White crested black silkies?

[Chicks 'n ducks]

So, I was wondering if it would be possible to breed a white crested black silkie? I think they would be stunning. would you have to breed a silkie to a polish with that coloration? would that coloring be lost in the crossbreeding? I'm dipping my feet in genetics.
Thanks!!

 

[nicalandia]

So, I was wondering if it would be possible to breed a white crested black silkie? I think they would be stunning. would you have to breed a silkie to a polish with that coloration? would that coloring be lost in the crossbreeding? I'm dipping my feet in genetics.
Thanks!!

WCP x Partridge Silkie, cross the F1xF1 and hatch as many as you can, at least 50 as only 25% of them will be silkie feathered and of that even fewer will be White Crested

 

[Chicks 'n ducks]

Thanks! would partridge be the best color to cross it to or would black be?

 

[Chicks 'n ducks]

And would I have to wait till all 50 are grown to tell who's a keeper or could I tell when they are chicks?

 

[The Moonshiner]

Thanks! would partridge be the best color to cross it to or would black be?

Very curious myself why partridge would be suggested.
As for hatching 50 chicks. IMO that will be no where near enough chicks. I would hatch a couple hundred if it was my project.
You have a lot more genes that need to fall in place besides the silkie feathers and WCB color if you want anything that actually resembles a silkie.
Guessing it would also take a few more generations to get things locked into place.

 

[Chicks 'n ducks]

And would I have to wait till all 50 are grown to tell who's a keeper or could I tell when they are chicks?

What do you think?

 

[nicalandia]

Very curious myself why partridge would be suggested.

As far as Silkies goes, Partridge is about the closest pattern to "Wild Type" one could get(Think about RJF) other patterns have unnecessary genes that will get in the way, black silkies may have additional melanizers that may get in the way of the white crest. I would also suggest using a Partridge Crested Silkie

As for hatching 50 chicks. IMO that will be no where near enough chicks. I would hatch a couple hundred if it was my project.
You have a lot more genes that need to fall in place besides the silkie feathers and WCB color if you want anything that actually resembles a silkie.
Guessing it would also take a few more generations to get things locked into place.

I agree with that, 50 is a very small amount to lick, WC, 5 toes, silkie feathers when crossing F2xF2.

But now I advise against doing a F2xF2 cross and instead, breeding back to crested silkie parent line, I have confirmed that the white crest phenotype is a dominant trait and one would be able to pick up the BC1s chicks with Extended Black and White Crest from the partridge based BC1s.


So this is the breeding plan.

WCB Polish rooster over Crested Partridge(Or Black if you can't source partridge), You don't need many F1s 10-20 hatching eggs, just to make sure you get to select a very good F1 cockerel that showed the best white crest color at hatch(it will have a white chick crest down), take this male and cross it back to Silkie hens, at this stage I would recommend hatching as many eggs as you get as you would be looking for White Crest, Black Skin, Silkie feathered BC1s of both Genders, the best WC Silkie feathered hens crossed with the best WC silkie feathered cockerels..


Interesting Article about the study of Barring, Sex linked dominant dermal Inhibitor, the interesting part of it is that they used WCB Polish rooster over BR hens and could not tell the sex of the cross on the F1s and F2s due to the fact that the WCB genes were masking the effect(no comments on if it acted as completely dominant, but it seems that way)

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3a3e/7a212b599853d965771a040b559e32dd324d.pdf

 

[The Moonshiner]

At a couple weeks old you should know.
Depends exactly what you're trying to achieve and the route you want to take to get there.
When you say white crested black silkies I'm thinking everything silkie with the WCB color.
You can tell if they're silkie feathered as soon as they start feathering in a bit.
I did raise a few WCB polish and you could pretty easily tell which ones would have the best crest and least black in crest by a few days old.
For me is also be looking at skin color, number of toes, comb type etc. To move forward with.
Most should be seen very early on. I'd keep everything that fits what I need and grow them out. Then eliminate things that show up or fall apart as they mature.
I just thought the other poster made it seem a lot easier and quicker then it will be.

 

[Chicks 'n ducks]

Yes, I was thinking all the silkie characteristics just with the WCB color.

WCB Polish rooster over Crested Partridge

Would it be possible to use a silkie rooster over polish hens? and what in the difference between non crested and crested partridge silkies?

take this male and cross it back to Silkie hens,

Should these hens be partridge as well?

 

[nicalandia]

Would it be possible to use a silkie rooster over polish hens?

You can cross an outstanding Crested Silkie rooster over WCB Polish hens, Just make sure to hatch alot of chicks as 50% of them will be pullets, You can then cross the F1 pullets back to that Silkie rooster, or a different good quality rooster, there is really no point on breeding low quality birds when you start a project like this.

What in the difference between non crested and crested partridge silkies?

What we are looking here is the ¨Crest¨so having the crest already in silkies would help you tremendously because it will let you continue with the F1 x P1 to consentrate on other traits like silkie feathers, type and of course the white crest, if you start with a non crested silkie well you will need to do a F1xF1 to regain, Crest and type and you will need to hatch at least 200 chicks.

Should these hens be partridge as well?

Crested Partridge would be advised, but you may also use Black if you can´t source good quality lines, we just can´t say for sure what the black phenontype in silkies has hidden and if it´s going to affect the White Crest