Here were the 2 silkie x serama mixes at hatch
x2
I know that if a bird has a rare or outstanding trait which a breeder wants to continue, he/she can breed a daughter back to the father or son with his mother. I don't think people breed brothers x sisters because you'd tend to get more of the same and not really improve anything. I also don't think you can continue to "line breed" for generations because any genetic faults would only grow stronger. Most breeders add new, genetically unrelated birds to their flock to keep things going or they have a large breeding system of multiple pens (and lots of record keeping) to keep a special line of birds going. Adding new blood is far easier.
Thank you
They look like pullets to meHaving one of those days....
Got a mystery egg in the main coop. I think it may have come from a turkey. (For one reason or another, I never got around to processing them. It's just easier to keep them in the big coop with the chickens, than to try to fit them in our already over-stuffed freezer.)
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From left to right: Speckeled Sussex, Orpington, Leghorn, & ???? turkey?
The useless bantam coop has been a cacophony of noise. The bantam hen trio has been singing the egg song (but no eggs), Teddy's been crowing to accompany them, and the OEG has been going through her unusual noise repertoire. (She sounds nothing like a chicken.)
Our puppy got a hold of DS's sleeping bag & ripped a big hole in it. DS was pretty upset since it's his favorite, so DD decided to fix it...... with the stapler. LOL
My chicks are now 5 weeks. They still mostly look like females. I saw what looked like blood in the poop, so I've been treating with Corid in the water for the past 2 days. No other physical or behavioral symptoms. This morning I saw bright red blood in the shavings & quickly ordered a fresh package of Corid. I figured my batch was old & may not be working as well as it should. Has anyone ever had chicks with cocci & actually saw blood? If so, how long until it cleared up? In the past, I gave Corid anytime I had suspicion of Cocci but really only noticed diarrhea - never actual blood.
The silkie broody (Xansie) is molting & looking icky. Her nails were in need of a pedicure, so she had some spa time this afternoon. While soaking her feet, I pulled off a bit of clumped feathers & later realized that there was a blood feather. In hindsight, the bright red blood from this morning (& possibly the last 2 days) may have come from that toe feather. Time will tell.
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Here are some pics of the 5 wk old chicks:
Blue orp
It's a very large birds with thick legs, but I still think female. She's going to be HUGE.
White serama (now more beige... kind of reminds me of a Porcelain Mille Fleur) I think female.
Chipmunk serama
*** Please take a close look at this one. Mostly looks female (especially since seramas mature quickly) but those wattles still make me nervous! Much also depends on the camera angle. I see absolutely no male signs in the comb area, so I'm rather confused.
My turkeys are simply brown ones. The mystery egg is most likely from one of my two turkeys. The eggs were given to me by a friend as a little summer experiment. I gave away 3 turkeys and kept 2.
