Silver or Gold base chicks

[Cesar Villegas]

Hi there,

Here is a picture two different colored chicks that ive hatched out. The father is white (not sure if its silver base) and  Rhode Island Red female.

I know that silver and gold are sexlink. So if the father is silver base, his daughters will be as well (S/+). And the male offspring will be (S/s)

My problem is I cant tell which would be considered silver and gold. Im a little stumped on this. I never hatched out chicks with e+ or eb pattern before.

I guess what Im trying to figure out, which of these would be considered pure silver. Can anyone chime in please?


"click on photo for better view"

[Mike Gilbert]

The ones with more distinct markings are probably females, and the ones with more fuzzy, less distinct markings are probably males.   This is based on my work with the partridge variety in Chanteclers and the silver penciled variety in Dark Brahma bantams. 

[John W Blehm]

So if the father is silver base, his daughters will be as well (S/+). And the male offspring will be (S/s)

Notice with your chicks both daughters and sons will be silver (S) and even though the boys will also be half gold that silver is dominant over gold and they won't look much different than the pure silver girls.  It will be difficult to sex them by color.  To get the most contrast in chick down color it is best to go with a gold (s+) male over silver (S) females, when wanting to produce color sexable chicks.  This way the daughters will stand out as pure gold (s+/-) and the sons will look mostly silver, being silver/gold (S/s+).
Also check out this topic... http://ameraucanaalliance.org/forum/index.php?topic=655.0
Here are three photos of week old bantam Vorwerk and Lakenvelder chicks to show the colors.  With these the chick down on their heads indicates silver or gold.  The last one is a silver/gold cockerel, I think.  Notice his down looks almost as silvery white as the silver chick, but his wing feathers aren't as silvery white.

[Cesar Villegas]

John, you make a great point. I forgot that Silver (S) was dominant over Gold (s).

I assumed you could tell by the pictures you posted over your diocese cock over a buff hen. There was a slight difference when you posted pictures of chicks from that cross

[Cesar Villegas]

Here are some updated pictures of the two different type chicks.

Im guessing the first picture with the prominent wild type (e+) markings is silver, while the second picture with the less prominent marking is golden S/s. Correct me if Im wrong?

[Mike Gilbert]

And that would comport with the gender identification method I told you before.   The fuzzier marked chicks will be males, and the sharply defined striping females.