Blue silkie rooster with a black silkie hen

What are the chances of getting any blues from these?

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think there are two kinds of blue in silkies. Self Blue and.....? to answer this question you would have to know the type of blue you have!

I don't know what the difference is?

OK, had a little look and found this:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080710174524AAwkVBK

If your silkies are Blue...then Blue x Black will give you both black and blue silkies at about a 50% ratio.

If your silkies are Self Blue (Lavender) They you will get only black but they will carry lavender. If you breed those offspring together you will get about 25% lavender.

Help me out, genetics people...am I right?

Thanks read the site you sent - WOW still am lost but have some better idea of the difference. Mine look more like a black with light gray/silver under

a blue is usually darker, the self blue are more of a light greyish color.

tx for all the help

Yes, exactly right, Sue. Lavender, being recessive, will pass on the allele, but the offspring won't express it (unless the other partner also carries that allele).

The conventional (and far more common) blue/black mating (a completely unrelated locus) yields 50% blue, 50% black offspring.

The Lav trait (self-blue), although trendy, often carries with it bad feather quality - they can be ragged and unattractive. I've seen lav birds that were plain ugly, but I hope that there's work to improve this, out there.

Thanks IPF. It is good to hear I am getting this right from our resident genetics guru.

Triple J has lavs and is looking to improve them. I suggested trying to find a good quality black. Do you have other suggestions? Would white help? The best quality silkies I have seen are white.