Silkie Color Genetics

[sean_wonder]

I don't want to post a picture of his birds without his knowledge, but my friend has a bunch of Silkies that had a black mother and a buff father... and they all came out black with buff "collars" and some more buff feathering on their bellies. Could anyone explain why that is? Incomplete dominance? I'm so curious and don't really know how to determine how those genes work.

 

[Amer]

There are a lot of genes that aren't as dominant as you might think. A lot of times a gene is considered dominant because its affect predominates even though you can see the affect of the other allele. While Extended Black is mostly dominant over the other e alleles, the buff pattern is caused by usually Wheaten with a variety of different genes that extend gold pigment that are generally classed as mostly dominant. In the offspring, the black extension genes tell the bird to make more black and gold extension genes tell the bird to make more gold so you get a compromise in the offspring that is neither one nor the other.

 

[sean_wonder]

There are a lot of genes that aren't as dominant as you might think. A lot of times a gene is considered dominant because its affect predominates even though you can see the affect of the other allele. While Extended Black is mostly dominant over the other e alleles, the buff pattern is caused by usually Wheaten with a variety of different genes that extend gold pigment that are generally classed as mostly dominant. In the offspring, the black extension genes tell the bird to make more black and gold extension genes tell the bird to make more gold so you get a compromise in the offspring that is neither one nor the other.

So it is incomplete dominance between Extended Black and Wheaten? Any reason why the buff might be concentrated around the neck and keel?

 

[Amer]

So it is incomplete dominance between Extended Black and Wheaten? Any reason why the buff might be concentrated around the neck and keel?

You could say that but incomplete dominance is kind of a spectrum. If you crossed a black and wheaten you'd get a black with gold edging on the hens, or a gold hackle, shoulder, and saddle on the males.
However, buffs also have Ginger and other genes which are often called dominant but they are not completely dominant.
The reason why the buff is at the front of the bird is because depending on the level of gold pigment present, there is an order of how it is distributed on the birds. If simplified, gold pigment is distributed on first the head/neck/shoulders/saddle, then the breast, then the body, then the tail. Black pigment is the hardest to get rid of on the tail.
However, other genes can modify this. Ginger which is found in buffs, especially wants to remove black from the breast and replace it with gold so that's why buffxblack crosses will have gold breasts.

 

[sean_wonder]

Wow, that's really neat!! Where did you learn all this? I'd love to read more about it and get a more comprehensive understanding, but not a clue where to begin. =]

@Amer

 

[Amer]

Wow, that's really neat!! Where did you learn all this? I'd love to read more about it and get a more comprehensive understanding, but not a clue where to begin. =]

@Amer

Just click the link in my signature for more information...

 

[Slothinc]

Can I ask what you think of this bird @Amer ? She hatched pure black. Now she is kind of a dull black/almost even brown but maybe it’s sun bleaching. And she has the gold on the head neck and chest but not saddle area. It seems to be a very clean line at the back of the neck but a little muddled in the front.

 

[Amer]

Silkie feathers are hard to interpret but I had a hen like that once. She was a cross of black and wheaten
However, the gold on her was more extensive while yours seems to turn solid black towards the tail.
Your hen might actually be gold birchen, if such a thing exists in Silkies. Silver sussex are silver birchen with other genes that make the silver go farther

 

[Slothinc]

Silkie feathers are hard to interpret but I had a hen like that once. She was a cross of black and wheatenView attachment 4101320
However, the gold on her was more extensive while yours seems to turn solid black towards the tail.
Your hen might actually be gold birchen, if such a thing exists in Silkies. Silver sussex are silver birchen with other genes that make the silver go farther
View attachment 4101327

Thank you! I have always kind of just said that she is gold birchen, just for completely lack of knowing what else may be going on. It does seem strange because I have never ever seen birchen in a silkie before. But I guess it can happen.

This girl is 5 years old and I bought hatching eggs from a local breeder who just had mixed color silkie pens. So I have no clear idea of how she came to be. I don’t know what birchen can produce when crossed with other colors but maybe I should look it up. If she was bred to black, do you know if the birchen pattern would pass on?

 

[Amer]

Thank you! I have always kind of just said that she is gold birchen, just for completely lack of knowing what else may be going on. It does seem strange because I have never ever seen birchen in a silkie before. But I guess it can happen.

This girl is 5 years old and I bought hatching eggs from a local breeder who just had mixed color silkie pens. So I have no clear idea of how she came to be. I don’t know what birchen can produce when crossed with other colors but maybe I should look it up. If she was bred to black, do you know if the birchen pattern would pass on?

I actually don't know if she's birchen. The thing is, black can be Extended Black based or Birchen (or partridge) so it's hard to say if Birchen is hiding in the Silkie genome. As you can see with my hen blacks with gold leakage can look like that too (but maybe Dominiques like her mother are Birchen based! I don't know). Extended Black is dominant over Birchen though.