Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Oh I know! I love the leakage! I got ONE hen last year with the leakage and she is just so pretty!

Well...? where's pics!!??

 

[ChloeSilkie08]

Well...? where's pics!!??

Haha! This is when she was younger. It's much more pronounced now!

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Haha! This is when she was younger. It's much more pronounced now!View attachment 2518090

Cute do you have recent pics as a hen? My leakage ones are only cockerels, so I can't help but keep them!

 

[ChloeSilkie08]

Cute do you have recent pics as a hen? My leakage ones are only cockerels, so I can't help but keep them!

I'll try and get some soon. This is the only picture I have of her.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Out enjoying the beautiful day after several days of clouds and rain. Photo of Maunakea from my house. This is what happens when it rains here on the big island in the winter, we get snow!
It was 50° here this morning which doesn’t sound very cold to you guys on the mainland but for us it’s pretty cold!
My incubator alarm went off and was giving me warning room temperature too cold reading several times.
Photos of the chickens while I was hanging with them. The little hybrids are getting big. The biggest one is Iris and she’s feathering in quite nicely. They are still integrating with the bigger chickens but getting along pretty well for the most part.
The three Silkie girls are in broody jail. They hang out in the tractor during the day, otherwise they’ll spend the whole day in the nest boxes sitting on nothing. All three of them have stopped laying.
The chick, Frankie, I hatched from a grocery store egg last summer is all grown up and is still a lap chicken! She is a good layer and lays an egg every day.
Beautiful day and I appreciate being able to go outside and enjoy the sunshine and my chickens. Just wanted to share. Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

 

[CuteFluffyButtSilkies]

Pretty boys

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Problem, multiple broodies and no fertile eggs .. But...If I breed my red comb girl will all offspring be red comb or possible I could get most normal Silkie colour dark/ mulberry?

She's the only one giving me fertile eggs because she's with my cockerel in a separate coop (my roo isn't getting the job done at mo in my main coop)

 

[LynnaePB]

Hey I was just wondering... what colours are everyone's favourites? I'm probably getting 5 soon and am SO excited - they're likely to be adults as our incubator is full AND there's a queue!!
But anyway I was just thinking I might find it kind of hard to tell 5 white Silkies apart and so was wondering what other colours y'all like best!

It's hard to pick but out of the standard colors I think probably paint followed by grey.

Non standard I really like calico-like 3 colored birds (I've seen both splash with red leakage and paint with red leakage that I really really liked).

Questions for you paint breeders out there (I'm talking to you @LynnaePB)
I am getting some paint hatching eggs and the breeder has "Paint rooster, Black split to Paint roosters" covering "Paint and Black split to Paint" Silkie hens. Per her description "these eggs will hatch Paint and Black split to Paint chicks."
I found this chart and do not see a black split to paint over black split to paint option. I am assuming all of the chicks of that cross would be black. Wouldn't some of the chicks also hatch out white? (Paint over paint). Would these white chicks be dominant white then?
Also per many other threads I have seen on the subject, there are no "splits" in the traditional sense with paints. It seems it is much more complicated than this chart explains.
View attachment 2516997

Those are good questions and you are spot about the black and dominant white chicks! Black from paint over black from paint should result in all black chicks. With paint over paint you will get some chicks that are homozygous dominant white as well as paint and black chicks.

Things get confusing sometimes with paints though. I expect because the phenotype and genotype do not always match perfectly.

Sometimes something that is genetically paint (heterozygous dominant white over black) might look white. I expect that is why the chart has paint as a possibility with white split x white split. If they both were actually homozygous dominant white they should have 100% homozygous dominant white offspring. Black split x white being able to produce black is similar, probably the white is actually a paint when you get a black from this pairing.

I think paints being so poorly marked as to look white is not too uncommon which is probably why the chart is how it is?

Another much less common oddity with paints is sometimes two black from paints will produce a paint chick. I suspect perhaps in some cases a bird is genetically paint but for whatever reason the dominant white is inhibited and doesn't show. It's things like this that made some breeders believe paint was a recessive gene. In most cases it acts like you'd expect dominant white to act though and not like a recessive.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

It's hard to pick but out of the standard colors I think probably paint followed by grey.

Non standard I really like calico like 3 colored birds (I've seen both splash with red leakage and paint with red leakage that I really really liked).


Those are good questions and you are spot about the black and dominant white chicks! Black from paint over black from paint should result in all black chicks. With paint over paint you will get some chicks that are homozygous dominant white as well as paint and black chicks.

Things get confusing sometimes with paints though. I expect because the phenotype and genotype do not always match perfectly.

Sometimes something that is genetically paint (heterozygous dominant white over black) might look white. I expect that is why the chart has paint as a possibility with white split x white split. If they both were actually homozygous dominant white they should have 100% homozygous dominant white offspring. Black split x white being able to produce black is similar, probably the white is actually a paint when you get a black from this pairing.

I think paints being so poorly marked as to look white is not too uncommon which is probably why the chart is how it is?

Another much less common oddity with paints is sometimes two black from paints will produce a paint chick. I suspect perhaps in some cases a bird is genetically paint but for whatever reason the dominant white is inhibited and doesn't show. It's things like this that made some breeders believe paint was a recessive gene. In most cases it acts like you'd expect dominant white to act though and not like a recessive.

Thank you for your clear and thoughful answers as usual to my questions.
I have a feeling that even some paint breeders are confused about the genetics of these birds. Using the terminology "split" definitely makes it sound like paint is recessive. Need to come up with a better word for the paints that look black or white, but are not. I know phenotype and genotype would work, but still would not really explain it.
I am getting paint, lavender and BBS hatching eggs. I hope the breeder marks the eggs or I will not be able to tell the different black chicks apart: Black from the BBS, black split to lavender and black "split" to paint!

 

[LynnaePB]

Thank you for your clear and thoughful answers as usual to my questions.
I have a feeling that even some paint breeders are confused about the genetics of these birds. Using the terminology "split" definitely makes it sound like paint is recessive. Need to come up with a better word for the paints that look black or white, but are not. I know phenotype and genotype would work, but still would not really explain it.
I am getting paint, lavender and BBS hatching eggs. I hope the breeder marks the eggs or I will not be able to tell the different black chicks apart: Black from the BBS, black split to lavender and black "split" to paint!

You're very welcome! I probably got a bit long winded though, I tend to do that!

I agree calling them splits makes things pretty confusing! I've seen a lot of breeders using that term still. I think some breeders got in the habit early on before the genetics were very well understood and now many new breeders pick it up since it was and is still used often. I see breeders who don't like the term "split" in regards to white and black resulting from paint breeding simply calling them "white from paint" or "black from paint". That's also what I call them whenever I am selling any.

I hope the breeder marks those eggs for you too, it would drive me crazy not knowing which black was which!