Self Blue (Lavender) Silkie Thread

[Elite Silkies]

Would you look at the hackles on that boy!!

 

[minihorse927]

His tail streamers also drag the ground! He does have some age on him. I am not sure exactly but I know he has been around the block. The person I got him from said she would ask and see if where she got him knows how old he is. I figured 2 to 3. Now just hoping and praying when bred to blk/lav splits I can get some lavender chicks from him. I will cry if he is not pure...

 

[starina]

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He is beautiful!

 

[rilly10]

No secrets here! I have had TERRIBLE luck hatching any lavender eggs that were not mine (shipped eggs). I only had one baby out of probably 60 lav eggs hatch but it died 3 days later, just never thrived.

However, I have almost 100% hatch rates from my lavender eggs from my own birds. I feed my breeders Flock Raiser (not Layena as I think that makes for harder shells when it comes to hatching), other than that, I only breed healthy string birds, and feed a very varied diet. I also use Brinsea incubators for all of my lav eggs since I think they are more reliable. Then on day 18 I switch them to a hovabator genesis to hatch so they have more room to move around once they get out without knocking around all of the other eggs.

 

[chicknfishn]

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I also have been having problems with the lavender chicks. When I do hatch lavenders from my black splits they seem to be the ones that die within days or in a few weeks. I finally have one that is ready to come out of the brooders. This is after hatching for 4 months. Has anyone else noticed this? Are the lavenders just more fragile than the other colors? Any other new silkie colors having this problem, and is this why people are doing splits, to try to increase the vitality of the chicks or birds with this color?

 

[rilly10]

Personally all of my issues have been with shipped eggs. I have not lost any of the lavs I have hatched form my eggs other than one (freak accident with a feeder). I breed to splits to improve type. For me the type is more important than the color, so I breed to the best black or split I can find. If it means less pure lav chick for a while I am fine with that. I am breeding for the long run and myself, not production or to sell chicks. All of my pens have lav roos with black or split hens. Since I do not have a black roo at the moment I have my lav silkie and lav showgirl hens with my porcelain cock until I can locate a nice black silkie roo.

I may be having such good luck due to using splits and showgirls which may diversify the genetics of my lavs. I have not done much lav to lav at all since the type is not where I want it on all of them yet. I am hoping to produce lavs that can compete with the whites and blacks next year.

A few things I do other than flock raiser rather than layer feed that seem to work for me are:
PlyViSol in chicks water for the first 2-3 days
Medicated chick started crumbles only for the first month
Leave the chicks in the incubator for 24-48 hours after hatching to recuperate

If a chick seems weak at any time I offer PolyVisol in the water again, and sometimes growgel if they are not eating (have not had to do the growgel since I started supplementing the water with PolyViSol.

I am not claiming to be an expert or anything, these are just a few things that seem to work for me and my birds. GOOD LUCK!!

 

[Debbi]

What humidity settings are you guys having trouble using? I was having extemely poor hatches with my Marans, and when I got my first shipped Silkie eggs, I tried something new. Mine too, were all dying in lockdown, and I attributed this to too high a humidity, they were drowning. So, from now on for the first 18 days, I set my humidity at 35% and let it fluctuate between 30-40%. For lockdown, it is set at 50% humidity, fluctuate to 55%. Out of 20 shipped Silkie eggs, 17 went into lockdown (2 were clear, 1 quitter on day 4 or so), and 14 hatched! That was my best hatch ever!!! My incubator is an R-Com King Suro 20 with the auto humidity pump. It is much like the Brinsea, without the price tag. Just a thought, I hate to hear of bad hatches!

 

[minihorse927]

My lavender roo is younger than I had thought, I was told he is just a little over a year old! YAY! Now I can not wait to get him in my pen with my black and blue hens!

 

[Elite Silkies]

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I personally would not breed him to blue hens, you might have trouble telling which ones are actually lavenders.

 

[jen5680]

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I personally would not breed him to blue hens, you might have trouble telling which ones are actually lavenders.

X 2!!!