# Dark Buff Silkie roo...



## SilkieBoy (May 4, 2013)

Hello!
I was wondering what I will get when I cross a dark buff silkie roo to a white pullet? Any ideas.... I wonder if anybody has experience crossing these colours of silkies?

Thanks!


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## kaufranc (Oct 3, 2012)

I breed a Calico Silkie Roo with a White Silkie hen and hatched a Calico chick. Not sure if that is how it will go with you but this is the only one I got to hatch. Let me know if you do it!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Because of the white bird there is no way to tell what the chicks will look like. White is recessive in Silkies, for the most part, and that white covers other color genes that are present.


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## SilkieBoy (May 4, 2013)

so does that mean all the chicks will be white?


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## kaufranc (Oct 3, 2012)

I would think on my experience that it would be what the Roo is.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

No, the chick won't be white. It takes two recessives to make another white. 

A very good description of what recessive white is comes from a long time breeder of Silkies. Think of the white as a blanket covering all of the other colors that a white bird carries. Put a white with any other color, except true black, and the color could be anything that was hidden by the blanket.


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## SilkieBoy (May 4, 2013)

What does that mean in English!! What colours can I expect from them?


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

You'll have the breed them and see. I have a white sikie roo and he mated with a brown and black chicken, the babies ended up brown and black but totally different patterns than mom or dad.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

White Silkies have many other color genetics that the eye can not see. Enough English for you? If you put that white bird with any other color, than true black or recessive white, any one of those hidden colors could pop up.


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## SilkieBoy (May 4, 2013)

Okay, got it! I am excited to try and see!

Thank you for the advice!


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## kessy09 (Jun 16, 2013)

SilkieBoy said:


> Okay, got it! Try to be pleasant and welcoming robin416, this forum was created to help people, not to bash them.
> 
> Thank you for the advice!


There was definitely no bashing coming from robin. She was trying to answer your difficult question as best as possible. Color combinations and genetics aren't something that can just be answered simply. If anyone was disrespectful, it was you.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I will admit I have found my patience is not one of my strong suits and have found as I got older it got thinner. I am known to be blunt and not to hand hold. That's me. 

But I thought about this again last night. Try this. Your grandmother has a quilt on the bed. Its got a kazillion colors on it. Now toss a white blanket over the quilt, totally covering up those colors. That is a recessive white silkie. The white acts as a blanket covering all of the underlying colors.

And Kessy is exactly correct. Color genetics are mind boggling. I've been raising them for years and don't understand half of it. I know what you can and can't do when combining colors. And to toss in something else to make it more confusing there is an issue of melanizers that no one completely understands.


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## kaufranc (Oct 3, 2012)

So it should be best to breed pairs of the same color? Unless of course the person doesn't care what they get? I just love my Silkies, whatever color they produce!
Thanks for the extra explanation !


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Mixing colors is a hot button issue with most Silkie breeders. Those that are working towards that ideal bird. 

What is happening out there now is what appears to be a true color but when used for breeding bad surprises pop up making that awesome looking breeder useless. Often they've spent a considerable sum of money for the bird and now find they can not use it. 

I've always been of the mind, if its nothing more than a yard ornament, so what? Well, the what is beginning to show up in show breeder flocks. Again, its the hidden color genetics that can't be seen.

I talked to a long time breeder last week. She said its gotten so bad that true blacks can not be found any more. True black is just what it says, black. Not a black that came from blue and black breeding. Its very much like with the whites, that introduction of blue in to the black line does cause problems many breedings later. True blacks are used for breeding programs working on paints and the self blue (lavender). 

Of course blue and splash are used in splash breedings. Splash to splash will eventually wash out the markings on the offspring.


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## SilkieBoy (May 4, 2013)

Cool! No worries! I got it!! I am just surprised nobody has tried breeding a buff to a white! I love to experiment. I like to change things up and try to develop new colours !! I find breeding white to white is kinda boring, because you know exactly what you are going to get, there is no suspense or surprise in that! I guess everyone likes different things and has different objectives when breeding silkies! 

Cheers!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

This is where mixing colors can get pretty complicated. If you are trying to breed birds that meet the standard for Silkies and in accepted colors then mixing without understanding color genetics is not the way to go. If they are yard ornaments then I'm still hesitant to say don't do it. But its on the breeder to make certain that a new owner understands where that color came from. An example would be me selling solid colored birds from my paints. I probably got on people's nerves when I would repeat that the solid colored bird came from paint and they might end up with surprises. 

Breeding whites is actually a challenge when you're looking for that ideal conformation. The same is true of other colors. The very first thing needed for the breeding program is really good breeders. From them you can grow the ideal flock for type. 

Colors that are always pleasing to the eye are the splash and paints. Splash is pretty easy, paint is much more complicated since they've not been out there for a while.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

SilkieBoy said:


> I got it!! I am just surprised nobody has tried breeding a buff to a white! I love to experiment.
> 
> Cheers!


No, you don't quite have it yet. People have done it. That's how the Silkie world knows there is no good answer to what will happen with that combination. There is never any consistency to outcome because of the parents' unseen color genetics.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

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This is what you're looking for in type. Since she's walking away its hard to see. This is when white is exciting.


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## SilkieBoy (May 4, 2013)

Oh, my white girls are show quality, they look exactly like that! Cool!

Cheers!


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