5th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2014 Hatch-A-Long

[SoManyHats]

The RSL x SFH babies are adorable! Those are the little blondes and strawberry blondes with ****yellow*** legs. One of them is also the PB SFH....I would suspect one of the blonde ones, as I have a sibling here (smallish brown egg) and it is a blonde chick. The color will change dramatically over the next few days, which may clue you in.

The SFH mixes IMHO are problematic, as apparently the SFH coloration is dominant. So it will be difficult to ever pick out your PB SFHs, and selling any birds from that flock will also be problematic, as you don't want to pass them off as pure, but they should be excellent layers...my RSL mamas are the best layers I have!

Looks like my Australorope rooster is getting in there with those Marans...I had wondered....he is a GREAT rooster and his offspring will be delightful.

I'm not sure you got any SilkiexCochin crosses....they look like Silkies..how many toes do they have? Wonder if Pecky is doing his job...

Feather sexing the large chicks might work, can't tell from photos but IME does not work with Silkies or any chicks over 3 days of age.

I think of feather sexing like this: girls are Lililili, boys are llllll, but I have been fooled by some SFH....

Great information! All the ones I think are silkies/Silkie mix have 5 toes. What do you think the reddish with various shades of chipmunk pattern are? The are obvious in the last group photo. The ones that came out of the blue eggs?

 

[JDchicks]

The chicks are all cute!

Pick several of the cutest and post them into the now open cutest chick hatched thread for the contest!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/846149/fifth-annual-byc-nyd-hatch-a-long-cutest-chick-contest

What is the closing date for this? Some are still hatching theirs from yesterday.

 

[AK FLOCK SWAP]

What color Japs(Chabo) did you hatch?

I also set eggs from a whiteblktail hen too. i have on that appear to have some blue or grey ,,Will be interesting for them to gow out,,Set 11 i think i have 5 <<<<

 

[draye]

My Final Count:

62 eggs set on 12-11-2013 @ 12 noon Central Time.
Hatch:
15 Naked Necks
8 Naked Neck Crosses w/o NN
24 Easter Eggers
1 Light Brahma
2 Blue Copper Marans
50 Total
So I had 50 out of 62 eggs hatch. Approximately 61% hatch rate. That's about usual for me. Have had up to 82%.

 

[SunnySkies]

Great information! All the ones I think are silkies/Silkie mix have 5 toes. What do you think the reddish with various shades of chipmunk pattern are? The are obvious in the last group photo. The ones that came out of the blue eggs?

I kind of lumped them in with the blondies, but they could be RSLxSFH crosses. They kind of look like young RSL....wonder if they could be girls...

 

[chicken pickin]

I also set eggs from a whiteblktail hen too. i have on that appear to have some blue or grey ,,Will be interesting for them to gow out,,Set 11 i think i have 5 <<<<

Your rooster is very handsome. How are the legs on yours, medium/long?

Mine have long legs, Id like to one day introduce short legs to them.

 

[Penny Hen]

I had a splash polish that started out with no crest like your baby. She now has the nicest crest in my flock, so ya never know!

Stupid phone won't let me edit right...grrr

My cats are actually supposed to be barn cats charged with the duty of keeping critters out of my feed & coops. They do a very good job at this during the day. However, they are a bit spoiled and at least 2-3 of the 4 end up in our beds at night when the weather is nasty like it is now. There's nothing like having a blanket of kitties covering your legs on a cold winter night. The trick arises when you need to roll over...lol.
MY spoiled kitty sleeps on my pillow & purs in my ear. As soon as the sun comes up she & her 3 brothers are back outside protecting my feed & flocks & earning their keep.

The myth of cats stealing your breath has root in a factual behavior. As a kid I have woken to my cat sitting on my chest nose to nose with me breathing deeply and purring. I have had it happen with a different cat once after becoming an adult. This is interesting because I have apnea. As a kid I often would wake up in the middle of the night with the feeling that something was profoundly wrong only to suddenly gasp and realize that I had ceased breathing. The last attack I had that strong was in my early 20's but I am sure that I don't breath regularly. After reading how cats often come and purr near an injury of their person's and that it has been proven that the purring promotes healing, I have wondered if the cat's nose to nose behavior was because of my erratic breathing pattern and they were attempting to help. Given that it is a theory that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is caused by extreme apnea then cat's trying to help babies breath but unsuccessful would be blamed for causing the baby's death by "stealing it's breath".

 

[bantambury]

Oh good to know! Do Silkies always have 5 toes?

No.

Good ones do.

X2

Yes

No. Only quality silkies do.






@SoManyHats

Not all silkies have 5 toes. Quality silkies have 5 toes, very vital for showing.
My silkie hen has 6 toes. NOT good.


Some Silkie mixes can have five toes....don't let that fool you though.
My Silkie X Japanese Bantam has 5 toes.



None of my silkies had less or more than 5, so that is good.


In order to tell apart a silkie from your mixes:
silkies have large eyes, and are the only bird known to have black skin, black bones, and black flesh....yeah nasty. silkies normally have 5 toes, all black feet, feathered all the way down.




as you can see in my silkie mix, in between her toes are relly yellow, and also has a yellow comb and a yellow face.when she hatched she had white skin on her belly, and black on her back.....sooooo I named her milkshake. LOL




Here are proper silkie chick feet. (although one of her toes are slightly curled)




Hope this helps!
~Bantambury

 

[SilkieSensation]

• @bantambury here is an interesting page. http://www2.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Feather_sexing_practice.html If this is right I have a pullet!! Just google feather sexing day old chicks and there's all kinds of links. =)

AWESOME! ill check it out and test it! thanks for taking the time to look for me! I gotta love all my BYC friends here!

Actually, I had eggs in the incubator. But I was working extra hours for the holidays and my son was taking care of the hens. He failed to mention that my showgirl was broody. So, it was a surprise that she hatched 3 on new years day. She has her 3 black silkies chicks. And my frizzle has adopted them cause she curled up with my showgirl. The chicks are under both of them. And I have 4 (1 silkie and 3 d'uccles ) in the brooder box and 4 still trying to hatch in the incubator. Still hoping that one is a phoenix.

PHEONIX! I NEED TO SEE! I HOPE I HOPE! I HOPING FOR YOU! ON MY WISH LIST FOR EVER! I NEED! I LOVE the name monkey cat! hahahaha my cats have a 'movie theme' ~Simba (The Lion King) ~Hermione (Harry Potter) ~Phoebe (Dolphin Tale)

. Monkey got his name by climbing EVERYTHING. We had a Harry Potter theme going for a while. My daughter's ball python in Nagini. Our little buck goat is Cornelius Fudge. A hen named Hermione. We used to have chicks named Voldemort, Snape & Dumbledor. From Iron Man we have a doe goat named Pepper Potts. From Scooby-doo, geese named Fred, Velma & Daphne. Just sold this trio. Royal palms are Henry VIII, Cleopatra & Lady Di. Call ducks Neo & Trinity from Matrix.

 

[AK FLOCK SWAP]

Your rooster is very handsome. How are the legs on yours, medium/long?

Mine have long legs, Id like to one day introduce short legs to them.

My roo is pretty short,,this hen too, I have a longer legged whtblk tail hen,, I



want to ad more colors.. like these ...