what color silkie do I get to X?

sunket77

Songster
10 Years
May 21, 2009
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Texas Hill Country!
I want to have silkie/cochin crosses I have seen them on here and they are so adorable! I have a Buff bantam cochin roo. What color silkie should I look for? I was thinking either white,buff, or blue. My fav color silkie is white. What do you guys think??

Also to you genetic experts out there.....
I also have white crested black polish with him, what would I get if I hatched their eggs? hhmmmm......
 
If you cross a white silkie--ANY recessive white chicken--to a coloured bird, the offspring are unpredictable. White turns OFF the espression of colour and pattern genes that are present in the bird, so you have no way of knowing what is present and will show up in the cross. It's kind of like reaching into the pantry and grabbing a can without looking to see what it is, and tossing it into your recipe. You may have just added green beans to your peach cobbler or applesauce to your meatloaf.

Solid black is probably the closest to neutral that there is in chicken genetics, so that is what I'd try.
 
Hope I'm not butting into a subject here, but I have Speckled Sussex hens and the only rooster I have is a white Silkie.
The chicks are really cute, they are feather legged, black skinned, 5 toed, muff and beards, and colored like the Sussex.
I expected all this, but they also have a small crest....I thought the crest was recessive. How come it is showing up on these half breed chicks?
Also I read that the roosters in this cross would have white legs and the hens black. Sure enough some are black and some are white legged.
Also the white legged ones don't show as much Silkie characteristics, are they indeed roosters?
Thanks for any and all help.
 
The chicks are really cute, they are feather legged, black skinned, 5 toed, muff and beards, and colored like the Sussex.
I expected all this,

I would not have expected them to be coloured like the Sussex as mottling is recessive.​
 
Thanks for the prompt replies, I wasn't sure what color they would be and I guess I am surprised at the speckled color.
I really like the speckles and it makes for some pretty chicks.
I just thought these might make nice egg layers and be good Mamas and also be pleasant to look at. Which they are.
 
Some of what I've read on mottling is that it can show to some degree when het. But also that it sometimes molts away in het birds. I have a couple of siklieXmottled cochin hens that have very tiny mottles. One has many, the other has only a few.
 

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