questions about my blue silkie..?

[sarahloveschickens]

OK so my blue silkie has been broody for the past month but she suddenly stopped and the egg was just about the hatch but since she got off of it the chick died whats up with that?

and now my blue silkie has barely any feathers on her belly at all.. its all bare.. why is she losing feathers?

 

[birdlover]

hmmm When did she begin to incubate the egg? If it was a month ago, it should have hatched. It only takes 21 days. If you gave an egg to her later in the month, she probably got off the nest because she didn't think it was going to hatch as she had already been setting over 21 days. I had a silkie that got off the nest at the end of 21 days religiously. Her belly is naked because they pluck their feathers out so that their warm, moist skin will keep the egg super warm. How do you know the egg was hatching?

 

[M@M@2four]

Quote:
Ditto! I was going to explain the same thing about the feather plucking!

 

[sarahloveschickens]

Quote:
I no the egg was gonna hatch cause i candled it thanks for answering :] I was so confused why her belly was bare

 

[birdlover]

Do you know when she began sitting on the egg? In other words, how many days she'd been incubating it? When I have an egg that is about to hatch and doesn't, I always open it to see how developed the chick was.

 

[chickabator]

they loose their feathers on their belly when they set they will pluck them out so they can keep the eggs up next to their skin