Hatching Eggs / Paypal CHAT Thread

[cluckitall]

Thank you, Mary Ruth! I enjoy them anyway, although none of them are particularly exceptional. The cuckoo marans is HUGE, I'll give him that, with nice shape and carriage and a lovely hint of gold in his hackle and back. He's clean-legged, though, and a bit of a butt-head. Oddly enough, his four sons were sweeties -- of course, the teenage hormones hadn't kicked in yet And boy did they grow fast! Good utility birds, but definitely not something to build a breeding line around.

Hey, the new silkie owner (me) has a couple of questions:

Three of my babies have distinct and very well-defined topknots. The fourth doesn't, at all. Is this a gender distinction, the result of two different varieties, or a "fault" in breeding?

Also, does someone have a picture/diagram of what the "proper" five-toe conformation looks like? They've all got five toes, but there's some, uh, interesting variations in placement!

Gonna go browse the silkie threads (I know there have to be some!) but I figured I'd ask here first!

 

[WVstruttin]

hhmm I dont know. We have lavenders, pieds and buffs too.




Here are some of the trouble makers

those buffs are really nice

 

[aceschix]

Envious of the silkies! I am still trying to figure out how to replace the two sets from EmVickery that fried. When all is said and done, I'll have paints and whites with some showgirls in each. Determined to get those at least, then maybe a bbs pen and some lavs, lol. We do have one silkie and one silkie mix. The mix is outside, the pure is inside in a big cage, stinking up the house. She gets changed on a daily basis,but she still smells! I had three different candles going today because my house hasn't smelled GOOD for awhile. My one friend used to comment on how she loved coming over because it always smelled so good in here... Haven't heard that comment since she got moved in here. Can't wait to move and get her moved out! Love her dearly, but chickens are definitely not my house pet of choice!

We have chicks in the house and were having the same problem with odor until we took the wonderful advice of many people in this group and started using pine pellets. Wow! The difference is AMAZING! We stopped using traditional waterers in the brooders. I always seems to spill water and the chicks made a mess. My DH makes the ones we use for chicks from Vitamin Water bottles. We use a single chicken nipple waterer on each one. He wraps it in wire to make a hanger for the bottle. In the inside brooders made of storage containers, we just bend the wire to make a hook and hang it over the side of the container; the height of the bottle can be adjusted by bending the wire more or less. The lid (with drilled holes on top of course) still fits perfectly. For the outside brooder, we screwed eye bolts into the interior top and twist the wire to hang the bottle from them. They are very quick and easy to refill and clean. The only thing I would potentially change is the type of wire for wrapping. I soak the bottles to clean them and the wire we use now eventually starts to rust. This type of waterer makes a huge difference for us in the bedding clean up because it is nearly mess free and the bedding stays dry. The chicks take to them immediately!

That is a great idea! Thanks!

How do you teach the little ones to drink from these?

 

[cluckitall]

That is a great idea! Thanks!

That IS a great idea Thank you! I'd tried to do this with one-liter water bottles, but the screw-on tops were too flimsy and split when I tried to drill them. Guess I gotta buy some Vitamin Water!

 

[cluckitall]

How do you teach the little ones to drink from these?

Tap the nipple a couple of times. They'll come to investigate the noise and figure it out fast!

 

[cluckitall]

We have chicks in the house and were having the same problem with odor until we took the wonderful advice of many people in this group and started using pine pellets. Wow! The difference is AMAZING!

Msztre, I finally made a 3x6 brooder cage with wire flooring. I keep it up on wood blocks with newspaper underneath. Once every couple of days I simply pull out the newspaper, toss it, and lay down new. (Obviously, the chicks don't go in this until they're 10-12 days old and can handle walking on the wire.) But yes, the pellets are WONDERFUL!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Quote: thanks, they are calmer then the pieds for sure.


Krafty, gold laced cochins sounds fun lol

Google sketchup is so my friend. Here is rough mock up of the new breeder pens for the chickens

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
they just figure it out.... I don't really do anything to teach them.... they just come see what the red thing is and get wet and then find water LOL

 

[Ray_n_Debi]

Quote: Nice setup!

 

[DMRippy]

Google sketchup is so my friend. Here is rough mock up of the new breeder pens for the chickens

How is that going to work? How do you get in it or do you? What is the middle for?