My opinion is that "less shell eggs" are not necessarily an indicator of calcium deficiency. The primary cause is the overly rapid calcium encapsulation of the yolk. This could be due to the yolk detaching too quickly, which could be a result of excessive lighting exposure to the retina. At the same time, the pressure of the egg, gravity, and other factors may force the hen to expel the eggs Premature yolk detachment: This can happen if the yolk is not properly attached to the follicle wall. Excessive lighting exposure to the retina: This can disrupt the hen's natural circadian rhythm, which can interfere with egg production.

Guineas are dumber than the silkies. I have both so I can testify about it.

Very helpful thanks!

so how do you know one chicken is dominant or recessive??

In a mixed flock of silkies and regular chickens, can you have one silkie and one regular rooster for 17 birds?

What breeders do you recommend?

these birds are hilarious. I have two older birds a lady was getting out of chickens. they don't forage like my others: they go into the forest and dig deep. they have their own place, have no desire to mix. now this spring a young crow brings a peanut to their coop entrance every day. not sure what'sgoing on. they've started laying last month, one four eggs a week, the other five. which I understand is prfetty good for silkies. I can SEE how people might specialize with these birds: they're different.

The only reason I believe you don’t see this false lacing in silkies is because the silky feathers are fluffy that you simply can’t make it out, this is true when one breeds in actual lacing genes such as with the partridge silkies as well. You will streaking of color in the plumage giving it a brindled effect but usually won’t be able to make out the pattern in the individual feathers. Now that part is a theory, however I can prove that blue silkies have the same lacing because I have 2 hens in my coop that are living proof. I have a Purebred Silkie rooster, He is Splash so all babies were blue. I don’t know who mom is (all the hens are not silkies though) but it doesn’t even matter because none of my hens are blue, and thus nobody carries a blue gene or we would’ve had a splash baby. We hatched 5 chicks, 3 males 2 females. Since they are satins and not true silkies, everyone had the false lacing plain as day. We obviously didn’t keep the boys but the girls are here to stay, are grown and living with their daddy now.

I recently went to a fur and feather show. While there, i purchased a 'breeding' pair of cuckoo silkies. The roo has a red comb and white feet, but the hen has black feet and a darker comb. I would like to continue to improve the cuckoo offspring with better combs and feet coloring. I do have some sop silkies and would like to know how to improve the colour of wattles and combs. Both have walnut combs. Thanks

Thank you. Your series is by far the most easily comprehended l have found .

I'd love a duck version of this series!

The Silver and Gold alleles are known for creating the White and Red we see on so many different chicken varieties, and are foundational in creating all the different chicken varieties we have today. They are often referred to as the ground color of a bird, because just like the E-Locus alleles, are the basis for every chicken variety. These Sex-linked alleles, both located on the S-Locus, are responsible for the color of the Pheomelanin or the Red pigment on chickens. As I've said before in other videos, the only two colors on a chicken are Black and Red. All the other genes either dilute, enhance, or change the distribution of, the Black and Red pigments. The E-Locus alleles controls the distribution of where the Black and Red will appear on the body, and the S-Locus alleles determine whether that Red will stay Red, like with Gold, or will be inhibited with Silver and turn it White, the absence of color. There are many color varieties out there that are identical in every way, with the except of whether they are based on the Silver or Gold allele, and having a good understanding of these alleles, will allow you to cross the types to get the desired color or type in the offspring you want when needed. This is especially helpful in breeds that only come in a few varieties, making the options limited. In this video I will go over how the Silver and Gold alleles work, a little bit into how Sex-linkage works, and six different Punnett squares with all the possibilities out there, of breeding Silver and Gold. Starting with the Silver allele, the Silver allele is incompletely dominant over Gold, and is denoted by a capital S. Birds that are pure for Silver should have nearly White Pheomelanin. The Silver Gene works by inhibiting the Red pigment, causing the White, which is the absence of color. It is important to keep in mind though that the Silver Gene has no effect on autosomal Red, which I will talk about more in a bit. The Gold allele is recessive to Silver and is denoted by a lowercase s+ plus, with a plus sign representing that Gold is the wild type allele found in Red Junglefowl, a variety of Red or Gold Shades can be made, depending on what other dilution or enhancement genes are present, including autosmal Red. When a male is heterozygous for the Silver and Gold alleles, this normally comes out as a Straw color, an intermediate between the two. One very important thing to know about the Silver and Gold alleles is that they are Sex-linked. If you haven't already watched my video explaining how Sex-linked genes work, I recommend pausing to watch that before coming back here. I go into a lot more detail about the hows and whys of Sex-linkage there. The S-Locus is located on the Z chromosome. Males have two Z chromosomes, meaning they can be homozygous for Silver, homozygous for Gold, or heterozygous for both. Hens only have one Z and one W chromosome. This means that they can only be hemizygous for Silver or hemizygous for Gold. Hens cannot be a heterozygous for Silver and Gold because they only have one Z chromosome, meaning hens cannot ever be this Straw color. In addition to that, hens only pass their Silver or Gold alleles on to their sons. They can't pass them on to their daughters because in order for their daughters to be female they must receive the W chromosome from their mom. There is one other thing I'd like to mention before going on to the Punnett squares, and that is autosomal Red. Although there have been some proposed ideas, we aren't entirely sure how autosomal Red works. We know that it is inherited, and with a lot of time in patience, it can be bred out. However it is not affected by the Silver and Gold alleles. The reason I mentioned this is because if you ever see Red on a Silver bird, like what you see in Salmon Faverolles, or perhaps a Straw colored neck on a homozygous Silver bird, that is probably because of autosomal Red. However, keep in mind that other genes and a lot of selective breeding, could be used to create color similar to this too. The Mahogany gene on a Silver based bird, could turn the White Red, and the Dilute, Lemon, or Champagne Blonde gene, on a Gold base bird, could also dilute the Red to a Straw color. Again, selective breeding is key in finding the exact shade you want. With all of that out of the way, let's move on to the Punnett squares. The first pairing we will look at is simple, a homozygous Silver male, bred to a hemizygous Silver female. From this pairing, 100% of the offspring will be Silver, with the males being homozygous for Silver, and the females being hemizygous for Silver. The big takeaway here is that you can never get a Gold bird, when breeding two Silver Birds together. Similar to the first, the second pairing is a Gold male bred to a Gold female, and just like Silver, 100% of the offspring will be Gold, with the males being homozygous and the females being hemizygous. Again key takeaway here is that you can never get a Silver by breeding two Golds together. The third pairing, is a Silver male, bred to a Gold female. In this pairing, 100% of the female offspring will be Silver. This is because female chicks only get a Silver or Gold allele attached to the Z chromosome from their dad. They don't inherit any Silver or Gold alleles from their mom, because they had to get a W chromosome from their mom in order to be females. Of the male offspring, because they got a Silver or Gold allele from each parent, 100% of them will be Silver split to Gold, or Straw colored. The fourth pairing is a Gold male bred to a Silver female. In this pairing, 100% of the female offspring will be Gold, because they get it along with their dad's Z chromosome, and 100% of the male offspring will be heterozygous Silver split to Gold and Straw colored, because they get one Z chromosome from each parent. The fifth pairing is a lot more complex. This pairing is a heterozygous Silver split to Gold male, bred to a Silver female. Because the dad in this pairing has one Silver allele and one Gold allele, 50% of his daughters will be Silver and 50% of the daughters will be Gold. Remember, the mom in this pairing has no effect on the Silver or Gold alleles of their daughters. For the male offspring, 50% of them will be Silver, by getting one Silver allele from their dad, and one from their mom, and 50% of them will be Silver split to Gold, with a Gold allele from their dad and a Silver allele from their mom. The sixth and final pairing is a heterozygous Silver split to Gold male bred to a Gold female. Because Silver is incompletely dominant, sometimes it can be a little hard to tell if a male is homozygous Silver, or Silver split to Gold. If you have a male you're unsure about, this is a great pairing to use, since you can can get Gold offspring in either sex, meaning half the offspring should be Gold. Of course this is assuming you hatch a good number of chicks to get a good sample size. In this pairing, 50% of the female offspring will be hemizygous for Silver, and 50% will be hemizygous for Gold. Of the male offspring, 50% will be Silver split to Gold and 50% will be Gold. Overall, an understanding of the Silver and Gold gene, is very important in understanding how varieties are made. There are a lot of varieties out there that are identical in every way, except the Silver and Gold gene. Meaning, if you needed to improve on other traits, you could breed a Silver based bird to its nearly identical Gold based counterpart and vice versa. Some examples where this can be done is with Golden Laced or Silver Laced, Gold Spangled and Silver Spangled, Silver Duckwing and Black Breasted Red, which is genetically Gold Duckwing, Silver Birchen and Brown Red, which is genetically Gold Birchen, Partridge, which is Gold and Silver Partridge, and so much. As allways, if you ever have any questions, feel free to comment or contact me via any of the methods linked In the description. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you in the next video.

does it work the same way with feathers on legs vs no feathers on legs? thanks

Love these vids does all this apply to the leg/foot color as well as earlobe color

This is so complicated but you explain it very well, thank you!

I am doing some Rooster and chicken paintings and think this breed is going in my collection. I did not know this existed until recently! This will be fun to paint! Its crazy cute!!!😊❤

Cutie

Can you go over crossing chocolate mottled orphingtions to buff and or crossing a chocolate cuckoo to a mottled chocolate?

Your videos are awesome! I love your genetic videos! I have learned so much from them.

You got a new subscriber I am loving the video

Hello, I have always been confused with this , but you explained it so well. Do you have a book or site you recommend for more information on chick genes

Leaning so much from you. Thank you!!!

Thank you for sharing.

Love your videos. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Have you ever done a video on lacing and patterns and how they interact when breeding?

Watching you from Pakistan

My silkie had mites and lice ! I am new chick owner! He started to crow and his blue earlobes turned white, now after psp and other methods to eradacate , he is finally getting better . People should know how easy for them to get infected ! He was sick also! I got him and his mate at the same time , early fall she not as bad

Do baby chiks get some geens from the parents of they're parents i mean grandparents lets say black rooster with a black hen is there a chance to get some other colors out of they're babies ?

Yes, great info. Thank you

I don't need to "show" my birds. They are sooo cute I just want to show them off to friends.😊

I am also working with the BBS line of American Bresse. I am particularly trying to work with the Silvers. The silver is white laced on black and often with silver birchen roosters. I am wanting to maximize the silver pattern. The breed was originally silver from 150 years or so, so the genetics are floating around. They seem to be larger and have larger eggs as well, so, another reason to develop. any hints. I can send pics? The white color is the more dominant color for the breed due to their more developed meat genetics than the BBS birds.

I have a 7 month old silkie rooster, and from what I've seen, he's pretty smart and very independent.

I love your info. Bit your Wanna be background music is distraction. Do I act like Taylor swift or should I pay attention to your words

I just wanna say that at least 20 of the views on this video are from me. Your video explains the subject matter in such a clear and concise way. Thank you!

Finally, I run into a video on silver/gold chickens that makes sense in theoretical sense as opposed to show stuff.

Could you make a video explaining egg color genetics 🧬?

What if i have a white male and barred females? What's the outcome. Also vice versa.

Might be a silly question but would a black copper maran rooster and a cuckoo maran hen make all cuckoo roosters and black hens? Sex link dark egg layers would be awesome 👍🙏✌️

Could you do a video on Colored Dorkings? I am getting some in the spring. The Colored is a cross between a Dark Red and a Dark Grey. The hens that are colored have a straw colored feather on their body that is laced with black.

Great videos but it's too confusing with all the technical mumbojumbo I get lost in all of it but thanks for trying to help everyone out

could you do a video about the genetics of Easter eggers, Americanas, Aruconas, tuffs, and egg color?

i love your posts!!!! ive seen 'dark' gold in Phoenix. The cock and hen were both plainly gold. I know many people then would only know if a hen is gold by the pairing aka not by looks. I bought a pair from a Phoenix breeder and all chicks came out dark gold and i used 2 hens that were sold as gold and produced normal gold chicks. I crossed dark cock to normal hens as i said and got all dark gold chicks. Is 'dark' gold just an other modifier gene or am i completely clueless?

good information

Love these videos regarding genetics

Very informative! Please keep posting!

great information!

Loci is pronounced low·sai, not low·kai.

Keep uploading . Beard gene??

I love the info and the smooth explainatiin

This video was so useful in diving the genetics of my favorite mixed breed rooster, I thought he was a silkie and Orpington but now I know he’s likely got no silkie in him at all. I’m gonna watch all your chicken genetics videos- this is FASCINATING and easy to understand! THANK YOU!