the silkie slickers

[FortCluck]

There's my silkie with the other bantams. We only have 2 bantams and the silkie left.

 

[tsparrow]

I had two unique color chicks hatch out. The Roo and Hens came from a good breeder. Attached is one of the chicks that came from a white Roo and white Hen. I am not sure which hen layed the egg. I had Silkies for many years and never had this happen. Any idea on color?

 

[FortCluck]

I had two unique color chicks hatch out. The Roo and Hens came from a good breeder. Attached is one of the chicks that came from a white Roo and white Hen. I am not sure which hen layed the egg. I had Silkies for many years and never had this happen. Any idea on color?
View attachment 2113158View attachment 2113160View attachment 2113156View attachment 2113162View attachment 2113161

I have ones that are that color but I got them from tractor supply. I'm interested in what color they will be.

Mine have white coming in though.

 

[LynnaePB]

There's my silkie with the other bantams. We only have 2 bantams and the silkie left.

View attachment 2110864

Aww what a cutie! You mentioned you were thinking it's a girl I think? I agree that she/he is looking more pullet like at this point (not seeing anything that screams cockerel yet anyway).

I had two unique color chicks hatch out. The Roo and Hens came from a good breeder. Attached is one of the chicks that came from a white Roo and white Hen. I am not sure which hen layed the egg. I had Silkies for many years and never had this happen. Any idea on color?
View attachment 2113158View attachment 2113160View attachment 2113156View attachment 2113162View attachment 2113161

Your little one there looks like a white that is silver based. Silver should make a nice crisp white.

Here is a little silver based white silkie I own as a chick and later on as a pullet (dominant white rather than recessive I believe as she is from paint breeding, but recessive white chicks with the silver gene look similar from what I've seen).

 

[KiwiandPeachthePigeons]

My silkie looks so shabby next to your majestic beasts!

Her name is Silkie and she’s the kindest chicken out there

 

[PioneerChicks]

My silkie looks so shabby next to your majestic beasts! View attachment 2115940
View attachment 2115941View attachment 2115942View attachment 2115944
Her name is Silkie and she’s the kindest chicken out there

She's beautiful!

 

[FortCluck]

Aww what a cutie! You mentioned you were thinking it's a girl I think? I agree that she/he is looking more pullet like at this point (not seeing anything that screams cockerel yet anyway).



Your little one there looks like a white that is silver based. Silver should make a nice crisp white.

Here is a little silver based white silkie I own as a chick and later on as a pullet (dominant white rather than recessive I believe as she is from paint breeding, but recessive white chicks with the silver gene look similar from what I've seen).

View attachment 2115933

View attachment 2115934

2 from TSC passed away so I only have 2 silkie chicks left. I have never lost a chick unless I get them from TSC. Must be the stress they endure while being shipped and such.

Chubs I hope is a she

 

[LynnaePB]

My silkie looks so shabby next to your majestic beasts! View attachment 2115940
View attachment 2115941View attachment 2115942View attachment 2115944
Her name is Silkie and she’s the kindest chicken out there

Aww what a pretty girl!

2 from TSC passed away so I only have 2 silkie chicks left. I have never lost a chick unless I get them from TSC. Must be the stress they endure while being shipped and such.

Chubs I hope is a she

I'm so sorry you lost a couple, I imagine shipping would really put the little guys at a disadvantage.

 

[chickiebaby1]

My white silky hen just hatched 2 blackish looking chicks yesterday. I'm kinda confused because she was with a white roo. Can anyone explain a little of this genetics thing to me. I've read that sometime you never know what color whites will throw, but I never imagined black.

 

[LynnaePB]

My white silky hen just hatched 2 blackish looking chicks yesterday. I'm kinda confused because she was with a white roo. Can anyone explain a little of this genetics thing to me. I've read that sometime you never know what color whites will throw, but I never imagined black.

Hmm that is a tricky one. Is there any chance another rooster had access to her in the last month? I've heard of hens being fertile a month after mating sometimes.

If your hen definitely did not have any access to any other roosters than all my theories involve one of your whites not truly being white. A very lightly marked paint or a very washed out splash might give you some blackish looking chicks if bred to a recessive white (if it was a really washed out splash those chicks would actually be blue but blue can look very dark almost black sometimes).

I'm still learning about genetics but I have done a lot of research and have experienced some things first hand now I'm getting into breeding so hopefully this information is at least mostly accurate.

White silkies can either be recessive white or dominant white. Reccessive white is much more common and has been around a lot longer in silkies. I don't think dominant white really came into play much until colors like paint were developed rather recently (paint relies on dominant white to work).

A recessive white silkie needs two copies of recessive white to be white. If bred to another recessive white the babies should all be white. Recessive white works by basically turning off the pigment resulting in white. There is still genetically another color underneath that is being hidden/turned off by the two copies of the recessive white gene. Unless you test breed you can't really know what color might be underneath. When you breed a recessive white to a non recessive white that color that was being turned off comes into play whatever it may be which is why it is very difficult to predict the outcome of a breeding of most white silkies with a non white.

Dominant white on the other hand only needs one copy to express but it is considered leaky. It inhibits black pigment ( it works on genes that modify black pigment like blue and splash as well) but does not inhibit red. With only one copy of dominant white some of the black pigment comes through in spots (sometimes only a few very small spots other times much more obvious spots). With two copies of dominant white usually no black comes through and the bird appears all white assuming there is no red involved in the genetics.

Pictures of the parents and chicks might be helpful in trying to figure out what is going on genetically if you have or can get some?