Jan./Feb. 2014 hatch a long

[chicken pickin]

Lovely mamas!!

I have 4 silkie x ee chicks about 9wks, they are 100% silkie feathered! I thought they would be smooth feathered..

I am wondering, did yours have silkie feathers as a chick too? did she grow into smooth feathers later on?


I think I have 2 of 4 silkie x ee Roos, hoping for a good mother.

I didn't have her as a chick. I got her when she was about a little older and already laying eggs.

Is this your Silkie x EE? What does the rooster look like? Do you know his cross? He might have Silkie in his background and passes on the Silkie gene. I believe chicks need to get a Silkie gene from each parent to get silkied feathers.

 

[Farmer Viola]

Yes, that's 1 of them.
well, funny story - I bought an adult silkie, she laid eggs, I let her sit on them as practice eggs (I had expensive eggs in the mail). Tada, they hatched! I asked the seller what roo she had with my girl, she says it's an americana(EE). SO I never actually saw him, just going on what she told me!

I know about the silkie feather gene - it's recessive to smooth feather, so it takes 2 silkie feathered to make a silkie feathered. so I have been suspicious that maybe there was a silkie roo in there too..

that's why I was hoping you could tell me about yours as a chick. seems to me like most silkie x EE crosses are not silkie feathered...

of my chicks, some have black skin + slate legs, some have yellow faces with light slate legs.. they all have the extra toe and feathered feet.

 

[chicken pickin]

Is it possible that the lady had one of those Ameraucana that carries the silkie gene? If you look up Silkied Americauna here on BYC you can learn about them. They are pure Ameraucana but for some reason some get silkied feathers while others carry the gene.

If not then I suspect she had a Silkie roo in with the bunch.

 

[Farmer Viola]

I have eggs due next Wendsday.Small air cells again......................

Cannot figure it out......2 hygrometers, calibrated...have been trying for around 30/35.
Had a couple drops to 20's Maybe I need to check the humidity in the house ????????????
I think I need to not add water but it makes me real nervous....
Feedback please.................

I set 42 but many of these were just on the counter and had not been turned or otherwise given the usual egg care..........
Don't expect much from these. Also set shipped Silkie eggs 15..........They were caught in holiday shipping and only a few
have made it............

have you weighed them at all?

I am in Oregon too... my house humidity is fine now, but for the week+ we had freezing nights in the teens, my house humidity plummeted. normally its about 38-45% in my house, through the freeze it was more like 15%!

edit: seems that too low humiditiy would result in large air cells, not small?

I think I would not add water, until first pip... hopefully someone else has more advice

 

[Farmer Viola]

Is it possible that the lady had one of those Ameraucana that carries the silkie gene? If you look up Silkied Americauna here on BYC you can learn about them. They are pure Ameraucana but for some reason some get silkied feathers while others carry the gene.

If not then I suspect she had a Silkie roo in with the bunch.

What! This is blowing my mind! Thank you!!
Quote: wow.

I guess when they lay their first egg, if any are blue, then we know...

 

[Heidisgran]

I have eggs due next Wendsday.Small air cells again......................

Cannot figure it out......2 hygrometers, calibrated...have been trying for around 30/35.
Had a couple drops to 20's Maybe I need to check the humidity in the house ????????????
I think I need to not add water but it makes me real nervous....
Feedback please.................

I set 42 but many of these were just on the counter and had not been turned or otherwise given the usual egg care..........
Don't expect much from these. Also set shipped Silkie eggs 15..........They were caught in holiday shipping and only a few
have made it............

managing temps is harder in the winter huh? if the air cells are too small then they haven't dried enough!?

 

[fosterson]

Uh, Oh, I am addicted. I had my first hatch at NYD, and now somehow there are eggs in the incubator again. Wonder how that happened?

My first hatch did not go as well as I had hoped - I only got one chick hatched out of 7 eggs, and I want to work on some theories as to why. I know they were shipped eggs, shipped during an arctic blast here, and it was my first time hatching, brand new 'bator, etc. To be honest, I am surprised and thrilled that I got one to hatch!

The one chick that hatched, hatched early-ish, especially for the breed. I suspected the 'bator was running a smidge too warm. The new hygrometer is bearing that out, so I am trying running it a degree and a half cooler. Also, it looks the humidity was higher than I thought. The eggs were not delayed in the mail this time, and it wasn't an arctic freeze. So far, it seems there is more luck on my side for this hatch.

George says "Hi" to anyone from the NYD hatch-a-long.

Hi George!

Yup, I'm here too. Set 18 eggs on the 5th: 12 Easter Eggers that had been with a Copper Marans roo, and 6 of my own again. Hopefully this time I have things better under control than last time...temp spike killed most of my 18 that made it to lock down last time. :/

 

[fosterson]

Yaay, I've seen the English Orpingtons JD. They are big! Gorgeous big birds. The rooster I saw was every bit as big as a Jersey Giant. Big boy!

Southern, did you say they are blues?

I've got two full sisters who are half English Orpington, half Red Sex Link of some variety. The older one is 6 months old, laying, and easily as heavy as my RIRs, but visually MUCH larger -- she's shaped like a big, fluffy Orp, but white with black speckles. Her younger sister is only 3 and a half months old, and is easily twice the size of the 3 chicks she's in with, who are the same age give or take a day. They're purty girls!

I like big hens, and I cannot lie

 

[fosterson]

I believe my family thinks I am now too....I wonder if they have a five step program

Step 1: Peruse BYC for pictures of chickens.

Step 2: Peruse catalogs for pictures of chickens.

Step 3: Fall in love with a breed from outer Whattheheckastan.

Step 4: Obtain eggs from said breed from BYC member.

Step 5: Put them in the incubator.

 

[Penny Hen]

Step 1: Peruse BYC for pictures of chickens.

Step 2: Peruse catalogs for pictures of chickens.

Step 3: Fall in love with a breed from outer Whattheheckastan.

Step 4: Obtain eggs from said breed from BYC member.

Step 5: Put them in the incubator.

Outer Whattheheckastan! I love it!!!!!