White Silkie Rooster...

[feetkissearth]

I currently have one Silkie, a white cockerel. I am hoping to get some more Silkies this spring. I really like the black and grey and blue/lavender colours.

With a white rooster...what colour chicks could I expect with black or grey or blue hen? I can only order one colour

Thank you!

 

[QueenMisha]

White is basically unpredictable. The white genes (there are two - one recessive, one dominant) act as off switches for color genes - they prevent pigment from going where it normally would. They don't remove the color though, they essentially just cover it up. So trying to determine what color he is hiding is kind of like buying a used car you know has been repainted and then asking someone to guess the original color.

Again, white is very unpredictable. Depending on what he is hiding he could theoretically produce anything. I believe the white seen in Silkies is typically recessive white, which means that his offspring would not show any white at all, but would carry the gene. Therefore his offspring would - phenotypically - show the results of his real color X the hen's color. However, I can tell you that Black (and by association Blue) is a rather dominant color; most times, when you have anything that is Black X other color, the offspring is going to be black or mostly black. So I would say that one likely outcome of him X black would be 100% black offspring with some color leakage. Alternatively, him X blue could give 50% black and 50% blue, all probably with some color leakage. Gray would be significantly more unpredictable. Again, these are just a few of the more likely and common possibilities. Test breeding is the only way to be sure what he's carrying.