Silkie thread!

[kabhyper1]

Yup, you have "Partridge" under your Roo and one of the hens. That is normal - for Silkies. They are cute too!

I am so anxious! I can't take the suspense. There are still eggs under there though so I am waiting patiently to see what is under there. I know for sure a black, a white, and this little partridge, but thats only 3 of 14 eggs lol. So I guess I have to be patient.

If she gets up with the chicks before the othr eggs hatch, does that mean they are probably no good, or will I need to put them in my incubator? I will candle to make sure, but I have never used my new incubator since my hens went broody as soon as I bought it.

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote:
If she gets up and leaves eggs that means most of them are old enough to leave the nest and she is following it to protect them. The hens will choose the hatched ones over the eggs if brought to a choice. Usually the eggs they leave are bad - but not always. Candle them once she leaves them, make sure you do not hear any pecking or peeping, or see any pips. If you DO have any of those, you may have to hatch it yourself, then put it back under momma when she goes to sleep for the night. My mother hatches pipped or peeping eggs by tucking them up against her stomach to keep them warm and moist - she has hatched lots ones she "rescued" this way. If you don't want to do that I would fire up the incubator and get it steady and humid.. just in case. The moms will usually accept the chicks just fine once they are hatched (within a day of hatching), but they will be weaker because they are the youngest so you may have to keep an eye on them to make sure they keep up with the others.

I don't remember if you put all the eggs in at the same time, or if there were some put in later. Usually mom can rotate them to get them all to hatch within a three day period - but not if they were more than 5 days apart...

Has she kicked out any eggshells yet? If she hasn't then she is not ready to move so you still have another day at least. Usually it is three days from when the first one is born that she may get off the nest. If she has food and water close by for herself and the chicks she may stay longer - IF the chicks can't get too far from her.

I know - waiting is the hardest part.

 

[chickee]

Quote: Thanks

I was just thinking I should take some more pictures. The last one hatched last night, so I was waiting for it to fluff up and look cute for the pictures

 

[chickee]

Are you giving up on the Buff and the Splash? I thought you said yesterday was day 21 - I never give up until day 25.... Did you float test the remainders?

I had forgotten you originally bought 30 eggs.. I thought you hatched the 9 (now 10) out of 15 eggs.. Well - not great for shipped eggs, but you sure got some beautiful chicks!

I candled the eggs and no veins in the paint and last porcelain egg, plus there is a huge air space down the sides of those eggs. The buff egg has veining but no movement. I will wait until tomorrow, but I am pretty sure they won't hatch. There were 15 for awhile when I had the two splash eggs under a broody, but they didn't grow. The blue/splash egg in the incubator hatched out a blue chick. It is the friendliest, so a favorite right now

The chicks are gorgeous! Very round and fluffy, with beautiful heads and super heavy bodies! I have been told that the correct body type is heart shaped like a Wyandotte and since I have worked with the BLRWs for 3 years I am familiar with that look, so hopefully I will have an eye for the Silkie standard.

Did you want the porcelain rooster for making the blue partridge or do you have other plans for it? With 6 porcelain chicks I am sure there will be an extra rooster

 

[kabhyper1]

Quote:
She is in a 3x3 half of the coop. I went and looked for egg shells next to her, and saw a few sticking out and removed them, there were more under her wing. I moved super slowly and got out the ones I could easily feel. 5 shells total. All the chicks were under her right wing and side and the shells under the left. There are still quite a few eggs under her. She stole 5 eggs a day after I set the initial 10 under her. So they are all close in time. I have gone in twice today to give her a drink and let her eat a bit. I may set the food closer for her. It is about a foot away right now. There were some very curious peepers when I was disposong of shells. We have a black, a blue, a white, a partridge, and one that looks lavender with very light striping. I have no idea what that one is. They all came peeked out on their own, so I wasn't invasive lol. They are absolutely adorable though! What temp and humidity would I need to set the incubator at if I have to use it?

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote: Sorry to hear about the other eggs. I was hoping you would get your Buff. Yeah, wonky air pockets are always iffy.

I hadn't had the body shape explained to me that way, but I can sort of see it now that you put it like that. I think of the stance like an S with a fluffball on the tail oS... Move the o almost level wit the head - it could almost be a heart shape... Some chicks show good stance early, some like to stand really tall - but they look better when older.

Well... I could probably find a place either for a Porcelain rooster - or a Lavender one if that is the case (but I rather hope you get lots of girls). They would not be for Blue Partridge - but rather to see what I would get for "Isabella" in the second generation.

Are you going to mark the chicks so you can see what the Porcelains grow out like? That is something I always wished they had done on the Porcelain Silkie thread - have a series of growing up photos so I could try and guess the genetics from the chick down, juvie feathers and pre-adult feathers, as well as the adult plumage.

 

[ChickNmamma]

She is in a 3x3 half of the coop. I went and looked for egg shells next to her, and saw a few sticking out and removed them, there were more under her wing. I moved super slowly and got out the ones I could easily feel. 5 shells total. All the chicks were under her right wing and side and the shells under the left. There are still quite a few eggs under her. She stole 5 eggs a day after I set the initial 10 under her. So they are all close in time. I have gone in twice today to give her a drink and let her eat a bit. I may set the food closer for her. It is about a foot away right now. There were some very curious peepers when I was disposong of shells. We have a black, a blue, a white, a partridge, and one that looks lavender with very light striping. I have no idea what that one is. They all came peeked out on their own, so I wasn't invasive lol. They are absolutely adorable though! What temp and humidity would I need to set the incubator at if I have to use it?

Oooh, cool - 5 already? There may be others under there, good job waiting until she kicks the shells out. I didn't know they segregated the shells from the chicks, they are amazing incubators, aren't they? Usually I find the shells behind the broody - up against the back of the box.

You won't have Lavender from that cross, unless your whites and Blue are really mixed up... but you could have a light blue over a Partridge base, or you could have Splash over Partridge. The faint stripes go away as they grow up.

Put the food in front of her on a flat tray - she will call the chicks out to eat. Try scrambled eggs, they both love it! Then you can watch the best TV ever - Broody Chick TV! Bring a camera! Sit back and enjoy the show!

If you need the incubator (although that is close enough in dates you may not) you would put it at whatever temperatures are suggested for hatching. It depends on the incubator - but somewhere between 99.5 (fan) or 102 (still air). Humidity about 69-75%. That is IF you are at lower elevations and don't have low humidity outside. High elevations or lower exterior humidity change the humidity necessary to hatch without sticking. Your hen will do a better job, so hopefully she hatches all that will hatch.

 

[chickee]

Sorry to hear about the other eggs. I was hoping you would get your Buff. Yeah, wonky air pockets are always iffy.

I hadn't had the body shape explained to me that way, but I can sort of see it now that you put it like that. I think of the stance like an S with a fluffball on the tail oS... Move the o almost level wit the head - it could almost be a heart shape... Some chicks show good stance early, some like to stand really tall - but they look better when older.

Well... I could probably find a place either for a Porcelain rooster - or a Lavender one if that is the case (but I rather hope you get lots of girls). They would not be for Blue Partridge - but rather to see what I would get for "Isabella" in the second generation.

Are you going to mark the chicks so you can see what the Porcelains grow out like? That is something I always wished they had done on the Porcelain Silkie thread - have a series of growing up photos so I could try and guess the genetics from the chick down, juvie feathers and pre-adult feathers, as well as the adult plumage.

That is a good idea to keep track of the colors to see how they turn out as adults! I better get some tiny zip ties

Your discription of the body shape is better. I see it now!

OK, now you need to explain Isabella . .

Here are some pictures I just took of the chicks. I put them in a box lid and they kept jumping out and running away! So I ended up putting them in a basket, then back in the brooder for some shots.

Look at the two on the left standing tall with the big vaulted skulls in the first picture. Those have got to be roosters!

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote: Oh my - cuteness OVERLOAD!!!!

You called it Isabel - I call it Isabella (prettier sounding, Italian, no?). Just Partridge with Lavender... I hope!

Yes, I think you may be right - standing tall and at attention - the boys look out...

That one dark Partridge chick looks interesting - it came out of a Porcelain marked egg? Did you make notes of which pen?

I used small strips of colored vet wrap their first two weeks, that way it would stretch as their legs grew. I have two different colors - but you may need more colors. I was worried about getting the zip ties too loose and falling off - or too tight and hurting the growing legs.

 

[kabhyper1]

Quote:
She ate a little chick starter and called them out. The white and the partridge came out from her butt and were confused lol. Man they are cute! I put the food back where it was because it is in a chick feeder in a mason jar and I didn't want it to fall on them. I really hope she is patient with all those eggs. I hope more hatch. It seems like they never will when it has been a whole day. LOL I am impatient. I havent tried to count they eggs under her, because its invasive. So I will check in the morning to see what is happening. I kinda lost track of my dates, so I am not sure if wednesday or thursday was day 21. I am just going to leave them under her until she gets up on her own. Hopefully later than sooner. Lavender my cochin that just hatched hers last week, is going stir crazy in the brooder in the barn. She is pacing back and forth, so I covered the brooder so she would relax with the chicks. She is still being a good momma, but she wants out. I think they are too small to go into the big coop, plus they are still on antibiotics. I feel badly for her though, she really wants to free range.