Silkie thread!

[BusyBearMama]

Assorted peeps from today's and last week's hatches

Oh gosh cuteness overload!! Congrats on an awesome hatch!!

 

[irishsilkie]

She's got 9 chicks under her which I placed there she done a bit of pecking at the start but I think she's fine now she's making a clocking noise and they have been under her for an hour should they be OK or should I remove them ?

 

[jas humbert]

Sometimes what seems to be "pecking" is just scooting the chicks underneath her. If she has sat quietly for an hour, you may be alright. Keep an eye on them but it is probably okay.

 

[thecreekhouse]

There is perhaps nothing more pathetic looking than a Silkie who decides to forego any aort of shelter and instead remain out in a heavy rainstorm ;-)

 

[Fancychooklady]

There is perhaps nothing more pathetic looking than a Silkie who decides to forego any aort of shelter and instead remain out in a heavy rainstorm ;-)

Lol, we've just had ' drought breaking ' rains and most of mine are looking pretty much that way too.

 

[katatonic123]

A drowned rat has nothing on a soaked silkie, especially if that silkie is white and there was mud involved.

 

[Sylvester017]

Well, apparently I have somehow managed to acquire some of the few Silkies out there who aren't good mothers.

My chicks from my White hen and my Silkie X Bantam Cochin hen were due today. When I went down there this morning, I found each hen had hatched two chicks (from a total of 5 eggs per hen). Each of them also had one egg on its way to hatching. I candled the eggs (haven't done that in about a week) and removed one from each nest that had obviously died a while back. I then noticed one egg missing from Green (the White's) nest. I looked a little harder and found a hatched but dead Silkie chick. She appeared to have crushed it beneath her leg. So that was disappointing, but I figured, hey, even Silkie momma's aren't perfect, and chalked it up to an unfortunate accident.

So I checked on them again about an hour ago. Green's egg had hatched - and she had crushed the SECOND chick. I think the stupid bird smothered it under her foot again.

I went to move the two live chicks over to One Eye (the Cochin cross), but then I heard frantic cheering from beneath her as well. I cradled Green's chicks in my shirt for a moment and checked under One Eye. Now this stupid hen had pooped - all over one of the chicks. The poor thing's head was covered in it, and it's whole body was wet.

At this point I got pretty exasperated. These birds are clearly terrible at their jobs. I collected all four chicks and brought them into my brooder, after cleaning the poopy chick with warm water. One Eye still has two eggs, one of which is still attempting to hatch and the other of which has pipped internally. I'm thinking I'm probably going to take those away too if/when they hatch.

So, yeah, my broody hen hatch has been a mild disaster. But, I did come out of it with 4 chicks, and I also have incubator babies hatching today (3 Silkies hatched and 5 more pipped!) so it hasn't been a terrible loss. I've also found that certain hens will never be allowed to hatch chicks again...

Pics of the new babies coming later.

Broodies need to be away from distractions by other birds. Separate quiet setup would probably help a broody momma concentrate on her job and not move around a lot to hurt eggs or chicks. I don't breed but have read a few posts where it's a gamble to have a first-time broody sit out her time to hatch. Again, maybe distractions or privacy may have something to do with it. I watched a European farm video where the farm folk had a separate shed set up with a couple large baskets of straw for 2 broodies hatching about a dozen eggs each - quiet, private, secluded from other distracting hens. The farmfolk would take each newly hatched chick and inspect it and after collecting all the chicks that hatched, returned them a day later under the momma and removed the obviously dead eggs and she clucked to the chicks and they recognized her and all went under her feathers. Just some things to consider.

 

[chickenitza]

My girl and her Roo, Master Puffington. I have 3 silkie Roos, and I have to say they are the sweetest little boys on the farm. My heart belongs to this breed of chicken <3

 

[Sylvester017]

I am so attached to our hens. Didn't realize how much until I had to take our little Black Silkie to the vet today for minor surgery because of her chronic CRD issues. I thought I'd faint from the blood but kept my cool. This little 2-lb Silkie is so spunky and not an hour after nostril surgery she was looking for something eat! She'll be in the house for a week as we topically medicate her until her next Monday's vet checkup appt! She's going to hate missing her messy dust-baths outside and her favourite feed but vet said we have to keep her away from dusty feed supplements and small seed particles and fine dust so nothing lodges or settles in her respiratory tract as she heals. The amount of vet $$$ we've spent on this chicken in 41/2 years makes each of her bantam eggs valued at about $10 or $12 each. Unfortunately we can't diagnose or operate on this little hen as she seems to require different types of treatments depending on which respiratory issue flares up each time - about once a year we spend $100 to $200 on her vet bills. Here she is today eating up her fruit an hour after surgery!

 

[QueenMisha]

Broodies need to be away from distractions by other birds.  Separate quiet setup would probably help a broody momma concentrate on her job and not move around a lot to hurt eggs or chicks.  I don't breed but have read a few posts where it's a gamble to have a first-time broody sit out her time to hatch.  Again, maybe distractions or privacy may have something to do with it.  I watched a European farm video where the farm folk had a separate shed set up with a couple large baskets of straw for 2 broodies hatching about a dozen eggs each - quiet, private, secluded from other distracting hens.  The farmfolk would take each newly hatched chick and inspect it and after collecting all the chicks that hatched, returned them a day later under the momma and removed the obviously dead eggs and she clucked to the chicks and they recognized her and all went under her feathers. Just some things to consider.

They were separate from my flock for the duration of their brooding. Both were housed under the house in side by side medium dog crates, under artificial light. I moved them there on their third day of brooding. They had no visual or physical contact with any other birds, though they could hear my Ko Shamos in the same room as them.

I already confiscated the eggs and chicks from them. One Eye almost killed one of the hatchlings, she was also sitting on it with her leg and it was almost completely out of the shell but totally encased in its membrane still. I ended up with 5 chicks from 10 eggs, 3 Booted Bantam and 2 Silkie. Not awful but yikes... not gonna let those momma's brood again. Not sure what went wrong but I'm not really inclined to attempt it twice so I can find out. Mommas are now back in the bantam pen and chicks are all doing well in the brooder. Got some very weird chicks from those eggs, not sure how Black Copper split for Mottled X what I think is a Paint = Lavender but OK.