Eastern Tennessee Thread

[itsthelaw37801]

Thank you all. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't so bad.

Angie, did she come home?

 

[tnchickenut]

I have a non-BYC chicken friend wanting Light Sussex... anyone have any or know of any?

 

[Lunar]

Well, thanks to an hour of chat with TNBarnQueen and my first major surgery....not only did I survive, apparently so did the chick. I have officially hatched my first set of Silkies...go Little Giant

Just a moment to show my newly acquired "kid


Blue Silkie, Columbian Silkie hatched on thier own and have coaxed the potential cochin buddies out for hours. The Blue is staying and named Indigo.


And this is my patient.She was trying hard to hatch for about 14 hours.
She got her head through the membrane, but as I heard "her" start to weaken, I went to work on her shell. Then realized she wasn't making any progress. I snagged the membrane to look inside and she was trapped. Her head was through, but running out of air and her body was shrinkwrapped. She couldn't turn to even begin to hit the shell.

I worked for half an hour keeping her damp and peeling shell/membrane until I got to the bottom of the egg and found that she had absorbed the yolk. She popped out and laid resting for 4 more hours. I really thought I would lose her by morning. I got up at 5am to check on her and she sat up and chirped loudly at me to say...."I'm still here!" I bathed her and she is now dry and seems happy. She is small, but she is........a ShowGirl Silkie and black. She loves snuggling with the eggs left in there more than the other 2 chicks, but whatever makes her happy.

I named her Breathless.

 

[littlechicklet]

Thank you all. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't so bad.

Angie, did she come home?

I hope its getting better for you.

And no she did not come back and I am almost positive I have 3 cockerels left (might be a smidgeon of hope for the black).

 

[littlechicklet]

Lunar- congrats on the babies!

maybe one day I will get the nerve up to hatch.

 

[TNBarnQueen]

Speaking of Blue Wheaten.... Got any eggs?

Hens are on strike at the moment. I have just started with these...I have a trio with a Lav. hen..and white hen and Barios Blue Wheaten roo who came from Daphne's eggs. I am not sure what color they will give me until I do some test hatches. When I know I will contact you and if you want some will go from there...thanks!

 

[TNBarnQueen]

OK...I have talked to a few friends here on BYC who have discussed Line Breeding with me. For those of you considering it..it can be a bit confusing but I thought I would post some info for those who are working on projects or just trying to improve their line.

Line Breeding is when you breed chickens in the same family. First..you never breed mother to son, father to daughter or siblings from the same parents, aunts and uncles to cousins. This is Inbreeding and there are issues that can cause a lot of problems down the line in that groups gene pool or even from the immediate chicks from this breeding such as sterility, bad toes, combs..and son on.. Now,,you can breed within your flock but you have to be careful how you do it. Why people Line Breed is to keep the coloration more defined as well as confirmations..combs..etc. If you do that here is how you would go about it.

Your first generation (F1) parents breed and produce your F2 line. You will take new blood which will have a different gene pool and breed to your F2 generation. Then...to line breed you take your F3 generation and breed back to your original F1 generation. You are still copying your original gene pool but you have another gene pool added from the new blood you bred into your F2 generation to offset your duplication. What you want to make sure is that you have 2 generations separating what you breed. But it is ONLY the grandparents or their siblings from that generation that you breed your F3s to. I hope I am not confusing you. Believe me...chicken genetics are very confusing. I have a couple of webpages that simplify breeding results for coloration, pattern...etc. I will find them and post.
If you are breeding new colors like lavenders, porcelain ...newer developed colors..Line Breeding helps keep them from becoming diluted in color as well as loss in things like leg length..tail set..etc.

If you are working on a project you have to keep in mind what is in your gene pool from your original start. To effectively develop a certain look you want takes a minimum 5 years for it to start breeding "true". For instantance.. if your project was to develop a lemon cuckoo ameracuana you know for certain that when the eggs hatch they are going to be like the parents. Now...keep in mind that there is always a possibility down the road that something different or odd can pop up. Sometimes some of the other genetic traits from stock that you used during your early development can come through in earlier chicks after 5 or 6 generations. For example.. my mare, by all genetic rules and standards, should only throw buckskin with my stud...yet this past summer she threw a blue roan which had not appeared since 5 generations back in her lineage. That one gene was there but was only a minute amount. That is why most breeders do not consider their project birds viable until after F8 breedings.

When you are buying eggs or chickens that are a fairly new coloration, pattern. etc..always ask what generation the eggs or chicks you are buying comes from. If the person selling them does not know they probably bought theirs from the person who developed it or someone down the line during development. What it boils down to is..when it comes to new variations of breeds always keep in mind you may get a surprise depending on how defined the genetic pool is. When I bought the eggs for my Crele Polish...the seller never disclosed to buyers that they where still in project stage and my F2s developed into 3 different colorations. so...I will have to work at least 4 more years to be comfortable in saying mine are completed. Info like that could have helped me when I started these if the people had been honest instead of greedy.
So...I hope this helps some of you who are working on developing or enhancing your bloodlines and those who are trying out new types of a set breed.

 

[itsthelaw37801]

Love the name Breathless. They are too cute.

All of the sudden, our chickens started laying eggs. We went from getting 1 every other day (we only had two that EVER laid an egg) to five eggs yesterday, three today, and I can't wait for tomorrow.

 

[Lunar]

Thank you Amy. I thought it was appropriate since she was running out of air when I pulled her shell back. And she is the cutest thing. They are eating and drinking now.

So far, so good.

I got 5 eggs from 5 hens today too. I guess the warm weather we have been having has confused them. I'm not complaining. I cracked one today just to see if it was fertile and it was.

So Sarge is doing his job.

glad to see you back on the forum.

 

[Contrastphoto]

Well, bad news for me today. My gorgeous Black Orpinton Rooster died. He got in to close to my playing dogs, and didn't make it through the tumble. I can't believe it was so fragile that the tumble killed him but it did. He was huge! It wasn't the dogs fault but a freak accident. I didn't have the heart to waste his body, so my DH and I watched youtube and figured out how to process him. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but still not sure I could do the killing part. We did decide to skin him instead of plucking him. Anyone do it that way? Not sure if I should still soak him in brine water or something else. Any advice would be helpful.

Littlechicklet, I will defiantly be interested in one of the blue orps that you got from tennesseeckn. Also, tennesseeckn did you ever get a clean bill of health on the splash Orpington roo that you have? I am not in a rush. I am not getting enough eggs to worry about a rooster right now. I did start leaving the light on a little longer at night an that seems to help with getting more eggs. I am up to about 4-6 eggs a day.