Wheaten satin

[2ndTink]

I wonder who else in my flock is hiding Wheaten then.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I wonder who else in my flock is hiding Wheaten then.

You'll find out through test breeding.

 

[2ndTink]

You'll find out through test breeding.

Thanks!

 

[MysteryChicken]

Thanks!

You're welcome.

 

[NatJ]

My questions:
- how did a blue x blue partridge make this

Probably just a result of recessive genes, and this chick inherited particular ones from both parents without the dominant ones to hide them.

Other explanations would be:
--parents not the color you thought they were
--chick does not actually have those parents (hen mated with a different rooster, or hen stored sperm from a previous mating, or you mixed up which egg came from which hen.)

But I think recessive genes are the most likely explanation here.

- what color silkie could I cross her with to make more like her

Try breeding her to her own father. Since half of her genes came from him, he obviously does carry what it takes to make that color.

I can't say what percent of chicks will come out looking like her: anywhere from a high of 50% to a rate low enough that you get frustrated and give up. But it's probably worth hatching a handful of chicks to see.

- what color silkie would lead to the most colorful results with her

Her father might be a good choice there too.

If he is blue all over, she will probably produce some blue chicks and some black chicks (or splash chicks if she's actually a dark blue), with a fairly good chance of some chicks like herself and some that are like her except that they have blue instead of black in their coloring. Other things might pop up as well, but I can't predict what most of them could be.

If her blue father has the silver gene (not visible because he's blue all over), then some chicks will show silver instead of brown/red/gold colors.

 

[2ndTink]

Probably just a result of recessive genes, and this chick inherited particular ones from both parents without the dominant ones to hide them.

Other explanations would be:
--parents not the color you thought they were
--chick does not actually have those parents (hen mated with a different rooster, or hen stored sperm from a previous mating, or you mixed up which egg came from which hen.)

But I think recessive genes are the most likely explanation here.


Try breeding her to her own father. Since half of her genes came from him, he obviously does carry what it takes to make that color.

I can't say what percent of chicks will come out looking like her: anywhere from a high of 50% to a rate low enough that you get frustrated and give up. But it's probably worth hatching a handful of chicks to see.


Her father might be a good choice there too.

If he is blue all over, she will probably produce some blue chicks and some black chicks (or splash chicks if she's actually a dark blue), with a fairly good chance of some chicks like herself and some that are like her except that they have blue instead of black in their coloring. Other things might pop up as well, but I can't predict what most of them could be.

If her blue father has the silver gene (not visible because he's blue all over), then some chicks will show silver instead of brown/red/gold colors.

I could test breed to her father, but I'm wondering if recessive traits are popping up, I might get some unwanted recessive genes coming out? I'll think about that.

I only have one satin rooster and only had two hens with him, so I'm 100% on who the father is and the two hens laid different shaded eggs so I'm pretty confident there too.

I'm contemplating breeding her to a mauve cockerel (next year) who has some slight red leakage on his wings and light colored underfluff. He hatched with chipmunk stripes. Not that he'd magically have wheaten genes hiding in there, but maybe something interesting would hatch?

 

[NatJ]

I could test breed to her father, but I'm wondering if recessive traits are popping up, I might get some unwanted recessive genes coming out? I'll think about that.

If he has a gene for a particular recessive trait, he should give it to about half his chicks. If they have a dominant gene that hides it, you do not know that he has it, but it can still be carried down and appear in future generations.

If you breed her to her father, you may learn more about what recessive traits he has: once you know about them, you can decide whether you want to arrange matings that will produce chicks showing those traits (like the female in question), or whether you want to arrange matings where those traits will not show even though they might still be carried (her siblings would be examples of that: some will carry the genes she is showing), or whether the recessives are so undesireable that you do not want to breed him at all because you don't want that trait carried by more birds.

Of course breeding this bird to her father will only help you learn the genes she inherited. If he carries some recessive traits that she did not inherit, then you still will not know about them.

Then again, you may not want to find out. What seems fun or interesting to one person might not appeal to someone else.

I only have one satin rooster and only had two hens with him, so I'm 100% on who the father is and the two hens laid different shaded eggs so I'm pretty confident there too.

That does sounds pretty certain, assuming they were separated from other roosters for long enough before the eggs were laid. I just wanted to mention other options, rather than jumping to conclusions that might be wrong!

I'm contemplating breeding her to a mauve cockerel (next year) who has some slight red leakage on his wings and light colored underfluff. He hatched with chipmunk stripes. Not that he'd magically have wheaten genes hiding in there, but maybe something interesting would hatch?

Yes, you might get some interesting chicks from that pairing. From your description I can't say if he has Wheaten or not, and I do not think I could tell for sure from a photo either, but I think it is at least a possibility.

 

[2ndTink]

If he has a gene for a particular recessive trait, he should give it to about half his chicks. If they have a dominant gene that hides it, you do not know that he has it, but it can still be carried down and appear in future generations.

If you breed her to her father, you may learn more about what recessive traits he has: once you know about them, you can decide whether you want to arrange matings that will produce chicks showing those traits (like the female in question), or whether you want to arrange matings where those traits will not show even though they might still be carried (her siblings would be examples of that: some will carry the genes she is showing), or whether the recessives are so undesireable that you do not want to breed him at all because you don't want that trait carried by more birds.

Of course breeding this bird to her father will only help you learn the genes she inherited. If he carries some recessive traits that she did not inherit, then you still will not know about them.

Then again, you may not want to find out. What seems fun or interesting to one person might not appeal to someone else.


That does sounds pretty certain, assuming they were separated from other roosters for long enough before the eggs were laid. I just wanted to mention other options, rather than jumping to conclusions that might be wrong!


Yes, you might get some interesting chicks from that pairing. From your description I can't say if he has Wheaten or not, and I do not think I could tell for sure from a photo either, but I think it is at least a possibility.

On the possible father's, I had to think back, because my first hatch, everyone was together because we had a nasty cold snap, so I left everyone able to cuddle up for heat. My second hatch, which was after I separated them back into breeding pens, with just the two hens and the one satin rooster. Let me double check the dates... yes, I set eggs about 6 weeks after separating everyone. The only other satin rooster I even had was a brother to the one that 95% should be the father of the wheaten... I think I'm 95% sure my blue satin is her father. I still have him, but have unfortunately lost her mother, otherwise I'd just hatch more of that cross for fun.

My desire is to breed SOP colors of silkies to the SOP, but, that's not what sells around here, and I can't deny I do love that wheaten color. I am going to have a couple SOP color pens and then I'll do some "fun" crosses as well.

I should have time to do 2 separate crosses with her next year just for kicks and see what happens.

I'm assuming the chances of the mauve carrying wheaten are really low but it might be a fun mix anyway?

This is the mauve cockerel as a chick


And now, he's always suspicious of the camera

Sunbathing


Someday I'll get a good photo of him.

 

[NatJ]

I'm assuming the chances of the mauve carrying wheaten are really low but it might be a fun mix anyway?

Probably low because Wheaten isn't common in Silkies, so even a mixed color Silkie would be unlikely to inherit it from any set of ancestry.

Looking at him, if he had other ancestry, I'd guess the chance at about 50%.

Yes, it might be a fun mix anyway.

 

[2ndTink]

If wheaten isn't common in silkies, then it likely came in from whatever breed the satin feathers were introduced with? Would the wheaten gene have any likelihood of being tied to the satin gene, meaning, a silkie feathered bird wouldn't have the wheaten gene?

So her father should be passing the Wheaten gene on to 50% of his offspring, but none will show it because they only get one copy right? I could either breed her back to her father, or I could breed the father to another hen, and 50% chance the resulting cockerel would carry Wheaten and then breeding that cockerel to her, 50% of their offspring would be Wheaten.

There is one other Wheaten pullet I know hatched from this same cross. I was just googling black, blue, and splash Wheaten, there is a cockerel I saw a photo of from my girl's eggs that may be a splash wheaten, it is super light colored, basically white with just little frosted hints of color on the fluff. Really pretty little one. It would be my Wheaten's full brother.