Silkie thread!

[ThaiChick]

Thanks hawkeye. My run is covered. Ileft the door open because we haven't had any predator problems and I was to trusting inmy thinking they would be safe. I won't make the same mistake twice.

 

[Basel]

So pretty!

Thanks, Aoxa! Yours are gorgeous too. The second to last picture you just posted looks like the black lav split coloring I love!

 

[tilosi]

Sorry to hear about your eggs... I hatched 14 silkies from mbrobbins about 7 weeks ago. Love them!! Good luck!

Thank you. I'm so glad you had a good hatch from her. I'd love to see your chicky pics!

From all that you've said I think you have done a great job incubating. I do not do anything different with silkies than other breeds and I don't know anyone who does except maybe focus on getting the lockdown humidity up really well. I always have trouble getting mine above 70 also. I use cartons sometimes and sometimes not. No difference in hatch rate but I understand they don't drowned after pipping as much in the carton. I delay lockdown a day if the airspace seems too small.

Thank you, you always make me feel better!

 

[peepblessed]

One of my babies is a black lav split. I love the "salt and pepper" coloring some of these get, like the below picture of one of CJ Silkies gorgeous birds:


From CJ Silkies:




Might my baby below [from a CJ Silkies egg] have this coloring?:




Thanks!

CJ's has baby photo pictures on their website. This chick looks blue but gray can come in a wide variety.

 

[peepblessed]

Thank you. I'm so glad you had a good hatch from her. I'd love to see your chicky pics!

Thank you, you always make me feel better!

I'm so glad!!

I have nine hatching today. They aren't shipped so the stress leave is gone. Just enjoying the fun!

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

But why would she crow then?

Oh gosh! I am so torn!

I have a hen in my laying flock that used to crow. Her spur nub also grew a little bit. Her hormone level was messed up and she was the top hen at the time. After her hormones leveled back out, she started laying good again and acting like a normal gal. Your silkie's hormones could be the reason she is crowing. I would give her some time before deciding on anything.

 

[tilosi]

You're going to have to get above 68% humidity to have a good hatch. At least in MY experience. I get sticky chicks when I'm below 70%. I have a Brinsea and it's hard to get above 70%-- so I simply add warm wet towels or you can add sponges. Incubating at 99.5 is fine-- even if you have some temp swings that go higher or lower by a few tenths. So long as it's not a whole degree... and if so, isn't very long-- like from opening the lid. I candle at 10 days for sure. Sometimes if I'm checking development in shipped eggs, I want to know when they are quitters, so I'll candle at 5 days too-- but it's unnecessary. I pretty much know that if my humidity is running right around 30-40%, that my air cells are going to be fine. However, if I've been worried about high humidity, then I will check them a couple more times (just a few eggs) to be sure the air cells are growing like they should. At 5 days, you should be able to see the tiny dot with the veins starting out. At 10 days, it's much clearer and you should see movement, but even if you don't -- doesn't mean you should toss them. I'm pretty good at knowing what I'm looking for. It just takes experience. The BEST advice I can give you for shipped eggs is to let them rest. And I'm not kidding-- that can mean the difference between a good and bad hatch. They MUST rest in the upright position for a day before setting them so they can settle. I take them all out of the packaging and then put them in egg cartons with the air cells UP (pointy end down). If you can't tell, candle them so you know which is which. I then will mark X's on the ones that have lost all signs of air cells. Leave them be for a day so the air can settle. Then I candle the air cells right before I put them in-- especially the one's with X's on them. Usually the air has come back to the top and they will look a lot better than they did when you got them. I've NEVER gotten eggs with perfect air cells. I think I'm unlucky. But I still get good hatches anyway. But you'll have your duds. I did get a 0% hatch on shipped eggs once. I think the PO shook them up beyond what they could handle.

Thank you very much!

Also, do you use a turner?

 

[peepblessed]

Thanks, Aoxa! Yours are gorgeous too. The second to last picture you just posted looks like the black lav split coloring I love!

Black/lav splits should be black. Lavender (self-blue) is completely recessive.

 

[tilosi]

So pretty!

X a million!

 

[tilosi]

I'm so glad!!

I have nine hatching today. They aren't shipped so the stress leave is gone. Just enjoying the fun!

Yay!! I'm excited for you!! I'm going to "pick mine up" in an hour....Can't wait to see your new babies!!