Breeding silkied Cochin bantams to the Standard

[JacinLarkwell]

I

You must have very gentle broodies that you can get the babies away from them for inspection, photos, and banding.

It took me a week to get Superboy -- the little guy who showed his comb at 2 weeks old -- away from Mocha and Auntie (formerly Black/Yellow), without getting bitten so that I could band him.

I'm not sure if Auntie would draw blood, though she does an impressive puffed-out charge, but I know that Mocha would.

Have my first hen that's scary after her last egg hatch. Mine before her have never really done more than growl when I pull chicks out.

 

[kurby22]

I nearly lost one of my birds yesterday. I had rounded the April kiddos up to put them in their overnight cage, and I always count them as I put them in, but I came up short. Let them out again, put them back in to see if I just miscounted... nope, still short. So I took stock, and of course it's one of the pullets missing--not one of the potential keepers pictured above, fortunately, but one of the Gus x Blue girls pullets that's for sale.

After hunting around for a bit, I eventually spotted her, standing in the chest-deep (for her) water of the duck pool. I have no idea how she got in there short of her simply squeezing through one of the 2x4 inch openings in the fence. She was absolutely frigid, soaked to the bone, and shaking so hard. I was so sure she was a goner, poor baby! Thankfully, after drying her off with a hairdryer and wrapping her in a towel to help her warm up, she perked back up and even ate a little bit before roost time. I kept her in overnight just to be sure she'd be okay, and she's back with her broodmates now this morning.

I had my sister hold her wrapped in the towel while I finished closing up coops last night, and now she wants me to keep her. She is an awfully cute little pullet... But, of course, they all are. Hopefully she's learned her lesson about squeezing through fences!

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Ohhh she’s a pretty baby! I’m so glad she’s okay!

 

[3KillerBs]

I

Have my first hen that's scary after her last egg hatch. Mine before her have never really done more than growl when I pull chicks out.

The first day Mocha had the babies off the nest I walked nearby to put down an open waterer for them and she flew up at me like a small, mottled dragon.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

The first day Mocha had the babies off the nest I walked nearby to put down an open waterer for them and she flew up at me like a small, mottled dragon.

Yep, Golden Child is the same way.

 

[3KillerBs]

Yep, Golden Child is the same way.

It's amazing that Mocha allows Auntie to share the babies.

Nugget did most of the actual sitting, but she's much lower in the pecking order and never stood a chance.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

You must have very gentle broodies that you can get the babies away from them for inspection, photos, and banding.

It took me a week to get Superboy -- the little guy who showed his comb at 2 weeks old -- away from Mocha and Auntie (formerly Black/Yellow), without getting bitten so that I could band him.

I'm not sure if Auntie would draw blood, though she does an impressive puffed-out charge, but I know that Mocha would.

I do feel fortunate in that! I've had some of those scary broodies in the past, but my Silkies, silkied Cochins, and mixes of the two have all been pretty chill broodies. Peanut Butter is probably the worst, and all she does is puff up and growl angrily every time she sees me. No pecking, even if I reach under her and grab one of her babies.

The Mottled Cochin I mentioned a bit back is wicked, though. No eggs under her as I've decided not to let her hatch as a result of this, but she pecks when I reach in to get her out of the nest for the night! Unfortunately, my broody buster space is not predator proof for overnight, so she has a few shining moments of sitting on a nest every evening after I let her out of the buster before I pull her out and plop her on a perch for the night.

I have a Silkie x Easter-egger hen who is also downright vicious, likely to remove a finger if you're not careful even if she's not broody! Actually, I posted her a while back, didn't I? Mean, mean, mean girl!

Since I have my pick of broodies generally, I'm opting not to deal with the mean ones and instead letting the nicer ones rear chicks for the sake of my hands.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Starting to see splashiness in the first Splash baby's feathers!! She wouldn't pose well to show it and everyone else wanted to be in front of her, plus I was using my phone to take these pictures and apparently it is terrifying. Also strongly suspecting 'she' is not so much of a 'she' with that little comb coming in already. Oh, well. She's on the right here:

She's back right here. This is the side that really shows that splashiness, so of course she hid behind the little Splash babies here.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Something of interest with the Splash babies. I noticed today that, like the older chick, two of the younger chicks are getting darker / more heavily 'splashed' wing feathers in, and the remaining two are just getting grayish-white wing feathers. The two with darker wing feathers have suspicious combs like the older chick as well, who at this point is confirmed a cockerel as his comb has gotten even bigger and started to flush. I have only ever had two other Splash-patterned birds before these chicks, both females, and they both feathered in whitish to start and got their splashes later. So now I'm wondering if this is an early indication of which are pullets and which are cockerels with the Splash coloration. At least that would mean I definitely have two pullets, right?

 

[NanaK]

So now I'm wondering if this is an early indication of which are pullets and which are cockerels with the Splash coloration.

Interesting observation. Makes me wonder too.
I have not seen enough splash patterned birds to know. I'm sure you will continue to watch this. Please let us know how this goes.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Will do for sure! I'd love to know for future reference as well! If I get at least one Splash female that doesn't have any major defects to put back in the Blue breeding group, then I should be able to hatch more Splashes next year to make sure it's not purely coincidental in these five chicks, too.