White silkie with pink skin

[Debbie292d]

The paint that you will breed to white - is it a dominant white?? If recessive you might find yourself in the same position that I am in. I think my paint mama might have one recessive white gene. Which is throwing off what I expect from breeding her!

If you breed paint to dominant white you will get 1/2 paint and 1/2 dominant white chicks.

But if you breed paint (if the paint bird doesn’t carry recessive white) to recessive white, you should get 1/2 paint chicks but the spots may not be black, and 1/2 not paint, but showing whatever is hiding under the recessive white (partridge, blue, or black etc) and all chicks will carry one recessive white gene. It would be a step backwards for sure in a paint breeding program.

I think my paint hen might be the one carrying recessive white. If you had a paint carrying recessive white and bred to a recessive white thinking that it was dominant white, half of the chicks would be white, but they would be recessive white. And it would be very hard to get back to paints.

I can’t do paint to paint yet, as I just gave away a paint cockerel (but he was a cross, not pure silkie.) but I am hoping to get a nice paint cockerel in the future. And some nice paint pullets to replace my older paint girl, the one who might carry the recessive white

These two paints are from eggs from a show-quality breeder about an hour away. She's where I got my very first chicks from, too, but lately, I just get eggs from her.

I have no idea whether recessive or what, so thus I have to just breed them to see what they make. Then, the white pen I was going to try, by all accounts, those whites should be dominant, but those would need to be tested too.

Thus why I said this bites that the best I can do this year is to get 50% paints. I'll be keeping a couple of whites hoping one turns out a rooster as I'm pretty sure these two are both pullets. They're 4 months old so I better be!

If for some reason I wind up with no dominant white here, so be it. I'll just deal with it.

 

[Slothinc]

These two paints are from eggs from a show-quality breeder about an hour away. She's where I got my very first chicks from, too, but lately, I just get eggs from her.

I have no idea whether recessive or what, so thus I have to just breed them to see what they make. Then, the white pen I was going to try, by all accounts, those whites should be dominant, but those would need to be tested too.

Thus why I said this bites that the best I can do this year is to get 50% paints. I'll be keeping a couple of whites hoping one turns out a rooster as I'm pretty sure these two are both pullets. They're 4 months old so I better be!

If for some reason I wind up with no dominant white here, so be it. I'll just deal with it.

Unless your white boy was “from a paint pen” or specifically sold as dominant white, he is almost certainly a recessive white. Recessive white is much more common in silkies unless they are from a paint breeding program.

If you test breed to the white boy, (and if he is recessive) just be aware that you will most likely get some paint chicks, but every chick from that pairing will carry a recessive white gene. So if you determine from test breedings that he is a recessive white, then I would cull every chick from that pairing, even the paints. As recessive white popping up in the future will throw you off! (As it is doing to me, right now )

If I had two nice paint hens, I would put them with a nice black male that hopefully doesn’t carry recessive white. The first generation will be 1/2 black 1/2 paint. Then breed those paints together or back to mom to get dominant white chicks. It is a good way to ensure that you are working with dominant white. And since it is likely that your current white boy is recessive, it will save having to cull an entire generation, and a lot of guesswork.

I’ll be interested to follow along with whatever you decide to do!! Paint silkies are seriously the cutest!!!

 

[Debbie292d]

Unless your white boy was “from a paint pen” or specifically sold as dominant white, he is almost certainly a recessive white. Recessive white is much more common in silkies unless they are from a paint breeding program.

If you test breed to the white boy, (and if he is recessive) just be aware that you will most likely get some paint chicks, but every chick from that pairing will carry a recessive white gene. So if you determine from test breedings that he is a recessive white, then I would cull every chick from that pairing, even the paints. As recessive white popping up in the future will throw you off! (As it is doing to me, right now )

If I had two nice paint hens, I would put them with a nice black male that hopefully doesn’t carry recessive white. The first generation will be 1/2 black 1/2 paint. Then breed those paints together or back to mom to get dominant white chicks. It is a good way to ensure that you are working with dominant white. And since it is likely that your current white boy is recessive, it will save having to cull an entire generation, and a lot of guesswork.

I’ll be interested to follow along with whatever you decide to do!! Paint silkies are seriously the cutest!!!

Gads, I just checked my paint notes, and you're right. I can't just put one of these paint pullets with a white rooster that did not come from a paint pen!

Since I'm ordering two four month old pullets from Bobbi, I had to also take two roosters. I should ask her if she's got a paint rooster. As it was, she was going to send a blue rooster and a lemon cuckoo. She's not shipping until we know the temps will be decent but it's overnight shipping.

 

[Slothinc]

Gads, I just checked my paint notes, and you're right. I can't just put one of these paint pullets with a white rooster that did not come from a paint pen!

Since I'm ordering two four month old pullets from Bobbi, I had to also take two roosters. I should ask her if she's got a paint rooster. As it was, she was going to sent a blue rooster and a lemon cuckoo. She's not shipping until we know the temps will be decent but it's overnight shipping.

That is such a great idea!!! Getting a paint boy from Bobbi would give such a great head start, and you could breed him to your lovely girls, and you’d start getting dominant white chicks in that first generation!! I hope she has a paint boy for you

If you can’t get your hands on a paint boy, a good black would be the best second choice for your paint girls!

 

[Slothinc]

I finally figured out what is likely going on!!!! Posting here just in case anyone in the future has a similar question.

I had a 3rd silkie chick hatch with pink skin, and it’s a blue chick!! Something I have never seen before. So I really wanted to know what is going on. And I think I figured it out.

I had a black frizzled satin boy that hatched early this year. I incubated a few of the eggs he fertilized before I rehomed him.

I ended up with a black frizzled silkie NN boy which I kept for awhile. I didn’t know which hen he came from, he could have been from any of them really, since his dad was a black NN frizzle. I had actually kind of forgotten that he was out of my hens rather than a shipped egg.

Fast forward to now, my paint NN hen is 4 years old and was from a shipped egg herself so I don’t know parentage. Thus far I have hatched 3 of her eggs and 1 is a paint NN with dark skin, and 2 are NN with pink skin, one recessive white, one blue. I also hatched another chick from my olive egger who has dark skin. The same rooster is the father, and the chick was recessive white with pink skin!

So I figured out, my NN paint hen carries recessive white despite showing dominant white. She also carries the gene for white skin, or rather, she only has one fibro gene.

She must be the mother of this rooster that was now bred back to her (not intentionally, my bad!) and now this rooster carries recessive white and has only one fibro gene, so he inherited both of these from his mother!

Now when these two were bred to each other, 25% of the chicks won’t carry a single fibro gene so they will have pink skin. Also 25% of the chicks will get two copies of recessive white and express recessive white!

My olive egger also only carries one fibro gene, and she carries recessive white (father was recessive white silkied EE, mother was blue cuckoo marans) So by the same logic, 25% of her chicks with this roo will be recessive white and 25% have pink skin.

Mystery solved!! Pics of the chicks in question. It may also be possible that some of these could have one fibro gene, I’m not sure if that can cause skin to darken later or not. But feeling much better now knowing what is going on, as I was beyond confused at first.