When mixing breeds....

[KDailey]

I've never bred chickens before and so I am curious. Do they mix the same way, say, a dog or cat would mix? A few characteristics of mama and a few from daddy?

This came to mind because the 5 chicks I have now came from my neighbor and she has several different breeds that all live together. I'm sure they mix and match themselves and so I'm curious about two of my little chickies.

If a silkie mixes with another breed what characteristics of the silkie might show through? Woud they still have the 5 toes or is there a really good possibility they would only have 4?

So many different breeds of chicks look the same. How is this? My cuckoo marans look a heck of a lot like other breeds. And one of my little bantums looks just like a chanteclear but I don't think my neighbor had any of those

I'm an endless pit of questions about breeding and the genetic side of things.

 

[Blue]

Quote:
You usually do get some traits from both parents when mixing breeds. For silkie mixes, the majority do seem to end up with the 5 toes and dark legs of a silkie, but 4 toes is still a possibility. Most silkie crosses I've seen also seem to inherit at least a bit of a crest, but the comb types can vary wildly depending on what breeds were crossed. The silkie feathering isn't dominant, so it's rare to see a silkie cross that actually has the silkie feather type. I believe it will only happen if both parents pass on the silkie feathering gene.