Paint Project

[MumsyII]

The last eight chicks that hatched white with spots and no spots have completely baffled me. Half of them are from my bantam Rhode Island Red hens! I set eggs from them by my paint male and was expecting colored chicks. I thought these chicks would be used for my Red Silkie project. Four of the white chicks have smooth (barbed) wing feathers coming in and are getting spots! All of the last eight chicks hatched look like paints! But half of them are cross breeds. Does that make them split to Rhode Island Red? This has me so confused. I can't put these half breed chicks in with the paint pen and I don't know what to breed them with to get the red I'm seeking.

This is another of the crossed chicks that hatched today. It looks all silkie except for the yellow skin and light beak and comb. It even has a vaulted skull and feathered middle toe.






I had no idea crossing paint on Rhode Island Red would produce paints.

 

[Fur N Feathers]

That is fascinating. I know other breeds have paints, but I don't know how they got there. I think it is interesting that it looks just like a silkie. I wonder if that's how the American breeders are trying to get standard size silkies?

Well, I had a new little paint baby hatch today. Unfortunately it was dead when I found it. I still have one paint hen and one white hen in the barn area with the lavender and paint roo. Several of the hens share nests but I don't think the colored hens would give me a paint baby. Anyway, the baby was very "loud" colored. Here's a picture. Look at all that color! If this is too gross I will delete it. Hopefully, I will have more like this hatch.

 

[MumsyII]

I'm sorry you lost another baby. That is sad. It was pretty.

It is really confusing that all the chicks from the little red hen are paint. She has hatched three colored chicks when bred to a recessive white silkie and that was expected. This is Heather.

This is one of her silkie cross babies with a recessive white.

This little cross breed girl from Heather is eight weeks old.
Heather lays her eggs in everybody else's nests. I find piles of her eggs all around the barn and barn yard. Every rooster loves her and they will chase her all day long in attempts to mate. She is so tiny, she knows to run like the dickens! She is much smaller than silkies. Even the paint Dapper Dan has trouble completing the deed with her. I set a lot of her eggs by Dapper Dan and every one so far is Paint.

 

[Fur N Feathers]

Oh, I read Rhode Island Red and thought standard. I missed the bantam part! She is really cute and so is her little cross baby. I have a Serama crossed with silkie.

Yeah, the little fella got out into the chicken yard. I have no idea how unless it was tangled up in mama silkie's petticoat feathers.

 

[MumsyII]

Oh, I read Rhode Island Red and thought standard. I missed the bantam part! She is really cute and so is her little cross baby. I have a Serama crossed with silkie.

Yeah, the little fella got out into the chicken yard. I have no idea how unless it was tangled up in mama silkie's petticoat feathers.

I have lost silkie chicks every time I've allowed a hen to keep them. This hatching season, I've removed all chicks and raised them in my brooder houses. I turn the heat source off at two weeks and turn them out during the day, in at night. If night time temp reaches below sixty, I turn the heat back on at night. This has worked exceedingly well at getting them feathered out quickly and foraging. They also become accustomed to coming to me for food and treats throughout the day. Eventually all the different age groups run together. The older ones are savvy at teaching them to hide from overhead threats. When I'm not home, I keep them in the brooder house and covered runs. I have only lost two chicks from these four groups of chicks this season and those two were with broody hens until I removed them. Oldest batch nine weeks, youngest batch one week old. Total silkie chick count right now at fifty chicks.

Number 1 way I lost chicks before was mama hens trampling and or dragging chicks. Second way was drowning in water dishes. I have two silkie hens that could never raise more than four or five chicks successfully so I don't let those two hens keep eggs to hatch any longer. I let them brood for a week or two then I candle them and put the good embryos in the incubator to finish. I didn't have to resort to these drastic measures when all I had was a flock of whites. But I never really got improvement in my birds until I started raising chicks separate. It seemed like the best chicks always died young.

 

[MumsyII]

First chicks from my Catdance lavender hen hatched this morning! My paint male is surpassing all expectations. Two lavender chicks and one black split to lavender. They are beautiful just like all of his offspring are. I was not expecting to get lavender chicks first try.

This is my lavender hen at day old.


She is on the left. Dapper Dan is on the right.

This is her at a few months old.


This is her now.


These are her first chicks ever and by my Paint male, Dapper Dan.




I don't know if they will get spots but they sure are lavender.

This is the black split chick.


Or is it bllue? More eggs left to hatch. Hoping for more lavender chicks even though they are from my paint project pen.

 

[Fur N Feathers]

She is a doll for sure! I wish I had a lavender female. I just love that color. Is Daper Dan a split? You have to have two lavender genes to be lavender and it's recessive to boot. Mumsy you are breaking ALL the rules!!! Ha! Ha! Ha!

 

[MumsyII]

She is a doll for sure! I wish I had a lavender female. I just love that color. Is Daper Dan a split? You have to have two lavender genes to be lavender and it's recessive to boot. Mumsy you are breaking ALL the rules!!! Ha! Ha! Ha!

I am loving all these Paint x chicks. It is blowing my mind because here I thought it was going to be next to impossible to get paint chicks from all the 'not paint' hens I've been breeding him to. He must be split to lav right? How on earth did I get these two gorgeous lavender chicks other wise?

And he has partridge genes, blue genes, buff, and silver...I'm getting a bunch of paints and a cornucopia of colors and I still haven't bred him to a paint or black! And on top of that, only one egg in five is fertile! He is such an enigma! These next three hatched prove how crazy this is.


A totally adorable black chick with a silver cap and silver slippers. Also look at his tuxedo tummy!


This is also from the Lavender hen.

This partridge chick is another from a recessive white that lays tiny eggs and hatches tiny chicks. I love these teeny tiny ones. For this last batch, I put my best white hen in with the Lavender hen. She is a pullet and her eggs are very small. I never see Dapper Dan mate with her. He does it stealth like I guess. Most of her eggs are infertile. I've gotten three paints and this little one from her.



Silver and gold. Lovely.

The last hatched chick is a paint from the Lavender hen. It has pink and black patched skin, pink comb, and smudged spots. I don't have a good image of it yet.

Just crazy crazy but in a good way what has hatched today. There are two broodys on nests and eighteen eggs due in another week or more. I'm hoping more chicks will hatch from the Lavender hen. I am so glad I decided to breed Dapper Dan to her.

 

[MumsyII]

More Paint x Lavender = lavender chick and two Paint x Blue Partridge = ?



Third lav (self blue) chick is stunning. Large vaulted skull and flecked with darker blue. Is it going to be a lavender paint?



Paint x Blue Partridge = Blue/Red partridge? Never had a silkie chick with this down color. I'm very curious how it will color out.



The third chick to hatch over the weekend looks different depending on the light. It appears dark blue. Nice chick.

Another dozen and a half eggs in the incubator. I would love more surprises like these chicks please! All have great feet and feathering.

 

[MumsyII]

One of the oldest paint chicks. About nine weeks old now and a male.