Our introduction to keeping chickens, the high's, the lows and pics of our journey.

[Bens-Hens]

Hahaha, I can't wait for all of them to show their more mature states, but at the same time I like them all little and fluffy!

The silkie could be pink and purple and Alicia would still love it! The Wylkie is gaining in size too

 

[cwrite]

Ben - that Wylkie is so cute fluffed out! I so hope she's a girl!
@ Vehve - hope you have a great summer solstice & handle that kiddie kayak responsibly ; )

 

[vehve]

Ben - that Wylkie is so cute fluffed out!  I so hope she's a girl!
@ Vehve - hope you have a great summer solstice & handle that kiddie kayak responsibly ; )

So far I spent yesterday with my parents at the cottage, we had a pretty low key evening, nice food and wine, some family friends and a little bonfire in the evening. Now I'm headed home, but might spend the evening with some friends since Karin is on call, so tonight might include acting stupid.

 

[vehve]

The cold weather brought a new record with it in Finland: Zero people drowned during the celebration of Summer solstice.

As for doing stupid things, I seem to have a burn on my hand and a vague recollection of adding wood to the sauna oven at some point. Now comes the boring part when I'm the first person awake and in no condition to drive yet...

 

[Bens-Hens]

All chicks are doing well. We had a wet start to the day, but the sun came out late in the afternoon.

Even got 4 eegs today.

Had a 22km trail race this morning, my first proper trail race. I had a right blast! Alicia ran it too with a friend, they did a swell job coming in exactly 3 hours.

Chicks got some sweet water when the first one passed away. That has run out so today was just fresh water, tomorrow a dash of ACV. They are looking good, Wylkie is already bigger than the silkie chick

 

[vehve]

Good that the chickies are going strong. Are you starting to see some behavior that would allow you to venture a guess on genders? Karin called all of our own hatches right at 2 days old, based on behavior. We also tried vent sexing and looking at the wing feathers, but that seemed pretty useless, couldn't really say anything about them.

By the way, can silkies fly, or are their wings just covered with fluff too?

 

[Bens-Hens]

I think they are just fluffy???!!!!! WIll find out in a few weeks.

No behaviour just yet, but there was some pretty clear wing feather differences. Silkie and Wylkie could not tell, but 2 of the other 3 had female wing traits with the Cochin showing male. Saying that, I don't think any of the breeds we have can be sexed that way.

Just have to watch some more, and mostly wait.

 

[vehve]

I think they are just fluffy???!!!!! WIll find out in a few weeks.

No behaviour just yet, but there was some pretty clear wing feather differences. Silkie and Wylkie could not tell, but 2 of the other 3 had female wing traits with the Cochin showing male. Saying that, I don't think any of the breeds we have can be sexed that way.

Just have to watch some more, and mostly wait.

You can try your skills at vent sexing. Karin showed me a video on youtube, some Chinese guy working in what looked like a factory took a box with 50 chicks and sorted them into two boxes in about a minute. I have no idea what you're supposed to see there though, I don't think they have dangly bits like we do

Would be a good method if you learn it though.

This morning was a interesting lesson in what "below the legal limit" can look like. One of my friends had bought a breathalyzer, and we checked ourselves when we woke up. I'm starting to see the merits of the US sobriety tests that they do instead. Would not have wanted to jump in a car driven by some of my friends who got a 0.18 or 0.37, even though they could have driven legally.

 

[Fancychooklady]

You can try your skills at vent sexing. Karin showed me a video on youtube, some Chinese guy working in what looked like a factory took a box with 50 chicks and sorted them into two boxes in about a minute. I have no idea what you're supposed to see there though, I don't think they have dangly bits like we do   Would be a good method if you learn it though.

This morning was a interesting lesson in what "below the legal limit" can look like. One of my friends had bought a breathalyzer, and we checked ourselves when we woke up. I'm starting to see the merits of the US sobriety tests that they do instead. Would not have wanted to jump in a car driven by some of my friends who got a 0.18 or 0.37, even though they could have driven legally.

Vent sexing in bantams is very dangerous and not to be recommended. Silkies are by far the most difficult to sex. Btw even the ' experts ' regularly get it wrong, you only need to read through the many posts of people saying that their ' sexed birds turned out to be roos.

 

[Farmer Viola]

Vent sexing in bantams is very dangerous and not to be recommended. Silkies are by far the most difficult to sex. Btw even the ' experts ' regularly get it wrong, you only need to read through the many posts of people saying that their ' sexed birds turned out to be roos.

I was surprised to learn that DNA sexing (especially for silkies) is remarkably cheap. Only $12 according to this site: http://www.healthgene.com/avian-dna-testing/ (edit: USD)