Trying to get blue silkies

[Polish and Silkies]

Hello, this is my first post on BYC and confused with the color genetics in silkies. I was wondering if it’s possible to get blue silkies that don’t carry any hidden colors or that aren’t mixed colors, not using blue.

So I have a chocolate showgirl silkie rooster with 4 white hens and a splash hen. I’ve been getting chocolate and every once in a while, mauve. I have been getting some chicks that are blue color, but I don’t know how. I suspect that it’s the splash hen I have, and I can’t find any information about it. I would appreciate it if someone could tell me if they carry any color other than blue, or if I would have to find some blue silkies elsewhere. Thank you in advance.

 

[Debbie292d]

Chocolate x Splash = Mauve pullets and Blue split Chocolate cockerels

You can find out more from this link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...n-color-genetics.1219858/page-2#post-19511066

 

[Polish and Silkies]

Chocolate x Splash = Mauve pullets and Blue split Chocolate cockerels

You can find out more from this link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...n-color-genetics.1219858/page-2#post-19511066

Thank you so much! This will help me A TON. I’m just curious to what is referred to by “split”, when talking about a blue split chocolate does that mean it carries both chocolate and blue?

 

[Amer]

Thank you so much! This will help me A TON. I’m just curious to what is referred to by “split”, when talking about a blue split chocolate does that mean it carries both chocolate and blue?

It expresses blue since you need one copy of the blue gene to express but it also has the chocolate gene. However, since chocolate is sex-linked recessive, in roosters, you need two copies of the chocolate gene to express, so these blues can produce chocolate offspring.

 

[Polish and Silkies]

It expresses blue since you need one copy of the blue gene to express but it also has the chocolate gene. However, since chocolate is sex-linked recessive, in roosters, you need two copies of the chocolate gene to express, so these blues can produce chocolate

Oh ok, thank you! I’ll do more research on color genetics, they’re a little complicated!

 

[Polish and Silkies]

I took a look at my mauve chicks and I need a little help. They were all born the same color, a light blue/ grayish, but now they look different colors. I’m not sure if it’s just a different shade maybe, or if the color they’re born with doesn’t mean anything and they’re actually chocolate or blue instead.

1.

This one has weird lines going across the feathers on the wings, it’s hard to see them on camera but they’re very visible.

2.

This color is a little uneven, it looks like maybe but with chocolate patches, is that bad?

3.

This one looks like the one above, it was just more in the shade. It has more of an even color and the front is lighter than the sides.

4.

This one doesn’t look anything like my mauves, it looks too blue to me.

I have no clue why they all look different from either besides maybe the 2nd and 3rd one, even though they were all born looking exactly the same. Are they all the same color? Or are they different colors that were born weird?

 

[Debbie292d]

They perhaps all looked the same but had just a bit of tint to them as I have mauve chicks. It's hard to know exactly what our birds will be until they're at least 3 months old. I mean, we can pretty much assume when they're starting to feather out, but that changes many times so can't ever be sure. My chocolates are chocolate though, blacks are black, blue are blue, white are splash, and yellow are splash (my birds can't create a white chicken). The one's I don't know are beige or dark creme. They'll usually go a particular shade of mauve.

1 - looks like it could wind up being chocolate, or mauve.

2 - maybe a splash, almost could be calico.

3 - blue

4 - blue

And this is what I'm seeing off your camera and my computer, so I could see more of some color than another too.

Here was a recent hatch of mine. You can definitely see the blue in the left corner, a few chocolates, and the rest probably mauves or mauve splashes.

 

[Polish and Silkies]

They perhaps all looked the same but had just a bit of tint to them as I have mauve chicks. It's hard to know exactly what our birds will be until they're at least 3 months old. I mean, we can pretty much assume when they're starting to feather out, but that changes many times so can't ever be sure. My chocolates are chocolate though, blacks are black, blue are blue, white are splash, and yellow are splash (my birds can't create a white chicken). The one's I don't know are beige or dark creme. They'll usually go a particular shade of mauve.

1 - looks like it could wind up being chocolate, or mauve.

2 - maybe a splash, almost could be calico.

3 - blue

4 - blue

And this is what I'm seeing off your camera and my computer, so I could see more of some color than another too.

Here was a recent hatch of mine. You can definitely see the blue in the left corner, a few chocolates, and the rest probably mauves or mauve splashes.
View attachment 3890425

This is a group photo of them all together in the same lighting