California-Southern

I went to candle the remaining 5 eggs that hadnt hatched. 4 were duds. 1 was a perfectly formed chick but the yellow thing yolk? Was broken and it wasnf moving :( would have given me 5 black babies. I mean it was PERFECTLY formed. Why didnt it make it? And sadly the mom had killed 3 chicks i had bought and put under her that were the same size as the ones she hatched. She had them for 12 hours and was fine then snaped. It wasnt a pretty sight. So i had to confiscate her babies. How much are the silkies and where do you live? What color eggs will they lay and there not bantams right? Someone told me all silkies were bantams.
 
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Shes fully firmed why didnt she hatch? Hopefully this isnt too graphic for anyone. Im just wondering why didnt it hatch.

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There not happy with me taking them from there mom.
 
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Shes fully firmed why didnt she hatch? Hopefully this isnt too graphic for anyone. Im just wondering why didnt it hatch.




There not happy with me taking them from there mom.

The yolk was not fully absorbed yet.

The standard temperature scale is: new chicks need about 95°F the first week, and the temperature can be reduced by 5° each week.
According to that, when they feather out at about 4 weeks they will be comfortable at about 75 - 80°.
If they have plenty of food and water, a sure sign that they are not at the right temp is a lot of chirping.

They usually move around a lot and go in and out of the "heating element", whether it's the momma hen or a heating plate like a Brines Eco Glow.

I find they don't usually need extra heat in an outside coop by the time they feather out as long as the ambient temperature is above 55°, the coop is sheltered from wind and drafts, and they have a spot they can huddle together. Sunshine is good, and shade is a necessity.
 
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The chick was already dead when i cracked it. It wasnt moving. And the other chicks had been hatched 2 days before. I checked to mske sure it wasnt moving. I think mom didnt keep the temp warm enough. My little chickie poos are in a large dog crate in my front yard with cardboard to keep them from getting out and the garage is there to shelter from the wind. I also put a heating pocket warmer thing the soldiers use in the bottom of the box they hide in (put shavings over it so doesnt get too hot and burn little bums lol)
 
Where at do you live? And how young is the rooster? My mom might beat me (kidding) depending on how old we may be able to take it. I have one roo whos one of those fancy cream legbar ones. But hes still seperated from the others due to not being as big (had a hawk problem awhile ago wiped out 12 chickens 9 which were teens so half grown maybe 2 months or 3 we had a pen built thats 4 foot tall 4 feet wide and 8 feet long but had ordered 18 from a hatchery and all lived (was impressed only 1 roo in the bunch and he was stunning) so room soon became the issue and i let them free range with the others. Well the hawks attacked. Besides the 9 teens it took. It killed our 3 adult bantams including a bantam roo. And the bantam girls went back into the pen i had built along with the remaining 9 chicks. Didnt matter stupid well a very mean 4 letter word starting with f hawk reached in and killed the bantams threw the kong dog crate. The rest of the pen is in hardwire mesh. And just the other day we had not one but 3 coyotes in our backyard. It got a few chickens. For sure one of my black fluffy ones as nothing but feathers were left. Once i scared them off i found a wounded chicken. Shes still alive thank god. It droped her but not before creating good size gashes/holes. And when my sis came over and we worked on the areas they got in at. I found 2 of my birds dead in my neighbors backyard. The coyotes had droped them and ran. But it was too late for them. Then the other day found a dead one i didnt even know had been attacked. My mom had saw two coyotes. I saw the one that droped my girl. But once we calmed down we realized had to have been three as there were two dead birds in neighbirs yard plus the one it droped. So in total for sure coyotes got 5 chickens one still kicking. But i think it was 7 as two arent roosting where they were. Between fixing where they came in (didnt know how low neighbirs brick wall was all they did was hope it and walk down the brick wall like steps into our yard) plus amonia and moth balls snd lights and talk radio they have stayed away. Our friends coming today to wire the back property fence and finish our shed we have for the chickens to roost in. Next will be finishing there new pen. Our roo we had from the hatchery got stuck between our fence and just didnt recover. Depending how far you are there is also a place in el monte that takes roos as donations and rehomes them. He makes sure they dont go to fighting homes or homes where they will be eaten. Its called +16264420781 wes feed shop. Hell even give you a bag of feed. Ive takend like 7 roos to him when i had too many at once. Sorry to ramble.

Thank you for sharing your experience. It is good reinforcement for the rest of us to realize the importance of keeping our flocks secure and that juveniles in the open yard are an invitation to aerial and ground predators. So sorry you lost so many precious birds. Hope your reinforcement efforts will create a more secure environment for the flock.
 
One of my Barred Bantam Cochins is looking like a Roo. Anyone interested in this nice bird? I'm in Riverside.

Hi! And good luck with that, I have plenty of the same =)
btw - great avatar ! Who know we would turn our lives over to chicken therapy (not to mention chicken baths...).
 
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One of my Barred Bantam Cochins is looking like a Roo. Anyone interested in this nice bird? I'm in Riverside.

Just a suggestion - I have talked with another BYCer who said she adopted two bantam juveniles at the Riverside animal shelter. You might put your roo there and anyone who adopts him has to pay animal shelter fees so less likely he'll be someone's dinner and someone might actually be looking for a pet bantam.
 

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