What to cross with a bantam australorp?

[JacinLarkwell]

They need two of the silkie gene to show it. They need to be bred either to a silkie or a sibling t to have the chance to show it

 

[LikeTurkeys]

Interesting, thanks. But if you keep breeding over several years using one of the girls and an australorp rooster, will the Silkie feathering increase or decrease over time?

If you mate an Australorp male over a silkie female, you will get offspring that are all split to silkie feathering (in other words, they will each carry one copy of the gene but they will not show any evidence). If you choose a pullet from this cross and mate her to a non-silkie feathered Australorp rooster, you will get 50% split to silkie and 50% not carrying the gene. You will not be able to tell the difference between those carrying the gene and those not unless you do test matings with a silkie feathered chicken. Continuing matings with a non-silkie feathered chicken will not get you anywhere (with regard to silkie feathering, I am not talking about type or color here).

There are two ways to get silkie feathering in the next generation:

#1. Cross one of the males from your initial mating (Australorp x Silkie) to a silkie feathered female, or the other way around. Doing it this way would result in 50% silkie offspring (not 75 as I initially stated! sorry about that) and 25% normally feathered but split to silkie.

Or #2. Cross a male and female of your initial mating that each carry only 1 copy of the silkie gene. This would result in 25% silkie feathered, 50% normally feathered but split to silkie, and 25% not carrying the gene at all.

To get full silkie offspring, you would have to cross two chickens who are showing silkie feathering (in other words, have two copies of the gene). There's a variety of ways you could go about doing this.
A) purchase a male and female silkie to start with and not get involved with any crosses.
B) use silkie feathered males from either #1 or #2 and cross them to their mothers or silkie feathered sisters
C) use either males or females that are silkie feathered from #1 or #2 and cross them to a silkie from an unrelated source

Again, it is important here to choose only chickens who are showing silkie feathering. Otherwise, you cannot guarantee 100% silkie offspring.

 

[NatJ]

#1. Cross one of the males from your initial mating (Australorp x Silkie) to a silkie feathered female, or the other way around. Doing it this way would result in 75% silkie offspring and 25% normally feathered but split to silkie.

50% silkie feathered, not 75%, for this cross.

Because the split-to-silkie passes normal feathering to 50% of the offspring, and silkie feathering to the other 50% (and they all get the silkie gene from the silkie parent.)

Other than that, I agree with what was said about breeding to get silkie feathering.

 

[LikeTurkeys]

50% silkie feathered, not 75%, for this cross.

Because the split-to-silkie passes normal feathering to 50% of the offspring, and silkie feathering to the other 50% (and they all get the silkie gene from the silkie parent.)

Other than that, I agree with what was said about breeding to get silkie feathering.

You are right of course, sorry about getting my numbers wrong.

 

[suburbanfarm]

If you mate an Australorp male over a silkie female, you will get offspring that are all split to silkie feathering (in other words, they will each carry one copy of the gene but they will not show any evidence). If you choose a pullet from this cross and mate her to a non-silkie feathered Australorp rooster, you will get 50% split to silkie and 50% not carrying the gene. You will not be able to tell the difference between those carrying the gene and those not unless you do test matings with a silkie feathered chicken. Continuing matings with a non-silkie feathered chicken will not get you anywhere (with regard to silkie feathering, I am not talking about type or color here).

There are two ways to get silkie feathering in the next generation:

#1. Cross one of the males from your initial mating (Australorp x Silkie) to a silkie feathered female, or the other way around. Doing it this way would result in 50% silkie offspring (not 75 as I initially stated! sorry about that) and 25% normally feathered but split to silkie.

Or #2. Cross a male and female of your initial mating that each carry only 1 copy of the silkie gene. This would result in 25% silkie feathered, 50% normally feathered but split to silkie, and 25% not carrying the gene at all.

To get full silkie offspring, you would have to cross two chickens who are showing silkie feathering (in other words, have two copies of the gene). There's a variety of ways you could go about doing this.
A) purchase a male and female silkie to start with and not get involved with any crosses.
B) use silkie feathered males from either #1 or #2 and cross them to their mothers or silkie feathered sisters
C) use either males or females that are silkie feathered from #1 or #2 and cross them to a silkie from an unrelated source

Again, it is important here to choose only chickens who are showing silkie feathering. Otherwise, you cannot guarantee 100% silkie offspring.

Thanks!