Silkie thread!

[CALI CHICK]

Yep, it's the same sweet chesty boy. I also hope no other symptoms pop up. I try to keep the silkies away from the others, but it's hard when the silly teenage roosters actively seek out and sprint, wings down, after any and every hen they see, even if the hen is way across the yard

they don't realize they're so much smaller than the LF girls. Thank you for your concern, I'll definitely update on his recovery.

LOL- I guess we can't teach them that love is a dangerous thing, huh. That's a good sign that he is interested in making babies though. I had kind of an opposite situation with my silkie rooster the other day. I've got a Buff Orpington hen that loves nothing more than going broody. I don't have any LF roosters though so I either buy her fertile eggs or give her chicks from the feed store to break her broodiness. She just finished raising some babies (3 months old) and started laying eggs again. If we "look" at her, she squats for us...it's so funny. Well, she REALLY wants babies again and we keep catching HER in the silkie pen. And what is she doing in the silkie pen? She is making advances at the silkie rooster. Unfortunately, HE doesn't take the hint.........she's even rubbing up against him and squatting for him!

I guess that's a good thing since they are the wrong breed AND wrong color. I do wish the silkie rooster would be a little more assertive with his silkie girl. Mysty Blue is more dominant than him. He follows Mysty Blue around and adores her, but he hasn't forced her to mate recently. Her eggs haven't been fertile for a couple of weeks since we sold the more aggresive rooster. Our blue partridge hen also "flirts" with the silkie rooster. (That's them together in my avatar) But, she isn't laying yet and he has never tried to mate her. They are the wrong color for each other too. My breeding pen is like this mixed up love-triangle. He loves Mysty Blue, but she doesn't love him and Cinnamuffin loves HIM, but he doesn't notice her..........crazy!

 

[RockerHen]

LOL- I guess we can't teach them that love is a dangerous thing, huh. That's a good sign that he is interested in making babies though. I had kind of an opposite situation with my silkie rooster the other day. I've got a Buff Orpington hen that loves nothing more than going broody. I don't have any LF roosters though so I either buy her fertile eggs or give her chicks from the feed store to break her broodiness. She just finished raising some babies (3 months old) and started laying eggs again. If we "look" at her, she squats for us...it's so funny. Well, she REALLY wants babies again and we keep catching HER in the silkie pen. And what is she doing in the silkie pen? She is making advances at the silkie rooster. Unfortunately, HE doesn't take the hint.........she's even rubbing up against him and squatting for him!

I guess that's a good thing since they are the wrong breed AND wrong color. I do wish the silkie rooster would be a little more assertive with his silkie girl. Mysty Blue is more dominant than him. He follows Mysty Blue around and adores her, but he hasn't forced her to mate recently. Her eggs haven't been fertile for a couple of weeks since we sold the more aggresive rooster. Our blue partridge hen also "flirts" with the silkie rooster. (That's them together in my avatar) But, she isn't laying yet and he has never tried to mate her. They are the wrong color for each other too. My breeding pen is like this mixed up love-triangle. He loves Mysty Blue, but she doesn't love him and Cinnamuffin loves HIM, but he doesn't notice her..........crazy!

I've experienced the determination of hens that desperately want chicks...I have 3 mixed color oegb. Teeny, teeny girls, way smaller than my silkies. I got rid of all my oegb roos long ago, as I just wanted to keep the hens as broodies, not breed them. Back before I got my silkies or wyandottes, I had a mixed flock of LF layers. The only roosters I owned were a white leghorn, a RIR, and a WCB polish, all huge LF boys. When cleaning out a brushy area next to the coops, I came across a little oegb hen, on 6 bantam eggs. I was a little amused, and thought, those won't be fertile girl, just give up. But I thought I would candle, just for the heck of it. EVERY SINGLE ONE WAS FERTILE. And they hatched, and grew into medium sized birds, smaller than LF, but much bigger than their mother. I have one left as a broody. I assume the leghorn was the father, because of her flopped over comb. I have no idea where her almost crele barring/lacing came from.


Get this, she is brooding her own eggs here, top. And she mated with the HUGE SLW we have (she's about 4 lbs, he's about 12), and successfully hatched chicks from him. Like mother, like daughter

This is her mother. You can see how tiny she is compared to the silkie chicks. This tiny girl mated with a LF leghorn.

 

[drumstick diva]

beautiful mommas. Times have changed for people/chickens, the female has to be the aggressor - males don't seem to have a clue

 

[sheeshshe]

I've experienced the determination of hens that desperately want chicks...I have 3 mixed color oegb. Teeny, teeny girls, way smaller than my silkies. I got rid of all my oegb roos long ago, as I just wanted to keep the hens as broodies, not breed them. Back before I got my silkies or wyandottes, I had a mixed flock of LF layers. The only roosters I owned were a white leghorn, a RIR, and a WCB polish, all huge LF boys. When cleaning out a brushy area next to the coops, I came across a little oegb hen, on 6 bantam eggs. I was a little amused, and thought, those won't be fertile girl, just give up. But I thought I would candle, just for the heck of it. EVERY SINGLE ONE WAS FERTILE. And they hatched, and grew into medium sized birds, smaller than LF, but much bigger than their mother. I have one left as a broody. I assume the leghorn was the father, because of her flopped over comb. I have no idea where her almost crele barring/lacing came from.


Get this, she is brooding her own eggs here, top. And she mated with the HUGE SLW we have (she's about 4 lbs, he's about 12), and successfully hatched chicks from him. Like mother, like daughter

This is her mother. You can see how tiny she is compared to the silkie chicks. This tiny girl mated with a LF leghorn.

Oh my goodness, this story is making me laugh! so funny!

 

[sheeshshe]

I cracked open that egg... is it fertile? If so, it would be my first fertile egg ever LOL


I have a question, how does it work when you have 2 roosters? if they both mate with the hen,is it luck of the draw in who's DNA makes it to the egg, so if I hatched out 5 eggs from the same hen, would some be one mix and some the other? Or, would they all be one thing or what is the percentage like?

 

[arlock]

I cracked open that egg... is it fertile? If so, it would be my first fertile egg ever LOL


I have a question, how does it work when you have 2 roosters? if they both mate with the hen,is it luck of the draw in who's DNA makes it to the egg, so if I hatched out 5 eggs from the same hen, would some be one mix and some the other? Or, would they all be one thing or what is the percentage like?

As to fertility.....it looks like it...... https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/16008/how-to-tell-a-fertile-vs-infertile-egg-pictures

As figuring out who has to pay child support: Many, many factors come into play such as mating order, time span between matings, and the sperm count, motility, morphology, etc. So yeah, luck of the draw. And hens will store semen for a period of 5 days or so, meaning one mating will make that chicken fertile for a number of days, even if the rooster is removed from the pen. As the eggs develop, the hen releases a little bit at the right time for fertilization. So if there is a number of roosters there could be different fathers of different eggs laid in the same week.

 

[sheeshshe]

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is very exciting! I think I'll start saving them. But, it is still really cold outside. maybe that isn't a good idea? IDK!

I read a thread on here about hatching out fertile trader joes eggs... whicfh means, they must last quite a while before they go bad?

 

[Debs55]

My silkies have finally laid their first egg at 8 months old!!

 

[heirloomorps]

Sweet babies. Are these from your silkies and sizzles or did you hatch shipped eggs?
Aww, what a little cutie. Sounds like you've been adopted as momma hen.
Wow, lucky you! Hope all of the chicks hatch!
Awwww, they are so adorable! What breed are the yellow ones? They make the silkies look so tiny.

The yellow are crossbreeds - New Hampshire daddy and SLW mommy. We also had Black Copper Marans and Blue Laced Red Wyandottes hatching with them... I was afraid the Silkies would get squished!



One of our new partridge cuties and a two week old blue! She is the smallest two week old I have seen - so much smaller than the rest hatched at the same time.

 

[moomoodiddy]

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is very exciting!  I think I'll start saving them.  But, it is still really cold outside.  maybe that isn't a good idea? IDK!  

I read a thread on here about hatching out fertile trader joes eggs... whicfh means, they must last quite a while before they go bad?

i have read that when u sore eggs u try to keep them at 50 degrees f and trader joes sells eggs wow never been there what kind do they sell