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Goldtops with white skin
Hi, breeding a few goldtops at the moment and I noticed today that a few had white skin instead of the usual black skin after the Silkie. The ones I noticed were male though and no females like that. I don't know if that's a coincidence or normal?
Have others seen this?
Just a bit worried that one of the roosters is carrying a weird gene or something like that. Anyone else that breed a good few goldtops seen this before? I was under the impression that everything would be black skin after the Silkie and the only difference in sex would be the down colour. Thanks
Tw
Wednesday, May 8th, 2024 Male chicks bred from silky x Sussex do have white legs.
If male chicks come with dark legs it means one or both of your breeding pair are not 100% pure
Thursday, May 9th, 2024 Dark skin is caused by fibromelanosis, a dominant gene. If your silkie is pure it will have 2 fibromelanosis genes, all its offspring will have one and show dark skin. If some of them aren't one of the silkies isn't pure.
Glyn
Thursday, May 9th, 2024 I knew I would get the white males and gold females but some of the males with white skin, I was scratching my head. I was sure that the black skin of the silky was dominant and would always come through.
Now they have slightly darker beaks than say a pure light Sussex but only slightly. But the legs would be very likea light Sussex. Only the males though.
Tw
Thursday, May 9th, 2024 How many chicks in total and what percentage light skinned? It is possible that the fact it is only males may be coincidental, as fibromelanosis isn't sex linked and I am not aware of any other genes that override it.
Glyn
Friday, May 10th, 2024 Out of roughly 40 I would say close to half were roosters and they all had white skin. 80% of them had the silky 5th tow but some had the usual 4. Interesting enough I seen someone on one of the Facebook groups trying to re-home two goldtop roosters and I noticed that they both had white skin too and one with 5 tows and one with 4. I don't know anyone else breeding but interesting too. Mine are definitely pure on both sides. I will be hatching a few hundred over the next few weeks so I will report back if it stays the same. But like you said, I thought that everything would have the black skin regardless and the only difference would be the down colour.
Tw
Friday, May 10th, 2024 I crossed speckled Sussex bantams with a silky rooster. All the male ckicks came with white legs. That was the only way of identifying the male from female at day old because the down colour was the same on both. I think once the female in the breeding pen has white legs and is pure breed you can sex at day old
Saturday, May 11th, 2024 One possibility is your line of silkies are dark skinned through the dermal melanin gene (recesive) rather than fibromelanosis gene (dominant) and the sussex have the sex linked white shank gene.
Glyn
Saturday, May 11th, 2024
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Goldtops with white skin
Hi, breeding a few goldtops at the moment and I noticed today that a few had white skin instead of the usual black skin after the Silkie. The ones I noticed were male though and no females like that. I don't know if that's a coincidence or normal?
Have others seen this?
Just a bit worried that one of the roosters is carrying a weird gene or something like that. Anyone else that breed a good few goldtops seen this before? I was under the impression that everything would be black skin after the Silkie and the only difference in sex would be the down colour. Thanks
Wednesday, May 8th, 2024
Male chicks bred from silky x Sussex do have white legs.
If male chicks come with dark legs it means one or both of your breeding pair are not 100% pure
Thursday, May 9th, 2024
Dark skin is caused by fibromelanosis, a dominant gene. If your silkie is pure it will have 2 fibromelanosis genes, all its offspring will have one and show dark skin. If some of them aren't one of the silkies isn't pure.
Thursday, May 9th, 2024
I knew I would get the white males and gold females but some of the males with white skin, I was scratching my head. I was sure that the black skin of the silky was dominant and would always come through.
Now they have slightly darker beaks than say a pure light Sussex but only slightly. But the legs would be very likea light Sussex. Only the males though.
Thursday, May 9th, 2024
How many chicks in total and what percentage light skinned? It is possible that the fact it is only males may be coincidental, as fibromelanosis isn't sex linked and I am not aware of any other genes that override it.
Friday, May 10th, 2024
Out of roughly 40 I would say close to half were roosters and they all had white skin. 80% of them had the silky 5th tow but some had the usual 4. Interesting enough I seen someone on one of the Facebook groups trying to re-home two goldtop roosters and I noticed that they both had white skin too and one with 5 tows and one with 4. I don't know anyone else breeding but interesting too. Mine are definitely pure on both sides. I will be hatching a few hundred over the next few weeks so I will report back if it stays the same. But like you said, I thought that everything would have the black skin regardless and the only difference would be the down colour.
Friday, May 10th, 2024
I crossed speckled Sussex bantams with a silky rooster. All the male ckicks came with white legs. That was the only way of identifying the male from female at day old because the down colour was the same on both. I think once the female in the breeding pen has white legs and is pure breed you can sex at day old
Saturday, May 11th, 2024
One possibility is your line of silkies are dark skinned through the dermal melanin gene (recesive) rather than fibromelanosis gene (dominant) and the sussex have the sex linked white shank gene.
Saturday, May 11th, 2024