Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

[peepblessed]

I cut a naval orange in two, make a hole in the rind close to the cut egde. Then with an old sandwich bag twist tie, or sometimes I use a zip tie, I fasten the half orange to the side of the box so it has the cut side towards the middle of the box. That way, they can eat the fruit, get sugar liquid as well, and they are not walking in the fruit either or is the juice wetting the bedding. I've had very good luck doing this. Sometimes, with large fowl, I'll also put some whole wheat bread slices in as something extra.

I personally don't like to put water in the box, as its been my experience getting chicks that had water, the water spills, and wets the shavings. Its a risk that the birds get wet & chilled.

Excellent idea!

My little baby today!

Too cute!!

 

[ChicksNherps]

From the pictures the top one looks black to me. I can make my blackest birds look less black than that with improper lighting in the photo. I can also take pictures that make ones look blacker than they are. Pictures are very hard to tell color from at times. Are these the same bird ?

These are both pictures from here on BYC I found of people posting blue roos, they are different birds I presume but I do not own the pictures so I can't say for certain. But blue can look black as well but blue will have lighter underfluff where as a black should be solid black all the way down the feather shaft. But sometimes people do get true bred black birds with lighter fluff, so you would have to breed him to see what he really is. Better pictures in natural lighting would show better too. This was my black pullet and my friend's black roo. You can see they are completely solid black.

 

[Adoravachick]

My little baby today!

so cute!

 

[LaPetiteFarmer]

My white hen, Julia, is broody and has been setting on some silkie eggs. I candled Julia's eggs last night, I should be able to see some veins by now....day 5. I may give it until Sunday and if I don't see anything, I'll toss them. The only thing that I can think of is that in the beginning, she wasn't completely committed to keeping the eggs warm. I have noticed her temperment has changed, she's a broody grump now. My question is, I have eggs in the incubator now that are due to hatch in 13 days, can I give Julia those eggs to set or should I just give her completely new eggs? I was thinking thay maybe I could start the eggs in the incubator for 5 days, to see what develops, and then give her the eggs that have started embryos? This is my first broody hen, thoughts and comments are welcome.

I wish I could help, sorry...

I cut a naval orange in two, make a hole in the rind close to the cut egde. Then with an old sandwich bag twist tie, or sometimes I use a zip tie, I fasten the half orange to the side of the box so it has the cut side towards the middle of the box. That way, they can eat the fruit, get sugar liquid as well, and they are not walking in the fruit either or is the juice wetting the bedding. I've had very good luck doing this. Sometimes, with large fowl, I'll also put some whole wheat bread slices in as something extra.

I personally don't like to put water in the box, as its been my experience getting chicks that had water, the water spills, and wets the shavings. Its a risk that the birds get wet & chilled.

I will have never thought they would eat an orange (because it is quite acidic)... good to know.

My little baby today!

So cute!!! Did you end up putting her back with the other ones or is she by herself?

 

[Feathersprings]

These are both pictures from here on BYC I found of people posting blue roos, they are different birds I presume but I do not own the pictures so I can't say for certain. But blue can look black as well but blue will have lighter underfluff where as a black should be solid black all the way down the feather shaft. But sometimes people do get true bred black birds with lighter fluff, so you would have to breed him to see what he really is. Better pictures in natural lighting would show better too. This was my black pullet and my friend's black roo. You can see they are completely solid black.

I know they can look very much the same but some truly black birds are not as dark as others and they arent necessarily blue or from black/blue breeding. I have blacks that are from pure black pens that range in the depth of the feather and underfluff color. In pictures some will look blue in one picture and dark black in another. I see so many "warnings" about the possibility of blue being mistaken for black and find that most of them are really black. I realize that on occasion one can be mistaken for the other but it seems that seeing so many suggestions that your black might be a blue is pretty confusing to a lot of people. It is good to be aware that you can test breed to know for sure if you have question but I will most likely be reasonably sure that my Silkie that looks black to me most likely is black. I also wouldnt want blues that dark!!!

 

[ChicksNherps]

I know they can look very much the same but some truly black birds are not as dark as others and they arent necessarily blue or from black/blue breeding. I have blacks that are from pure black pens that range in the depth of the feather and underfluff color. In pictures some will look blue in one picture and dark black in another. I see so many "warnings" about the possibility of blue being mistaken for black and find that most of them are really black. I realize that on occasion one can be mistaken for the other but it seems that seeing so many suggestions that your black might be a blue is pretty confusing to a lot of people. It is good to be aware that you can test breed to know for sure if you have question but I will most likely be reasonably sure that my Silkie that looks black to me most likely is black. I also wouldnt want blues that dark!!!

I hear ya, I like my blue.

 

[Feathersprings]

I hear ya, I like my blue.

Love that color!!! Pretty

 

[moomoodiddy]

My white hen, Julia, is broody and has been setting on some silkie eggs.  I candled Julia's eggs last night, I should be able to see some veins by now....day 5. I may give it until Sunday and if I don't see anything, I'll toss them. The only thing that I can think of is that in the beginning, she wasn't completely committed to keeping the eggs warm. I have noticed her temperment has changed, she's a broody grump now. My question is, I have eggs in the incubator now that are due to hatch in 13 days, can I give Julia those eggs to set or should I just give her completely new eggs? I was thinking thay maybe I could start the eggs in the incubator for 5 days, to see what develops, and then give her the eggs that have started embryos? This is my first broody hen,  thoughts and comments are welcome.

Give the eggs a couple More days the first time a hen goes broody isn't always successful if u want all the eggs to hatch at the same time give her some from the baton but considering she may not be completely aware that she has to sit on them all the time I would have her collect some new eggs and learn from her mistakes let her go through the whole process again with les valuable eggs until she can learn her lesson

 

[Fur N Feathers]

Excellent idea!
Too cute!!

Thank you!

so cute!

Thank you!

I wish I could help, sorry...
I will have never thought they would eat an orange (because it is quite acidic)... good to know.
So cute!!! Did you end up putting her back with the other ones or is she by herself?

No, she is still in the house with me. I was hoping another baby would hatch and I could give her a companion but that hasn't happened yet. I did find two eggs kicked out of the nest that had pipped and quit. There should be some hatching soon though I hope!

 

[Adoravachick]

I hear ya, I like my blue.

She's so pretty, I love seeing pics of her.