Best Breeds to cross with Silkies? Silver gene in gray silkie?

[tlynns]

I'm wondering on the best breeds to cross with Silkies... maybe to get a throwback to the fluffy silkie pattern in 3rd generation when crossed with a straight feathered bird? Is that even possible to do?

My other question is about the silver gene, I love it! I read once somewhere that the Gray silkie does carry the Silver gene, but I'm not totally sure since it was only one site. Is the silver gene dominant or recessive and what other genes does it act on?

Here is a photo of my gray silkie pullet in question

Thank you in advance!

 

[The Moonshiner]

No comment on which breed. That's up to you.
Silkie feathers are a recessive gene so they need two copies to be silkie. One copy from each parent.
When crossed with straight feathered breed the offspring will have one copy. Cross them back to a silkie and you have a 50% chance of getting silkied feathered offspring.
If you cross the chicks together instead of to a silkie you'll have a 25% of silkied offspring.
Grey silkies are silver gene. Silver is dominate over gold and also sex linked.
Females only have one spot for the gene and will inherit it from their father. It doesn't matter which their mother is they won't inherit anything from them.
Whichever gene they get is what they are.
Males have two spots so like normal they inherit one from each parent. They can have two copies of silver and be silver. They can have two copies of gold and be gold or they can have one silver and one gold. Silver is dominate so they will look silver. When their adult feathers come in you will notice they aren't quite silver. They will have a yellowish to their feathers where a gold version would have gold.
Make sense?
Wanted to add a partridge silkie is the gold version of a grey I believe.

 

[nicalandia]

Wanted to add a partridge silkie is the gold version of a grey I believe.

I see a lot of people say that "Grey Silkies" are just the silver version of Partridge, but I would say that if that was the case the males should have black breast and black underside, but they have gray breast and gray colored underside?

For example Grey Silkie Pair

 

[The Moonshiner]

That does make sense.
Guess I was foolishly repeating what I've heard and should of said that instead of "I believe."
I've never had one or seen one in person.
What do you think they are?

 

[tlynns]

No comment on which breed. That's up to you.
Silkie feathers are a recessive gene so they need two copies to be silkie. One copy from each parent.
When crossed with straight feathered breed the offspring will have one copy. Cross them back to a silkie and you have a 50% chance of getting silkied feathered offspring.
If you cross the chicks together instead of to a silkie you'll have a 25% of silkied offspring.
Grey silkies are silver gene. Silver is dominate over gold and also sex linked.
Females only have one spot for the gene and will inherit it from their father. It doesn't matter which their mother is they won't inherit anything from them.
Whichever gene they get is what they are.
Males have two spots so like normal they inherit one from each parent. They can have two copies of silver and be silver. They can have two copies of gold and be gold or they can have one silver and one gold. Silver is dominate so they will look silver. When their adult feathers come in you will notice they aren't quite silver. They will have a yellowish to their feathers where a gold version would have gold.
Make sense?
Wanted to add a partridge silkie is the gold version of a grey I believe.

That does make a lot of sense! Especially all the stuff about dominant and recessive... I was always curious!
(Bear with me on this next part! ) So if I wanted to keep the silver gene in future chicks, I think you are saying that only cockerels would be able to inherit silver from her? From there, in 3rd gen, I could keep the cockerel and breed him to another silkie so then I would have 50% (or so) fluffy chicks, some of whom may carry the silver gene?

 

[tlynns]

I see a lot of people say that "Grey Silkies" are just the silver version of Partridge, but I would say that if that was the case the males should have black breast and black underside, but they have gray breast and gray colored underside?

For example Grey Silkie Pair

That does make sense.
Guess I was foolishly repeating what I've heard and should of said that instead of "I believe."
I've never had one or seen one in person.
What do you think they are?

I always thought that it was a patridge that just had a copy of the silver gene since my pullet did look like a patridge as a baby just with a gray undertone... but as adults they certainly don't look anything like patridges so I really have no clue!

 

[The Moonshiner]

That does make a lot of sense! Especially all the stuff about dominant and recessive... I was always curious!
(Bear with me on this next part! ) So if I wanted to keep the silver gene in future chicks, I think you are saying that only cockerels would be able to inherit silver from her? From there, in 3rd gen, I could keep the cockerel and breed him to another silkie so then I would have 50% (or so) fluffy chicks, some of whom may carry the silver gene?

If you bred a gold rooster to her then the cockerel chicks would carry one gold and one silver gene. All pullets would be gold.
When one of the cockerls are breed to a gold female the offspring would (on average) be 50/50 gold and silver pullets. And 50% gold/ 50% one copy gold one copy silver cockerels.
If he was bred to a silver hen still 50/50 with the pullets but 50% silver/ 50% one copy gold one copy silver cockerels.
Or if you bred a silver rooster to your hen all pullets would be silver and cockerels would be 50/50 silver or one copy each.

 

[tlynns]

If you bred a gold rooster to her then the cockerel chicks would carry one gold and one silver gene. All pullets would be gold.
When one of the cockerls are breed to a gold female the offspring would (on average) be 50/50 gold and silver pullets. And 50% gold/ 50% one copy gold one copy silver cockerels.
If he was bred to a silver hen still 50/50 with the pullets but 50% silver/ 50% one copy gold one copy silver cockerels.
Or if you bred a silver rooster to your hen all pullets would be silver and cockerels would be 50/50 silver or one copy each.

Thanks! I get it now Who knew this stuff could be so complicated!

 

[The Moonshiner]

Thanks! I get it now Who knew this stuff could be so complicated!

The big picture is a bit complicated but take it piece by piece and it isn't so bad.
Walk before you try to run.

 

[nicalandia]

This is the SOP description for the Gray Silkies:

Color - Male Plumage
Head
Dark Gray
Neck
Hackle - light gray streaked with darker gray.
Back
Even shade of chinchilla gray.
Saddle
To match hackle.
Tail
Main tail, sickles, and coverts same as back.
Wings
Shoulders, fronts, bows, and coverts same as back.
Primaries slaty gray with center shafting of darker shade.
Secondaries slaty gray.
Breast
Light gray.
Body & Stern
Same as back.
Shanks & Toes
Slaty blue
Undercolor
Smoky gray of a shade not darker than top color

********************************************************************


Going by that we can say that there is a mutation changing the black feathers on the male to a Chinchilla Gray color, after checking with the "Partridge" Silkies I would say that this mutation is not blue or a melanin diluter, but most likely a leakage of the gold/silver of sorts.

Most Partridge Roosters have alot of brown coloration on the breast(normal partridge roosters would have a black breast)

I would say a similar mutation that turns "Silver Sussex" breast into silver color lacing,

I would be very nice to see the mutation on smooth feathered chickens...