Silkie thread!

[jas humbert]

My silkies hatched and now we are playing broody roulette. I hatched 7 chicks in the new incubator and I have had a couple of hens go broody in the last week or two since I set the eggs. I had just bought a Hovabotor Genesis 1588 and was testing it out. It did really well and I am pleased with this first batch. I set 10 eggs- 2 were clears and 7 out of 8 that developed hatched. I've got two partridge, two black and white paints, two whites, and one white showgirl. I was hoping for some more exotic colors, but they are cute as always.

I started by moving one broody (Petunia) to the broody pen with the new babies but she was all fussed and did not want to be in broody pen and kept leaving the babies to throw herself against the fence. So I took everybody back to the main coop and split the new chicks between the two broodies, Petunia and Imogene. Well,my I'll- take- any- babies-anytime girl Dandelion wasn't even broody but she climbed in next Petunia and started co-mothering. The single broody Imogene was on the other side of the coop in a different nest box- she's grumpy when she's broody and does not like to co-mother with anybody. (This is a silky coop so all the next boxes are at floor level.) I figured I'd give them the night to get used new babies then try again to move them this morning. I know none of my girls is mean to babies so I thought they'd be okay for the night.

I came out this morning and found all seven chickies are under Imogene, the grumpy one, and the not-broody co-mom Dandelion had left the coop and Petunia, was on her side of the coop sitting diligently on nothing. Oh, well. I moved Grumpy Old Imogene to the broody pen with all 7 chicks and they all seem happy. It goes to show you never know what to expect with broodies. I keep a permanent baby pen set up in the garage with a heat lamp and a heating pad ready to be plugged in if I should need it. Once Imogene gets settled in for a day or two, I'll get some pictures.

 

[Tashaf]

jas-

Where are you located?

 

[BusyBearMama]

Ok so I'm confident these aren't any type of fancy silkies but they're pets <3 and we quite like them- they're roughly a month old and one of the children said their combs were quite unusual and so we took photos of them. There appears to be A LOT of variation and I've made notes. What do you all think - are there any gender indicators here, I would very much like at least 2 pullets and one cockerel, we are only really attatched to the buffs they're nicer but we would like to keep one white but can only keep one male. Would love any feedback as the children want to know things and silkies are new to us... They're hatchery stock -

Yoshi - sort of a thick little comb but a comb none the less- buff

Captain FP - little straight comb - buff

Rufio - there's like zero chance this is a pullet, this bird was clearly a boy from a few days old, it's rough and tumble and look at the big silly straight comb on this guy! Lol - white

Floofers - little straight comb - not much fluff - buff

Penguin - another of those thick little combs - not much fluff - white

Brianne not much going on here comb wise- not much fluff- white

 

[Fancychooklady]

I have a question, I have a broody silkie hen due to hatch chicks by the end of next week.  Once the chicks are hatched, I know to provide chick starter for the mom and babies.  My question is, do you feed medicated feed, and if so will it hurt the mom.  Thanks

Personally I don't feed medicated feed , but no it won't harm momma. In the natural course of things momma won't start laying again until the chicks are 5-6 weeks old anyway. And if the medicated feed contains amprolium , it has no witholding period ( on eggs for eating ) .

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

I usually feed medicated feed for the first week or two of a chicks life and then I start feeding plain chick starter

 

[jas humbert]

Tashaf- I'm south of Clarksville.

Here are some new baby pictures. The broody is Imoege, my black showgirl, but the eggs weren't hers. The chicks were hatched yesterday.

I have two white, two paint, one white showgirl and what seems to be two rather splotchy partridges. Most partridge babies I've hatched seem to be more uniformly grayish brown with chipmunk stripes and eyeliner. See this one's cream colored leg/foot? And the other one is awfully red for a partridge baby but does have chipmunk stripes and eyeliner. I suspect this is just baby weirdness and he/she will end up normal partridge like my new partridge below. .

This chick below is about 9 -10 weeks old from my Bobbi Porto shipped eggs hatch. I'm really thinking/hoping she's a pullet. She has great feet and wonderful type and fluffiness considering she is not even 3 months old.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I usually feed medicated feed for the first week or two of a chicks life and then I start feeding plain chick starter

In all honesty you'd be best to feed medicated for 5-6 weeks or not at all. It takes 5-6 weeks for them to build any immunity .

 

[Duck Drover]

Blue doesn't hide under black, it's just that blue can be so dark it looks black so it's easy to get those two colors mixed up. Some blues are so dark, the only way to know they're blue is to breed them and see what color the offspring end up being.

I was meaning that the blue genotype is hidden by the black phenotype in splits such as when chocolates or lavender splits are black but still carry the dilute genetics. That actually got me wondering if blue splits are only roosters and not hens. Perhaps the black hens only carry black (Black/Black) while the black roosters also carry blue (Black, blue). I will need to research this further.

I have black Orpington hens out of a blue rooster (mother hens may have been black or blue) so I have called them split to blue but maybe they are actually true black and not split, only a black rooster would be split to blue if blue works the same way chocolate and lavender genetics dilute black.

I have always thought blue genetics are like blue eyes where two brown eyed parents with recessive blue eyes (Brown/blue) can have a blue eyed child (blue/blue) while two black chickens (Black/Black or Black/blue) can only have black offspring (Black/Black or Black/blue?) without the possibility of blue offspring (blue/blue). However, if blue feathering was recessive so that it can hide under black the way blue eyes hide under brown eyes, then two black chickens could produce blue but that is not a possible outcome in BBS breeding. I may need to rethink my understanding of how blue works in BBS breeding and whether there is such a thing as being split to blue.

Perhaps if blue is dominant it hides black instead so that blues may be split to black (Blue/black) while black can not be split to blue. That will change my understanding about the blue genetics in our Australian Spotted ducks as well. I have referred to greenheads out of blue parents as being split to blue when they feather out greenhead but had lighter colored down at hatching that made them look as though they could be blueheads based on down color. Greenheads are like blacks and blueheads are like blues in BBS outcomes and greenhead is the dominant color, as I thought black was in BBS. Maybe there is no such thing as greenheads being split to bluehead but it is possible to get bluehead offspring from greenheads with bluehead genetics. Now I am confused about how blue genetics work if they don't actually work the way I thought they did.

 

[Ravynscroft]

I was meaning that the blue genotype is hidden by the black phenotype in splits such as when chocolates or lavender splits are black but still carry the dilute genetics. That actually got me wondering if blue splits are only roosters and not hens. Perhaps the black hens only carry black (Black/Black) while the black roosters also carry blue (Black, blue). I will need to research this further.

I have black Orpington hens out of a blue rooster (mother hens may have been black or blue) so I have called them split to blue but maybe they are actually true black and not split, only a black rooster would be split to blue if blue works the same way chocolate and lavender genetics dilute black.

I have always thought blue genetics are like blue eyes where two brown eyed parents with recessive blue eyes (Brown/blue) can have a blue eyed child (blue/blue) while two black chickens (Black/Black or Black/blue) can only have black offspring (Black/Black or Black/blue?) without the possibility of blue offspring (blue/blue). However, if blue feathering was recessive so that it can hide under black the way blue eyes hide under brown eyes, then two black chickens could produce blue but that is not a possible outcome in BBS breeding. I may need to rethink my understanding of how blue works in BBS breeding and whether there is such a thing as being split to blue.

Perhaps if blue is dominant it hides black instead so that blues may be split to black (Blue/black) while black can not be split to blue. That will change my understanding about the blue genetics in our Australian Spotted ducks as well. I have referred to greenheads out of blue parents as being split to blue when they feather out greenhead but had lighter colored down at hatching that made them look as though they could be blueheads based on down color. Greenheads are like blacks and blueheads are like blues in BBS outcomes and greenhead is the dominant color, as I thought black was in BBS. Maybe there is no such thing as greenheads being split to bluehead but it is possible to get bluehead offspring from greenheads with bluehead genetics. Now I am confused about how blue genetics work if they don't actually work the way I thought they did.

Blue does not hide, it is a dominant dilute gene meaning it doesn't hide black, but dilutes it... 2 copies dilutes it to splash... if blue is present it is expressed, whether it is as blue or as splash... in feather color it is not the same as recessive blue eye color... that works in completely opposite ways...

To be split for a color, the color must be recessive to 'hide', meaning it takes 2 copies to express... like lavender (self-blue) and chocolate... but chocolate and lavender are not the same really, either... true chocolate (not dun) is sex-linked unlike lavender... chocolate can be carried by males but not expressed, but it only takes 1 copy in a female to express... I'm actually test mating a Call drake right now that we *think* might be carrying chocolate...

Anyways, blue is not recessive so it can't be split... if it is there, it is visible...

 

[Duck Drover]

Blue does not hide, it is a dominant dilute gene meaning it doesn't hide black, but dilutes it... 2 copies dilutes it to splash... if blue is present it is expressed, whether it is as blue or as splash... in feather color it is not the same as recessive blue eye color... that works in completely opposite ways...

To be split for a color, the color must be recessive to 'hide', meaning it takes 2 copies to express... like lavender (self-blue) and chocolate... but chocolate and lavender are not the same really, either... true chocolate (not dun) is sex-linked unlike lavender... chocolate can be carried by males but not expressed, but it only takes 1 copy in a female to express... I'm actually test mating a Call drake right now that we *think* might be carrying chocolate...

Anyways, blue is not recessive so it can't be split... if it is there, it is visible...

That helps clarify the BBS breeding since chicks with black down are always black and chicks with blue down are always blue. I am not sure how the blue genetics work in ducks because ducklings can have lighter colored down and still feather out greenhead. I have a greenhead hen that had greenhead, bluehead and silverhead ducklings so I know she has the bluehead genetics - also she had lighter down color as a duckling but she feathered out greenhead. Once the bluehead color is there the feather color should be bluehead if it is dominant and yet it seems to hide under the greenhead feathering somehow. I had assumed greenhead was dominant but I guess it is just the color before bluehead is added. Am I wrong in calling ducks with blueheadhead genetics splits when they are greenhead but have the potential to have bluehead offspring?

It sounds like black is black with no blue genetics but I have had greenhead ducks I was not sure were greenheads at hatching due to the lighter down along with the tendency to have greenhead feathering (brown spots) instead of bluehead feathering (blue spots). The outcome follows the same pattern as BBS except that two greenheads can have blueheads if they carry the bluehead genetics. The down on the ducklings I am calling splits is lighter than the greenhead down but darker than the bluehead down so there is a difference in color with the feather color being the greenhead coloring. I have grown out ducklings with different down colors to be sure I know what they will look like as adults when selling babies but I am not sure I am using the term split correctly since blue is actually dominant and not recessive like I thought.

I also had a drake that started out greenhead when I sold him and then he ended up bluehead after he molted into eclipse and back to nuptial feathering. He was out of a flock with blueheads so he had to be a carrier to end up bluehead himself after initially feathering out greenhead. These sorts of genetics get complicated but I would like to understand them better so I am not giving people false information by calling them splits if that is not accurate.