More on Silkies... baby silkie chick pics, incubator experiences, and advice for new hatchers.

[chikymommadukes]

I will def take pics.

You're just like us...we couldn't wait for a broody mama and incubated. Now to our surprise and bonus we have a broody girl!!

Since all Silkies choose a different age to lay their first eggs and go broody, may I ask, "How old are your hens?"

I hope you waited a few weeks after the first eggs for slightly larger ones to incubate? Our first smaller ones had trouble getting out. Two of them had to be rescued. They are perfectly fine now though thanks to love and poly-vi-sol vitamins. Now they are the largest babies and, based on their behavior, appear to be probable roosters! lol.

Too bad you don't live near me because I'd love one of your porcelain mixes. One of my babies looks like it could possibly be a mix of white and buff. She is actually mostly lemon colored! Sooo cute. I named her Winnie [the Pooh]. I'm not sure what to expect since I was told white is recessive and can't show up as a mix?? I also read that blue/splash mix will always have half blue, quarter splash, and quarter dark blue. Not sure on that either, but I have a dark blue rooster,a blue hen, and a splash hen. The splash is the one sitting on eggs. I'm really hoping there's a partridge egg (from our hen, Wally) underneath Sookie since most of our babies currently are blue.

Let me know soon what happens for you on Wednesday.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

My hens are about 10-10.5 months old. I can't remember exactly when I got them.
I actually set their very first eggs. Surprisingly though, I can't tell any difference in size between those eggs and the ones they're laying now. I'd put most of them in the refrigerator too (stored pointy end up, completely wrong), so I'm surprised they did anything at all. This was an experiment of sorts, and they're all looking good!
I'm hoping for a couple more blue and splash from my splash girls eggs. I only had 1 egg to put in from my blue girl and I'm that I get lucky and get a black. I really have no idea what those porcelain mixes are going to look like. When you jumble all of those colors together (blue, buff, lavender), who knows what'll come out on top. I'll share when they hatch though!
That is correct, white is recessive. That's why its recommended only to breed white to white. Since two copies of white are necessary for a birds to appear white, those genes basically mask any other colors used to breed said white bird. The best way I've heard it put is you can compare colored birds to canned food in your pantry. The lables are on them so you know exactly what's inside (more or less). Take all of the lables off the cans, and those are your whites. You have no idea what's inside. So its pretty much a crap shoot if you breed them to any other color (unless you've bred them yourself and know exactly what went into making each particular bird). Ah, genetics
Nikki