Quote: Bob BLosl kept a silky-- Mr Silky, witht he intensions of breeding halfbreds to be broodie mommas. SO if she is a he, perhaps he can still help you via his offspring.
oh god no! I don't need broody MUTTS! I need purebreds that will lay eggs! enough of them are already broody! LOL so far the broodies total 5 bantam cochins, 1 dorking 1 orp. getting some orp eggs to hatch for more of them since it's a breed I don't intend to breed, and being LF they can cover a good number of chicks. so if the silkie's a he, i'll either find him a girl, find him a home, or eat him...
my ee roo is 1/4 silkie as it is, but he's a good free range flock protector and ee maker. LOL
Handsome boy!!
I clearly misunderstood the purpose of your silky---- however it is my understanding that silkies are the queen of broody. lol
Well my 4th attempt at hatching yielded 14 chicks! I'm delighted needless to say. There were only 20 fertile eggs out of the 47 that I got from a friend, so overall percentage wasn't great, but if you count only the fertile eggs I achieved 70%. No where to go but up, right!?
the silkie happened because a friend's daughter played with the eggs, and the most horribly ugly and deformed Swedish flower hen popped out. LOL we took pity on it and call it a black silkie so we don't hurt it's feelings.
Welcome! Sorry it sounds like you're not getting any in this hatch.
You're not alone. I have set and incubated eggs about 8 times now in the 1 1/2 years since I started having chickens and only in the last 2 would I say I had a reasonable hatch.Good luck in your next hatch - I have learned so much by reading these forums and I'm sure you will too.
We just got home with 144 eggs from our trip, SFH from KYTINPUSHER, White Crested Lavender Polish and White Crested Black Polish from our Cleveland stop, and last but not least about8 dozen from CPL with few goose eggs. Here we go.
Hello Dawn! Sorry your first attempt hasn't gone so well
. Hang in there. My first two were total failures (0 hatched) my third yielded 3 out of 18 and my fourth yielded 14 out of 20. It just takes practice, fine tuning and a little luck (which I have none of).
Hello Dawn! Sorry your first attempt hasn't gone so well . Hang in there. My first two were total failures (0 hatched) my third yielded 3 out of 18 and my fourth yielded 14 out of 20. It just takes practice, fine tuning and a little luck (which I have none of).
I wonder if you would be willing to share with me your thoughts on what you think went wrong with hatch one and 2?
I live in Nevada. We have about a 6% humidity all year round. Temps between oh, 10°-70° winter and 70°-110°summer.
I think 7k above sea level can't really remember. But mountainous more than sea...
My humidity has been between 40-50% and temps technically pretty steady at 100°. Fertile eggs. Turned twice daily (my mistake). Eggs collected 10 days before set, and ran under tap water to be cleaned.. No soap, no scrub.
Roo is a frier, idk if that makes a difference. Moms are Buff Orfingtington, Rhode Island Red, Plymouth Rock, Austalorp, and some other, I have no clue. And I think a Cornish hen... none have gone broody.
I use pine shavings in the nest boxes which helps keep them clean. When I'm collecting hatching eggs, any dirty ones are discarded (placed with the *eating* eggs).
If they have a small, light spot of soil on them, I'll gently buff that spot with a scrubbie sponge, but that's as close as I come to cleaning any.
I also try to keep eggs no more than 7 days before I set them.
BTW, I'm pretty sure I read recently that you have to do something different if you're at a high altitude (different temp?), but I don't remember what. Maybe someone here knows.
. Hang in there. My first two were total failures (0 hatched) my third yielded 3 out of 18 and my fourth yielded 14 out of 20. It just takes practice, fine tuning and a little luck (which I have none of).
