, you should get either or on the coloring except if one is white? Then they should be all whites....?

don't mix buffs, for real buff colors. and Partridges are a crap shoot.

now, is mylilchix's beauties going to be partridges or buffs? can you tell at this stage? I don't think buffs, b/c i see the black on the wings, correct? is this a test...lol
chickencoop, thanks for your info too.

Melinda
thanks for letting me jump in on the thread.

 

[mylilchix]

Quote:
Hi Melinda, They're both partridge. Here's what they looked liked as babies.

Will was a VERY yellow chick with the chipmunk stripe. I didn't think he'd darken up the way he did.

Elizabeth was always really dark.

Sonja

 

[destiny_56085]

Hey Melinda,
I barely scratched the surface of the silkie genetics. I love reading about that stuff and even took college genetics classes. Some of the stuff they are discovering now still goes way over my head. For example, I was just reading last week how the black color itself is affected by supposedly 9 different genes. It affects whether they will be jet black with a green sheen, jet black with a purple sheen, coal black, have gold or silver leaking through and apparent in the hackles, etc. It went in depth on how these genes meet at different locus and interact with each other.

To make it more confusing you can have multiple color genes at work at the same time. You can have a bird that carries both the self-blue (lavendar) and the andalusian (dilute to splash) at the same time. They are also using blacks right now too to improve on the self-blues.

If you have just pets, just enjoy them for what they are. If you want to seriously get into raising silkies, there's tons of articles out there written by PHD's that will make your head spin.

The self colors are a bit easier.
black x black = 100% black
black x blue = 50% black, 50% blue
black x splash = 100% blue
blue x blue = 25% black, 50% blue, 25% splash
blue x splash = 50% blue, 50% splash
splash x splash = 100% splash
**** This does not factor in the lavendar blue that may also be present

As for the buff and partridge, the difference is easy to tell. As chicks, the partridge will have chipmunk striping. Even as adults, spread the wing on a partridge and look close. There will be barring of the feathers. Buff will be hatched a clear golden color. To get pure goldens as adults is very hard to do it seems. Most have black or blue in wing primaries and tail. Its a fault that you want to breed away from.

Then there are also the greys. They look like a partridge only in shades of black and white. I'm going to quote Suze Scott on this one.... "Despite similar appearances, splash and grey are genetically unrelated. Splash carries two copies of the blue gene (B, B) and two copies of extended black (E,E). Grey carries the genes that make partridge: pattern gene (Pg) and, rather than extended black genes at the E-locus, grey has brown (eb, eb). Grey also has the silver (S) gene that changes red and gold to a silvery white. There might be some other associated genes, and that only covers the silver partridge version of grey. There is also chinchilla grey caused different genes."

Hope this helps a lil bit,
Amy

 

[m2wandc]

LOL...I am a visual learner...I need pictures

 

[destiny_56085]

Well this is a partridge hen....

I know she isn't in show condition in these pics, just pulled her from the breeding pens. Should be able to tell the color though and you can kind of see the pattern on the wing feathers.

This on the hand is a better colored partridge non-bearded male:

Compare that to a grey..... I know I have better pics somewhere, but this is just what I found at the moment. She's the one in the middle on the right hand side. Basically a black and white version of the partridge.

 

[destiny_56085]

And this would be a couple variations of the buff color...they vary from light golden to a ginger red:

And these are buffs with colors faults...you can see the dark in the wings and tail. Some are worse than this and some are better.

 

[destiny_56085]

Then we move onto the black/blue family.
This is a true black hen:

This is a blue hen:

This is splash .... the dilute of the andalusian blue.

And lastly is the self-blue or lavendar:

 

[BBK]

thamks Amy for the visuals. I'm going to ask lots of questions now..lol

I see that your blue has black in it, is that what it's supposed to look like? At least in the pic maybe not in person.

The black and splash are exactly how I envisioned them to be.

lavender/self blue, look alot like the splash, yes? lighter maybe?

Should the buff be closer to the light one or the darker version? Are both excepted for showing?

And the partridge should be closer to the darker one, from what you said?

Gray should be gray and no other colors, or it's a splash? But on the lighter side?

thanks for the break down on what you would get if you mixed the colors.

i'm trying to talk DH and DS into getting these. My son shows chicks at our local fair so if we're going to do this I want to know as much as possible B4 we jump in.
We bought EE's thinking we were getting Amerucanas, didn't think to check them out first. So his showing this yr won't be going that great. Only in the 4H part. they kinda over look the coloring part, you have to tell them what's wrong with your bird.

so, i thank everyone for helping out and for starting this thread. I'm learning so MUCH!
melinda

 

[kysilkies]

Puff n' Stuff at one week!

 

[m2wandc]

about what 'age' do silkies (on average) become fully feathered, because to be honest, I am having a tough time telling 'feathers from fluff' with this breed...LOL