Silkie thread!

[sonz77]

Oh that's so sad I hope she gets better!!


So, I went out to lock them up and she was still just coming in from the run. and she ran on in and had energy and started scarfing food, yeah!

Yay!!!

Did you have to hand feed her at all or give the syringe of water?

 

[kabhyper1]

Needing advice. I have 4 bearded silkie eggs that my girls have layed and no broodies. I thought there were only 2 and then I found 2 more buried under the hay in the nesting box. They don't seem to be paying much attention to them. Any thoughts? Should I just wait it out longer and see if they lay a full clutch? I don't have an incubator.

I have never experienced this before. Newbie.

 

[Jharper]

Here is one of my silkie chicks! It's soo fluffy!

 

[mandycarlo]

Leave eggs they lay a clutch (12 or so) then sit if they don't end up sitting your going to need incubator but I would see if they will do it first its alot easier when they do the work . I run two imcubators and its work lol

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Needing advice. I have 4 bearded silkie eggs that my girls have layed and no broodies. I thought there were only 2 and then I found 2 more buried under the hay in the nesting box. They don't seem to be paying much attention to them. Any thoughts? Should I just wait it out longer and see if they lay a full clutch? I don't have an incubator.

I have never experienced this before. Newbie.

Hens go broody on their own schedule, not yours. Most will lay a full clutch of eggs, which can be as few as two or three or as many as twenty, but is usually somewhere in the 6 to 12 range. They typically lay an egg each day. If your birds are just coming into laying, don;t expect broodiness right away. Sometimes it happens, but probably less often than not. Many breeders will not incubate eggs until a pullet has been laying for at least a month or so.

It's kind of hard to give advice--what is your goal/purpose, how many birds do you have, do you have a fertile rooster, ...?

 

[kabhyper1]

Hens go broody on their own schedule, not yours. Most will lay a full clutch of eggs, which can be as few as two or three or as many as twenty, but is usually somewhere in the 6 to 12 range. They typically lay an egg each day. If your birds are just coming into laying, don;t expect broodiness right away. Sometimes it happens, but probably less often than not. Many breeders will not incubate eggs until a pullet has been laying for at least a month or so.

It's kind of hard to give advice--what is your goal/purpose, how many birds do you have, do you have a fertile rooster, ...?

I have 5 girls and a roo. They are all in a coop together. The first two eggs have been in there for three days. I found two buried in the box hay, but I'm sure they are all close in laying date. I am pretty sure I only have one hen laying. All but one are 10 months old. The older one is special needs and is going through a molt, and hasn't layed in over a month, so I'm pretty sure they aren't hers. They come from show stock. I would like to hatch a few to see what we want to do for the future. If they are just pet quality, then I may not continue breeding. These are our first fertile eggs, so we just wanted to see what would happen. I don't want to waste sq silkie eggs though, so I wasn't sure how long I can leave them in the nesting box before they aren't viable. I have been offered incubator space, but I would much rather let nature do its thing and have momma hatch them.

 

[sheeshshe]

Yay!!!

Did you have to hand feed her at all or give the syringe of water?

I did end up giving her 1 syringe of the med water yesterday morning, because she just wasn't seeming to look much better, and she was still pooping bright red blood, and it was almost 24 hours. today I see no more blood. I've noticed that she is now a lot smaller than the other 3 chicks. I hope she catches up!

 

[DeannaA]

I recently hatched my first 2 silkie chicks. They both walk backwards as much as they walk forward. I took one back to the breeder. She said she had never seen that before. I just hatched 5 more silkies and some of them do it as well. They seem very healthy but none of the the other breeds I have hatched have done this. Is it normal, is it a symptom of something wrong? I think it's cute and doesn't cause any problems but I don't want to breed the chicks if there is something wrong.

 

[JenS9]

I don't know if it is normal or not, seeing as I've only had silkies since April... but I've never seen any of mine walk backwards.

 

[B J Hopkins]

I have 5 girls and a roo. They are all in a coop together. The first two eggs have been in there for three days. I found two buried in the box hay, but I'm sure they are all close in laying date. I am pretty sure I only have one hen laying. All but one are 10 months old. The older one is special needs and is going through a molt, and hasn't layed in over a month, so I'm pretty sure they aren't hers. They come from show stock. I would like to hatch a few to see what we want to do for the future. If they are just pet quality, then I may not continue breeding. These are our first fertile eggs, so we just wanted to see what would happen. I don't want to waste sq silkie eggs though, so I wasn't sure how long I can leave them in the nesting box before they aren't viable. I have been offered incubator space, but I would much rather let nature do its thing and have momma hatch them.

If you've been offered Incubator space, put several of the oldest eggs in the 'bator. Leave the hen some eggs to keep her laying. If she does go broody, then give her the incubator eggs as well. OR you could keep the eggs in the 'bator until they hatch. Then slip the chicks under Momma at night. Keep an eye on her to make sure she accepts the babies. I've done this several times & so far it's worked for me.