Strange Question

[minna]

I was thinking the other day about genetics and strong genes. I have my EE's in with my silikes, just because my EE's are just for eating and my silkie and showgirl are both cockerels. Only 1 EE is laying and sadly is laying brown eggs, but I have my fingers crossed for my other one to lay green and am hoping to buy another one soon. So my question is, if I did have an EE that was laying a pretty colored egg, and I crossed it with my silkie or showgirl, what would be the possibility of eventually having a fluffy silkie looking EE that laid colored eggs. I know nothing about silkie genetics, only that the blue egg color gene is fairly strong, so I was thinking surely the possibility is there. Am I far out in the left field here?

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

Not too far out in left field, but it would take a few generations of breeding and culling before you'd see any acceptable results for what you are talking about.

the first generation would probably be a smooth feathered EE looking bird with black skin. I think the silkie feathering comes back with the second or third generation.

Someone somewhere was working on a green egg laying Silkie at one time, but I can't remember who or where they were.....

 

[LilPeeps]

Yep, Chris is right, f1 will be smooth feathered with a few silkie characteristics and the silkie feathering could be achieved in f2. I have a silkie x EE and she's between bantam and standard size and lays tiny silkie sized greenish blue eggs. I've thought about crossing her to my silkie boys just to see what I'd get, but it's always a pain trying to sell off culls from a new project.

 

[minna]

I really am thinking of trying this, if I did, would everyone be willing to help me. I'm not good with the genetics yet, so I would have lots of questions. Like which one to breed back for second generation ect. I don't mind the culls, I can probably easily give them away. Two of my neighbors have only free range mutts, so I don't think they would mind some extras. I really think this could be a fun project.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

If you have someone to take your culls, then by all means. You may get blue/green eggs in the F1 offspring, depends on the genes the EEs carry. When youselect your EEs, make sure they have a pea comb. It won;t ensure that they will lay a coloured egg, but if they don;t it almost guarantees that they won't. Fortunately, silkies already have pea comb genes, so that isn't a necessary hurdle.

Good luck!