What the chicks of a Barred Plymouth Rock and a Silkie look like and lay, worked out from both breeds' standards.
A Barred Plymouth Rock hen crossed with a Silkie rooster gives you what keepers call a first-generation (F1) cross. The pullets should lay brown eggs: there is no blue gene in this cross. Every chick gets a single comb. Barring is sex-linked in this direction: the cockerels hatch barred and the pullets do not, so the chicks can be sexed on hatch day. About 50% of the chicks carry the dark skin and bones (fibromelanosis) of the Silkie. Expect a medium bird, a fair layer, hand-tame, the average of the two parents.
♂♀ Sex-linked cross: barring tells cockerels from pullets at hatch.
Preset to a Barred Plymouth Rock hen and a Silkie rooster. Change either side to see how the blue gene and the brown coat move the shell colour.
He never lays, so his blue gene is read from his mother's eggs.
Too uncertain to call: 0–100% blue-based (Olive if it is, otherwise Brown). Add lineage to narrow it.
Brown shade shifts with a hen's age, diet and stress, so identical genes still lay a little differently. Speckling and bloom are cosmetic and not modelled.
| Trait | Barred Plymouth Rock hen | Silkie rooster | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comb type | Single | Silkie | Single |
| Barring | Barred | Not barred | Barred 50% · Not barred 50%sex-linked: ♂ 100% barred, ♀ 0% barred |
| Fibromelanosis | Absent | Present | Present 50% · Absent 50%absent depends on a hidden carrier, so it could be 0%; a hatch or a known genotype can confirm (uncertain) |
| Leg color | Yellow | Slate | varies: polygenic, parents differ |
Barring and silver are carried on the Z chromosome, so which parent is which changes the chicks.
| Trait | Silkie hen | Barred Plymouth Rock rooster | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comb type | Silkie | Single | Single |
| Barring | Not barred | Barred | Barred 50% · Not barred 50%assumes the sire carries not barred, so it could be 0%; a hatch or a known genotype can confirm (uncertain) |
| Fibromelanosis | Present | Absent | Present 50% · Absent 50%absent depends on a hidden carrier, so it could be 0%; a hatch or a known genotype can confirm (uncertain) |
| Leg color | Slate | Yellow | varies: polygenic, parents differ |
A Silkie hen crossed with a Barred Plymouth Rock rooster gives you what keepers call a first-generation (F1) cross. The pullets should lay brown eggs: there is no blue gene in this cross. Every chick gets a single comb. Most chicks (50%) are barred. About 50% of the chicks carry the dark skin and bones (fibromelanosis) of the Silkie. Expect a medium bird, a fair layer, hand-tame, the average of the two parents.
| Trait | Barred Plymouth Rock | Silkie | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frame height | medium | small | medium |
| Egg production | good layer | light layer | fair layer |
| Broodiness | sometimes broody | very broody | often broody |
| Docility | calm | hand-tame | hand-tame |
| Bone density | medium | light | medium |
| Foraging skill | good forager | poor forager | decent forager |
| Cold hardiness | very cold-hardy | tender | cold-hardy |
Chicks land near the average of the two parents for these traits. Reaching one parent's extreme takes another generation of selection.
This is the breed-standard version. Add your flock, set a breeding goal, and the pairing engine ranks every hen and rooster you own against it. Free for up to 15 birds.
Checked September 2026. Hybrids and breeds no reference covers are marked approximate. Egg colour on these pages follows one rule: Brown is any shade a buyer would call brown; Cream/tinted is off-white.