LynnaePB
Free Ranging
I've seen those photos before and I just love the color of those birds! After seeing them a year or two ago I decided I wanted to try to replicate that color as well (and another tri color that the breeder who bred those was calling parti paints).
The birds you have pictured are called splash calicos (not a recognized color in silkies). Basically just splash with red leakage.
It's hard finding much information about them but after some digging I found out that particular breeder said she did not cross colors to get those birds, she managed to get a splash rooster that already had a lot of red leakage. I believe he came from another breeder (not sure how that other breeder got the splash with so much red though).
What I have in mind for starting my splash calicos is crossing in red partridge (since I already have some) with blue and splash birds (just splash would be faster but I only have one splash).
I'm guessing I'll have to breed out the partridge while keeping the red but hopefully that is doable (I don't know enough about the genetics to say if they can be separated well but I would think maybe with careful record keeping and breeding). I know partridge is recessive but I'm not as sure about the added red in red partridge. I've heard autosomal red is dominant so hopefully it is involved in the red in my red partridge silkies.
If I have too much trouble with the red partridge I might see if I can get a hold of some red silkies and cross those into blue and splash to see if it works better.
I wish I understood more of the genetics that go into making the splash calicos. It'll be interesting experimenting anyway, nothing like experiencing something first hand to learn. I'm sure it will take several generations before starting to see progress, it seems like a rather difficult color to reproduce.
