Broody Hen Thread!

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

I had to assist this one today out of a green egg. She pipped, but that was it. Had her under the heat lamp for a couple hours. Still very wobbly and wants to tip. Her right foot is a little splayed (have both feet splinted) She is in my gerbil spinner, minus the stand. And then in a small square storage container. She will be beside me the whole night, on the floor, so I can keep an eye on her. Hope she is stable tomorrow afternoon, so I can put her back with Mom & siblings. I showed her to Mom tonight, Mom clucked at her. Am also giving her electrolyte water. Will not leave her with Mom, till I know for sure she is stable, and that her siblings don't pick on her. My oldest daughter named her Miss Debi, after her choir director who died in a car accident the day of their Christmas party, last year Dec.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I had to assist this one today out of a green egg. She pipped, but that was it. Had her under the heat lamp for a couple hours. Still very wobbly and wants to tip. Her right foot is a little splayed (have both feet splinted) She is in my gerbil spinner, minus the stand. And then in a small square storage container. She will be beside me the whole night, on the floor, so I can keep an eye on her. Hope she is stable tomorrow afternoon, so I can put her back with Mom & siblings. I showed her to Mom tonight, Mom clucked at her. Am also giving her electrolyte water. Will not leave her with Mom, till I know for sure she is stable, and that her siblings don't pick on her. My oldest daughter named her Miss Debi, after her choir director who died in a car accident the day of their Christmas party, last year Dec.

I wish the best to little Miss Debi.

LofMc

 

[katatonic123]

Thanks!

I do know this one..lol..autosexing is a trait that breeds true in a breed and sex link is created by breeding 2 different breeds that create babies that can be sexed at hatch, but those babies can't be raised, bred together and produce more sex linked babies. .

Both are ways to have chicks that are able to be sorted male or female as soon as they are mostly dry after hatch..

Now I don't have a clue about most of the genes needed to be present to create a sex link..that's a whole 'nother ballgame

 

[alibabba]

Heart failure this am.... Sunflower was off the nest, I expect the worst all the time...

I expect to see nest ravaged by big hens...

nope. The first pip is bigger, saw beak and movement!

3 more pips! (didn't pick up, so not sure about other 2)

She just took a 5 min break, barely long enough for me to get the kids to take a peek.


I know this is probably annoying, but this is our first time. So exciting and scary...


I am going to move her covered cat litter box to a little pen when they all hatch, before they run around the box and draw attention from big hens.

Question: I shouldn't move it now should I? Wait til they all hatch....Rather than disturb the process and the little momma? If she abandons after the move, okay, I can deal with that. But I don't have an incubator yet.

(I Posted This last Summer!!!) Ha ha ha, funny. I have two broodies at the moment, one teeny D'Uccle on 8 LF eggs, all developing beautifully. (dont jinx it) And, another first time momma waiting for Sultan Eggs from @yellowherb.

This is now the 4th and 5th time with Broodies, so I feel pretty darn cool headed compared to last year.

Waiting for the pips before I move the D'Uccle Momma's box to her own pen.

Funny, The D'Uccle's are the teeniest things, but they are in charge, don't let anyone else lay eggs in their nests or abuse their eggs. Highly recommend, they can't fit that many eggs though.

I gave my Ginormous Cochin eggs in January. Hot mess, broken cracked, it was awful. She let anyold one in there. Lesson learned with her.

Like I said, I have come really far... and so much thanks to knowledgeable people here !!!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

That is more than I ever knew about them...lol.. of course chickens are not hugely popular around me so if I don't have breeders of whatever breed, I know next to nothing..

I've always thought of them as 3 separate but similar breeds if that makes sense, but other than knowing that an EE was somehow related to an Ameraucana I know nothing..lol..
Now I do have some chicks from Super Blue Layers, and I've also heard the same birds (i hesitate to say breed here for obviois reasons..)referred to as Sapphires. .but I've done very little research on them.. but I did get a variety of eggs for the strictly layer flock I'm adding..everything from olive eggers, the Super blues, EEs, and true Ameraucana, some CCL crossed with something else strictly for egg color. . Some have hatched, some are still cooking but this year's hatches I have been keeping super detailed records like egg color it hatched from and pics every few days the first couple weeks and then once a week after that. Hoping it helps me on down the line if I ever decide to pull certain birds for breeding or anything..

And don't think I said it in my ramblings..but thank you so very much for the explanation. ..that is amazing info ♡♡

I do know this one..lol..autosexing is a trait that breeds true in a breed and sex link is created by breeding 2 different breeds that create babies that can be sexed at hatch, but those babies can't be raised, bred together and produce more sex linked babies. .

Both are ways to have chicks that are able to be sorted male or female as soon as they are mostly dry after hatch..

Now I don't have a clue about most of the genes needed to be present to create a sex link..that's a whole 'nother ballgame

Your Sapphires are White Leghorn crossed with a blue layer (in the UK Cream Crested Legbars). They will be predominantly white feathered as White Leghorns carry dominant white. Many show the tuft from the CCL. Since they only have 1 blue gene, they produce the pretty light sapphire egg (1 blue with white making light blue).

EDITED TO ADD: The Super Blue Layers on My Pet Chicken look like Ameraucana in the back ground, and have to be first generation Ameraucana with White Leghorn to guarantee a blue egg, or that Ameraucana with 2nd generation Sapphire to make for some darker blue layers and some light blue layers (which is why MPC warns the hatching egg you receive will be white or light tint blue). http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog...Hatching-Eggs-Super-Blue-Egg-Layer-p1950.aspx

Breeding an EE rooster or a CCL cross (first generation) rooster to a pure bred white layer is a good way to figure out if your boy has 1 or 2 blue genes...within a couple of generations you'll go from light blue to dark blue as the blue genes line up.

As to what makes a sex link...that has to do with the way chicken genders are formed and the fact that several feather colors and patterns are sex linked.

As in humans and mammals, each offspring gets 1 set of genes from mom and 1 set from dad.

In mammals and humans, the male determines the sex. (XX Female and XY male...the children get 1 from mom and 1 from dad so mathematically the children are XX female or XY male, with dad determining the sex as he has the Y gene to give).

In chickens it is the opposite. The mother carries the "short" gene which is represented by W, so the ZW mother determines the sex. Those offspring inheriting the W gene from mom will get a Z from dad but be ZW female. Those inheriting the Z from the mother will also get a Z from the father and become ZZ male.

Now here we get to the answer of how do we sex link....some colors and patterns are carried on the Z gene and therefore sex-linked....but ONLY if mom carries them on her Z gene.

Now if the mother has dominant color genes on her Z gene, such as barring or silver, then only those offspring which inherit mom's Z gene will get her dominant color genes. She must be matched with a father that does NOT have any dominant color genes on his Z gene.

So take a Z-barred mom with a Z-nonbarred dad, and you get a barred ZZ male chick....or take a Z-silver from mom and Z-red from dad to get a silver (dominant over red) ZsilverZred male.

The females always gain the W from mom which does not have the dominant color pattern (remember that's attached to mom's Z gene), so all females will reflect dads Z coloring (red or non-barred).

That's obviously simplified (and about as much as I understand at this point), but since you are keeping book on pairings for future purposes, I thought this would be helpful.

You can find a good genetic article here:
http://sellers.kippenjungle.nl/page2.html

And then this series makes things pretty clear from the basics to more advanced genetics.
https://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/genetics-mini-series/

Happy hatching!

Have fun (for those interested)!

For those not...I'm done

LofMc

 

[WildHens]

@Lady of McCamley,
I could spend hours and hours listening to you talk (teach) and never get bored ♡
1st: THANK YOU!! You are amazing..

2nd: I posted this earlier today..haven't had much in the way of insighy.. but maybe you could take a peek and lend me your insight..I'm at a total loss, and I didn't think I would get such an odd color.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1102252/what-color-is-this-silkie#post_16954217

 

[Lady of McCamley]

@Lady of McCamley ,
I could spend hours and hours listening to you talk (teach) and never get bored ♡
1st: THANK YOU!! You are amazing..

2nd: I posted this earlier today..haven't had much in the way of insighy.. but maybe you could take a peek and lend me your insight..I'm at a total loss, and I didn't think I would get such an odd color.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1102252/what-color-is-this-silkie#post_16954217

You are very welcome...just passing down what others have kindly spent hours to teach me.

As to your Silkie...I am still wrapping my head around feather color (egg color is waaaayyyyy simpler).

And Silkie colors are more complex than my simpler patridging, sex linking, and barring layers.

At first blush, it looks like you are entering into the Splash territory as yellow with grey is heading towards splash...and it is only on the face, and perhaps showing some patterning to come?

I will tell you who you should talk to... ask @junebuggena as she has extensive color knowledge.

You can also post on the color genetics thread because a bunch of feather color genetic enthusiasts hang out on that and may be able to answer your question. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/927652/color-genetics-thread/590

And probably more helpful would be the "Silkies of a Different Color" thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/410559/silkies-of-a-different-color

My best broody Silkie came from a gal who is into designer Silkie colors...although of course I have a plain jane buff (her first Silkie actually that started the whole thing).

Good luck on the answer (and I'd love to know as well).

LofMc

 

[Island Juli]

My first broody(s) hatched #1 of 6 today. Sisters have been sharing the eggs since day 2. Two more of their sisters are sitting on 4 eggs now as well. My poor silkie rooster is lonely.

 

[irishsilkie]

She didn't like them at first but now I think she's taken to them

 

[nchls school]

Two chicks. A squirrel got in at night and scared all my broodies off their nest. 12 eggs were hatching at the time. These two made it; the rest all DIS.