Stigma on Colors of silkies and a little genitics

[Fancie]

When I see eggs advertised for silkies they nearly always emphasize that they are from color grouped pens... what is wrong with interbreeding the colors... Also are new colors that I might develop be a down fall when it comes to showing the birds. I think that's what I am most interested in.

Also I just bought the book " GENETICS OF THE FOWL ." And will be recieving it next week. I know some basics of genetics, but it sounds as if they are more complicated than I was aware of. But I am being impatient, and am curious. If I breed a white hen to a self blue Roo.. would the chicks come out self blue? I figured White would be a recessive gene, it nearly always is...

 

[Teresaann24]

I'm not good on genetics but if you mix certin colors your birds will come out mixed colors. I have a few mixed colored silkies. Most people like pure colors. So they group colors together in different pens. I have yet to seperate mine due to it being winter and housing them mostly together.

When spring comes I will be putting. Whites together/ blacks and blues together and greys together and partidges together and buff together. I will however be placing one of my white hens with a buff roo just because I like the coloring of this mix.

 

[MoodyChicken]

Depends whether the white is Recessive White or Dominant White. If Dominant, they're come out mostly white, some with colored patches. If Recessive, then they'll hatch Self Blue.

That's a great book by the way. It goes into detail about your question.

 

[LilPeeps]

Quote:
This is not true. If you have dominant white, you will get 50% white, 50% whatever the white is covering x black

If you have recessive white, you will get 100% black carrying one gene for recessive white and one gene for self blue.

 

[MoodyChicken]

Quote:
This is not true. If you have dominant white, you will get 50% white, 50% whatever the white is covering x black

If you have recessive white, you will get 100% black carrying one gene for recessive white and one gene for self blue.

Really? But isn't dominant white... well, dominant?

 

[LilPeeps]

Quote:
This is not true. If you have dominant white, you will get 50% white, 50% whatever the white is covering x black

If you have recessive white, you will get 100% black carrying one gene for recessive white and one gene for self blue.

Really? But isn't dominant white... well, dominant?

It is but most dominant white birds only carry one copy of the gene. So in the dom white x self blue mating, the offspring of these birds have a 50/50 chance of getting a copy of the dom white gene and will be white, the other half would be the equivilent of a black (self blue parent) crossed with whatever the white was covering up (due to a lack of the dom white gene).

 

[nzpouter]

what if the bird is homozygous for dominant white? They arwe autosomal aren't they?

 

[LilPeeps]

If the bird is homozygous for dominant white, all the resulting offspring will be heterozygous for dominant white and display a white phenotype. Yes, it is autosomal.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Also, dominant white is quite leaky and often creates not a white bird, but a bird that is partially white with other colours showing as well. This will depend on hte other genes present, not on the dominant white.

If your birds are purely for your own pleasure and yard candy, mix however you like. If you plan to exhibit or breed, you need to know what you're doing if you're mixing colours. IF you plan to sell eggs or chicks you need to be straightforward about what you've done as far as breeding. Someone purchasing with the intension of showing is almost certainly going to want a recognised variety--and that means pairing the birds by like colour.

 

[jimnjay]

In response to the original question. Mixed colors are beautiful but for showing they must be shown as Other and would have a difficult time being judged over a bird that meets the standards. Many new colors are being worked on for Silkies but if you are interested in showing, stick to the colors for which there is a standard. As for breeding and eggs sales, other people buying your eggs want to know that they will nave no surprises down the road with colors popping up that would disqualify an otherwise excellent bird. Color in the hackles is often found in Black or Blue Silkies and it is very hard to correct that in breeding. If you do keep a mixed flock, make sure you tell people buying your birds that they are now or were once a mixed flock.