I love silkies! Ours are just a backyard mix. Mom is a pure Cuckoo marans and dad is who knows what. We had a full cuckoo marans rooster, but he passed away. Not two days later, my husband woke me up early one morning to look at the chickens. Lo and behold, a rooster had just showed up. He is...
I posted a few weeks ago about our broody having a staggered hatch. Here they are today. It's pretty easy to tell which came first to last by size. Mom cares for all babies the same and despite the fact its siblings are almost feathered out while it is just not getting feathers, the little one...
She's a cuckoo maran around 8-9 months and started laying around 6. All the eggs came from her, along with her 2 sisters (same age). Chicks have varied in size. One hen lays small-medium sized eggs, one lays large eggs, and the other lays average. They are healthy and active so far.
The...
They buzz around mom like bugs on water. They don't go to far from her, but they do come out of the nest and they seem to enjoy her daily trip of the nest the most. Mom on the other hand makes her get back her cluck when the go outside the nest. This is her first time going broody and she went...
I just candled them again and figured out why she hasn't come off of them. I caught a few late death eggs that I had to discard, which took her down to only 4 viable eggs, but one of those eggs has a chick very obviously pipping into its air cell right this moment.
So, I just candled eggs again and now see why she didn't want to get off the other eggs. One is very clearly pipping into its air cell at this moment. Just goes to prove Brooody is much smarter than I gave her credit for.
The eggs left all seem viable, but about a week behind based on air cell development. That's what is making it so hard to make a decision. I know I'm culling the chicks in the shell if remove them but I'm leaving them to be behind in maturity and potentially picked by older chicks if I don't...
No, all the eggs aren't that old yet. The rest of the unhatched bunch would be due to hatch next week. Because it took me about a week to realize her sisters were laying eggs on top of her. I've candled them and they are right where they should be based on the air cell. I'm torn between removing...
Our broody started hatching out chicks last sunday. Between Sunday and Wednesday, 4 hatched out, but even now, on Friday, she won't leave the other eggs that have not hatched out. I have put out a waterer and chick feed for the chick's and broody still comes off the nest once a day. My question...
Our broody started hatching out chicks last sunday. Between Sunday and Wednesday, 4 hatched out, but even now, on Friday, she won't leave the other eggs that have not hatched out. I have put out a waterer and chick feed for the chick's and broody still comes off the nest once a day. My question...
I figured that might be what caused it, but wasn't sure.
We think she is a pretty girl, too. Her name is Dumpling and she was the first chicken we purchased. I wish her eggs would have made it to hatch day, but it wasn't meant to be. Maybe next time.
This is the best I could get. (Excuse their living situation. Mom kept kicking out all of the bedding). You can only see two of the three, but the third looks just like the solid black faced chick in the picture. The one closest to the front is the one that is different.
These three chicks are all supposed to be black sex links (BR mom/RIR dad, but brooded by a black sumatra). They all have white dots on their heads and I know that is supposed to be an auto sexing feature, but one chick is not like the others. The others are developing cones that are already...
I posted a few weeks back that I thought our bantam easter egger had laid her fist egg. Turns out I was wrong. It was our polish mix that laid the small white egg, because today this was in the nest:
It's such a tiny, pretty light blue egg. I can't wait for more!
Our coop has a fenced in raised run that the chicks stay in during the day. We covered one side and the roof with a tarp this morning and I moved a big watered in their with them and I put some cantelop scraps in the freezer to give them as treats.
We are under a heat advisory until the end of the week. Heat indexes are expected to be in the low 100s for the next few days. I made a post a few days back about putting my 14 3 week old chicks outside. They will be 4 weeks in a day or two. I stopped turning on the light at night because they...
Thanks! I've been turning it off during the day (well, today since it was their first full day out). Going to see what they do tonight. I probably won't move them this time since I know they know how to go in and out of the box.