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.
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.
I will do some research on them to figure out which gene(s) is/are responsible! If it’s enough content to do a full video, I will. If not, I might just make a community post about it. 🙂
@@CedarShadeFarm I'm holding you to this. Just subbed and put on all notifications lol. It's all so fascinating. I ordered both male and female dark brown and blue egg layers. A male bl.cp. maran, male Ameraucana, female cuckoo marans and some True Blues. Already have white and lite brown layers. I'm so excited about the future possibilities of all the different eggers I can make over time 👍🙏✌️
@@kylemartin832 That is so exciting! And please do. 😂 Kidding season is about to start here with our goats next week, but I could try to get one out before then!
@@CedarShadeFarm No rush, I'm in it for the long haul. Goats can be a handful from what I hear so concentrate on them. Plus, those baby birds I ordered won't be here till May. Happy New Year 🎊 and good luck with the kidding this year 🐐
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?
Hi! Thank you so much! It’s hard to determine without seeing a photo, but if I had to guess, it could be Mahogany. Mahogany is an autosomal gene that lets red extend further into black, and darkens it. 🙂 And it is dominant, which would explain why your dark rooster bred to a normal hen made dark chickens. That would be my first guess, but I’m not at all familiar with a variety called dark gold. Feel free to send me photos! 🙂 My email is cedarshadefarmnj@gmail.com.
This is so complicated but you explain it very well, thank you!
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.
Finally, I run into a video on silver/gold chickens that makes sense in theoretical sense as opposed to show stuff.
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.
I will do some research on them to figure out which gene(s) is/are responsible! If it’s enough content to do a full video, I will. If not, I might just make a community post about it. 🙂
Yes, YES Please, please.❤
Could you make a video explaining egg color genetics 🧬?
I am working on it currently! 😁
could you do a video about the genetics of Easter eggers, Americanas, Aruconas, tuffs, and egg color?
Yes!! Thank you for the suggestion! It’s a lot to cover so I’ll most likely put it into 3-4 parts. 😁
@@CedarShadeFarm I'm holding you to this. Just subbed and put on all notifications lol. It's all so fascinating. I ordered both male and female dark brown and blue egg layers. A male bl.cp. maran, male Ameraucana, female cuckoo marans and some True Blues. Already have white and lite brown layers. I'm so excited about the future possibilities of all the different eggers I can make over time 👍🙏✌️
@@kylemartin832 That is so exciting! And please do. 😂 Kidding season is about to start here with our goats next week, but I could try to get one out before then!
@@CedarShadeFarm No rush, I'm in it for the long haul. Goats can be a handful from what I hear so concentrate on them. Plus, those baby birds I ordered won't be here till May. Happy New Year 🎊 and good luck with the kidding this year 🐐
@@kylemartin832 Thank you!!
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?
Hi! Thank you so much!
It’s hard to determine without seeing a photo, but if I had to guess, it could be Mahogany. Mahogany is an autosomal gene that lets red extend further into black, and darkens it. 🙂 And it is dominant, which would explain why your dark rooster bred to a normal hen made dark chickens.
That would be my first guess, but I’m not at all familiar with a variety called dark gold. Feel free to send me photos! 🙂 My email is cedarshadefarmnj@gmail.com.