White silkies with other color genes hidden ??? more pics, page 3

[jossanne]

I've got a great-looking white silkie chick that I'm thinking about keeping for breeding purposes. The problem is, it's from a mixed-color flock. The parent flock had black/blue/splash and white birds. The hatchlings I've got are white, blue and mixed partridge looking babies. So I know the whites in the parent flock weren't pure white. I had originally started out thinking I wanted B/B/S, but this baby may be changing my mind.

So far, at almost 3 weeks old, this white baby is feathering beautifully. Its progenitors were from good quality flocks, with nice crests, foot feathering, etc. I got the eggs from a BYC member who got hers from a few other BYC members with really nice birds.

So my question is...
If I got more white silkies to breed it with in the future (assuming this chick turns out as nice as I think it will), how many generations would it take until I'm getting only white offspring? Would it even be worth it to try?

Here's a picture of the chick in question today, at 19 days old:

 

[Catalina]

Ooooo so cute! Looks just like my Pixie

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

In general, the white in silkies is recessive, assuming that your bird is the norm, and not a very unusual for silkies (but possible) dominant white, if you breed to a white bird ALL offspring should be white. If you get non-white babies in a white to white breeding, then either somebirdy got where they weren't suppposed to, or a parent has one copy of dominant white and zero or one copies of of recessive white.

SO, breed to a white and you should immediately get white offspring unless your bird has unusual genes for the breed.

 

[jossanne]

Quote:
Thanks! That almost answers my question.

But if this chick came from a flock of white and b/b/s birds, and its hatchmates are partridge and buff mixes, then someone had other genes in there, right? Could the partridge and buff mixes have come from b/b/s birds? Could b/b/s mask partridge and buff genes? I was thinking (probably mistakenly cuz I'm a total genetic noob) that buff and partridge could only be masked by the white. So if I have a white chick, it could be carrying the partridge and buff that its parents could have had masked in their genes.

But I'm really hoping that it's as simple as you said... I'd like to be able to expect only white chicks from this bird in the future. Are you saying that if I get whites that I know are from all-white flocks, this bird's hidden color genes won't show up in the offspring?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Buff is not a gene in itself, but a compilation of a number of genes.

Partridge is e^b based (as are virtually all silkies) with Pg.

Recessive white (two copies) can and does hide every other colour and pattern gene present in the bird. With the exception of carrying two copies of recessive white, no two white silkies have the same colour/patttern genes. Since these genes are hidden, they cannot be selected for or against.

Breed one recessive white bird to a non-white and your results will probably vary considerably than if you breed a different white to the same non-white.

Breed any two recessive white birds together and your offspring will be recessive white.

 

[jossanne]

Thanks! I appreciate your explanation and your patience. One of these days I'm going to understand all this genetic stuff. I need to find a Chicken Genetics for Dummies book...

Could the b/b/s birds be masking any other colors?

 

[spydertoys]

Your baby looks exactly like my white babies. They are born an off white color, and turn snow white when they feather out.

 

[Kev]

Silkie white x white= 100% white. If you bred this white chick with ANY other white bird, 100% whites.

Yes b/b/s can be not pure for the black base(b/s are simply black birds with one blue or two blue genes respectively). Often these will show off color on their hackles.. although very often not-pure females will be solid colored anyways. Shows up more often on roosters once they are fully mature..

It would seem the partridge chicks are proving that at least one of the b/b/s is not pure for the black. If none of them(partridges) show blue on their tails, that may be a hint that it was one of the blacks.. if all of them show blue, it may be one of the splashes.

 

[DiVon80]

Such a cute lil girl!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Any single copy of a recessive gene can hide under any colour--there are a few recessives that tend to be leaky, and sometimes down colour indicates the genes present that do not show in the adult bird.

Blues are laced, which is a combination of Pg & Ml, so partridge can percolate out of the mix if the bird in het for Ml (Pg was passed to the offspring, but not Ml). The best lacing is hom for both Pg & Ml, so if the blues have wide lacing or lacing only at the tips of the feathers, they are het for both Pg & Ml or for Ml, respectively.