Silkie Hatch-A-Long 2015

[Mummabird]

OK thank you New to this! She is adorable

 

[Mummabird]

She is pecking at the ones pipping now?

 

[RubyNala97]

She is pecking at the ones pipping now?

She's telling him "hurry up, I'm all alone out here"!

 

[RicGail]

X2

 

[Mummabird]

We have another hatched! First one called nugget, second one called shelly!

 

[HerbGir1972]

Anyone close to Newberry/Prosperity , SC want to hatch some silkies, I'll give you what I have collected in eggs (18+) if you come get them tomorrow afternoon. pick up from me only

These eggs come from a Blue Splash rooster, Blue and black hens. First to contact me gets these eggs free. Bailey only wanted a couple chicks back to raise after hatch.
Contact me tonight if interested PM

 

[RubyNala97]

Anyone close to Newberry/Prosperity , SC want to hatch some silkies, I'll give you what I have collected in eggs (18+) if you come get them tomorrow afternoon. pick up from me only

These eggs come from a Blue Splash rooster, Blue and black hens. First to contact me gets these eggs free. Bailey only wanted a couple chicks back to raise after hatch.
Contact me tonight if interested PM

Wish I lived closer, I would definitely do it! Good luck!

 

[HerbGir1972]

Hoping one of the girls starts acting broody, over the eggs in the nest at the farm.. I'll slip a few extras in to see what hatches.

 

[MegH]

Just found this thread! We went on lockdown today with 24 silkie babies! Candled last night...nice air sacs, saw a little movement in some but they were quite full do not much to see! Lol this is my first hatch and hubby thinks I'm crazy for trying silkies as my first go around but I'm hoping for beginners luck! Ha



Great incubator... what is it?
My two windows don't allow as much of a view as I'd like... after they'd start collecting condensation, I realized I could keep a hand towel folded to cover the window but not the upper vent holes, and then just remove towels when I wanted to have a look... Worked great! No more condensation. Doesn't look like you've got any issues with condensation, even with the entire top being acrylic (or whatever the clear material is). Makes me think I might be able to retrofit my existing incubator with stacked panes of acrylic.

 

[MegH]

So exciting... Hubby had brought home a dozen eggs from a job where his client raised silkies... I've had a new incubator for a few months hoping to gather funds to get Lavender Orpington eggs from Jody and Charlie, after falling in love with Orpingtons this spring after hand raising 8 Buff Orps to 6 or 8 weeks, and then loosing them when they escaped the coop of some friends who were kind to chicksit them while we went out of state for a week to see our new grand baby. Apparently our chicks found a way out and were preyed upon by an abundant coyote population here in the Ozarks. Still want to contact and obtain the Lav.Orps sometime soon... but here I am with an unexpected blessing of these Silkies... I have a lot to learn about them, however... and my crash course research didn't prepare me for some of the surprises... More on that later...

First Pip...



First chick...


Unfamiliar with the breed and not yet aware that those cute tufts
of hair on the head may be enhanced by actual vaulted head
structure, I feared for my second hatchling who, it seemed to me,
was "born" with this extreme deformity. I prayed it would make it
anyway... and have since learned that the crest isn't all "fluff"...


Eight chicks, Incubator top/Heat Lamp/Plastic Meat Lug (irony not
intended) for initial brooder setup.
Granddaughter also enjoying the experience...


Makeshift Shop-Rag nest and Dollar Store cooling racks bent into
cylinders to cage out the chickies from dirtying the water & feed...


Ok, I'm falling in love...


Loving their faux nest:


Varying degrees of vault: 3 without; 2 slight; 2 med.; 1 extreme...


Oh, be still my heart!


Attitude?


Curiosity...


Sweetness...


Diversity...


Charm... (notice the extra or "double inner back toes"?
You guys are going to have to educate me...)


Fluff & poo...











WHADDA YOU LOOKING AT?!?


Thoughtfulness...


Extra toe -- hind inner right


Red marker on foot fluff... Granddaughter's idea to mark her own
couple of chicks when I was busy doing other things... Fortunately
didn't seem to attract any adverse pecking attention from the others...
Phew... but we did use it as a teaching moment for what "could
have been"...


Double toes on both feet... (also claimed by the G'daughter as
red ankle markings indicate)




No double toes...


Slight extra toe on hind inner left...


No vault, and double Right & Left hind inner toes.


So... Yeah... WHAT'S going on with the extra toe or toes on some of
these little cuties? And, what do you call them... probably not called
"hind inner toes" like I've been referring to them... LOL!!! Teach me!



Using VAULTING: None/Dome (D), Vault-Slight (V), Vault-Medium (M) and Vault-Extreme (X)

...together with EXTRA TOES: None (O), Right (R), Left (L), Both (B)

I actually have a unique visual ID profile for each of my 8 little fluff
babies: DL, DR, DB, XO, VR, MR, MB, and VB... cool!!!

So far the most attention loving are DB, VB, and XO, with VR being
attention tolerant.

Today, I'm going to give a lot of extra attention, handling, soft toothbrush grooming, and foot washing to the little standoffs: DL, DR, MR, and MB.

I promise, each of these are going to have proper names soon, but each of 4 grandkids are going to be naming their own two chickies... until then, and once names are assigned, at least I'll have an easy two parameter system by which to recognize/associate them with their names...

Too CRAZY?

Anxious to hear your thoughts on the toes, etc...

Blessings!
MegH -- Ozark, MO