I am including informtion I saved regarding 4 and 5 toes. If you are after a color and that is the only rooster you have, you can breed him but keep track of the offspring so you don't continue the trait. If you breed him back to any chicks he produced, even if they have 5 toes, you are likely to get more 4 toed birds. You will eventually need some new blood in order to eleminate the trait. If you keep one of his 5 toed male offspring and eleminate him from the breeding pool you can get some desirable chicks. To improve your flock in this case good record keeping and banding will be required.
By Tim Adkerson
These are the probabilities from possible crosses.
four toes silkie X five toes silkie( has two five toes genes or homozygous)= 100 % five toes offspring ( heterozygous or carry a recessive and dominant gene)
If you get any four toes offspring that means the parent is split ( heterozygous) for five toes; or in other words the parent has a dominant and recessive gene.
five toes offspring X five toes offspring = 25% homozygous five toes (two five toes genes), 50% heterozygous (split), and 25% four toes ( two recessive 4 toes genes)
The chicks that are split (heterozygous) can produce four toes offspring.
five toes offspring (heterozygous) X homozygous five toes parent = 50% homozygous and 50% heterozygous five toes offspring
If you keep track of which birds you mate and the number of toes the offspring have you can determine if your five toed birds are homozygous or heterozygous.
If you mate two five toed birds and some of the offspring are four toed, then both parents are heterozygous or both parents carry a recessive gene. MARK THE BIRDS AS HETEROZYGOUS.
You can also test mate your birds. Cross a five toes bird with a four toes bird: IF NO FOUR TOES SHOW UP THEN THE FIVE TOES IS HOMOZYGOUS FOR FIVE TOES. You will have to hatch more than a few eggs.
