Silver gene paint silkies

[Kfur22]

Hey y’all,

I hatched out some paint eggs last spring. I got the normal paint, white, and black. But two of the chicks came out silver. One was more creamy and ended up turning white. The other turned silver/grey(I don’t really understand the difference). Is she considered lavender? Or just grey? I asked the breeder who said they probably had two silver genes. So I have a paint rooster and the grey hen plus paint hens. I have been hatching babies and most of my blacks hatch out with a silver sheen. Some hatch out pure black and I assume those are the ones from my paints. So my question is, are the blacks that hatch from my grey hen, splits? If I breed a rooster back to her, can I get pretty grey babies?
chicken genetics confuse me to no end! I would just love to have another silkie with her coloring!
thanks!
Pictures of said girl attached!

 

[drumstick diva]

Afraid I know nothing about color genetics in chickens. But, am sure other folks do know.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Your "grey" is a blue and your one that "turned white" is a splash. They have nothing to do with being silver. And they aren't lavender or splits.
Look up BBS breeding. With a black paint rooster when bred to a blue it will produce blacks, blues, black paints and blue paints.
When bred to the splash it will produce blues and blue paints.
Your questions got confusing so if this doesn't answer any ask again.

 

[Kfur22]

Your "grey" is a blue and your one that "turned white" is a splash. They have nothing to do with being silver. And they aren't lavender or splits.
Look up BBS breeding. With a black paint rooster when bred to a blue it will produce blacks, blues, black paints and blue paints.
When bred to the splash it will produce blues and blue paints.
Your questions got confusing so if this doesn't answer any ask again.

I guess I didn’t realize you could get blue from paint pens? I thought paint was entirely different then BBS. My breeder only had paintxpaint and paintxblack split pens. I know with paints they are either silver based or gold based, and I hatch out both depending on which paint mama they came from. I guess I’m even more confused now!

 

[The Moonshiner]

Lol ya me too.
Paints are just one copy of dominate white over black. But some have paints with white over blue. And you can do chocolate, lavender, etc also.
I don't know what black "splits" mean. Theres nothing in paint breeding to be split to.
Every bird is either silver or gold based but it doesn't matter in a black, blue etc color because neither would be showing. And Idk how you would know which your hatching on black, blue or paint chicks.
You do have blue and it didn't come from a straight paint or paint x black breeding. One of its parents had to be carrying and showing blue (or splash).

 

[LynnaePB]

I agree the silver one looks like a blue (a very pretty light one). The chicks with the silver hue from her are likely also blues (just darker than her).

I do think that the one who feathered out white is indeed a silver based white though. Silver based recessive whites look like that in silkies, I've had a few.

Mostly that darker smokey color as chicks is associated in males carrying two copies of silver. However it is possible in females too and they only carry one ground color gene.

I hatched out a cute little silver gene white girl from paint eggs. Here she is as a chick and then later as a pullet. And here are two of her offspring that looked similar to her as a chick and also feathered out a crisp white color (I've only hatched out two from her that looked like her, they both ended up female as well).

Paint is still a relatively new variety in silkies. Recessive white, partridge, and blue can sometimes hide in paint lines. In the case of blue it's not so much hiding (as it isn't recessive) as it can just be really tough to tell a dark blue from a black sometimes without test breeding. A breeder can have what appear to be paints and blacks and some may actually be blue or blue paint.

 

[Kfur22]

Thanks for your responses! So I’m guessing then one of my breeders blacks must of been dark blue. My untrained eye only sees grey when I look at her I had a lavender Orpington and their feather color looked identical, so I had guessed she was a grey or lavender color. But! She is currently molting, and has some dark spots coming in now. So could she be a blue splash? If I breed her back to one of her blue/black babies I’ll get more blue right? Then I just have to hope I get light ones like her. here’s a few photos I just took of her. The brown is what she’s molting out.

 

[LynnaePB]

Thanks for your responses! So I’m guessing then one of my breeders blacks must of been dark blue. My untrained eye only sees grey when I look at her I had a lavender Orpington and their feather color looked identical, so I had guessed she was a grey or lavender color. But! She is currently molting, and has some dark spots coming in now. So could she be a blue splash? If I breed her back to one of her blue/black babies I’ll get more blue right? Then I just have to hope I get light ones like her. here’s a few photos I just took of her. The brown is what she’s molting out.

Seeing the new pictures of her I am thinking she is actually splash (like you were suspecting). If you breed her back to her blue babies you should get 50% blue and 50% splash offspring if she is splash. She sure did change a lot since she was a chick!

I love the light blue color she was when she was younger as well. light blues definitely can look a lot like lavender. I know some breeders have used light blues in their blue cream rather than lavender because it can look so similar (not a good idea as it doesn't breed true like the lavender does).

Gray is another variety altogether. I don't like the name "gray" as I think it contributes to a lot of confusion. Most people think gray and think of a uniform gray color. I see people frequently asking whether their blues are blue or gray based on the shade of blue. Gray is actually essentially a silver partridge (a partridge that has silver as the ground color rather than gold). It has a lovely gradient of color just like regular partridge does (just with silver and black rather than gold and black).

 

[Kfur22]

Seeing the new pictures of her I am thinking she is actually splash (like you were suspecting). If you breed her back to her blue babies you should get 50% blue and 50% splash offspring if she is splash. She sure did change a lot since she was a chick!

I love the light blue color she was when she was younger as well. light blues definitely can look a lot like lavender. I know some breeders have used light blues in their blue cream rather than lavender because it can look so similar (not a good idea as it doesn't breed true like the lavender does).

Gray is another variety altogether. I don't like the name "gray" as I think it contributes to a lot of confusion. Most people think gray and think of a uniform gray color. I see people frequently asking whether their blues are blue or gray based on the shade of blue. Gray is actually essentially a silver partridge (a partridge that has silver as the ground color rather than gold). It has a lovely gradient of color just like regular partridge does (just with silver and black rather than gold and black).

She has changed a ton! I think I can kind of see more of a blue look now that she’s molting then before. I’m kind of excited I noticed the spots! I love my paints, but I’m dying for some color variety now! I’m keeping one of the best babies I hatched out recently, hoping it’s a cockerel so I can do some experimenting in the spring!
Thank you for all the info! You have helped so much!

 

[CiaBia]

Lol ya me too.
Paints are just one copy of dominate white over black. But some have paints with white over blue. And you can do chocolate, lavender, etc also.
I don't know what black "splits" mean. Theres nothing in paint breeding to be split to.
Every bird is either silver or gold based but it doesn't matter in a black, blue etc color because neither would be showing. And Idk how you would know which your hatching on black, blue or paint chicks.
You do have blue and it didn't come from a straight paint or paint x black breeding. One of its parents had to be carrying and showing blue (or splash).

I don't mean to hijack anyones thread
but I just posted a question in this forum about my 'potentially' Chocolate silkie rooster with paints, I'd LOVE if you could take a peek if you happen to find the time!

And PS OP: your birds are gorgeous!