Silkie thread!

[laughingdog]

well mostly the expensive arsed little giant i bought quick local, to try to hatch a black show rosecomb egg, given to me, is fine, unless i try to tweak the temp, and it spikes. oddly only lost first two eggs of six, of my first own layed clutch from crippled hen, that know were good to start and fresh, and they were to big for egg and deformed and no room to keep developing. am i doing good, or just extremely lucky like i think? two dozen more to test at least though.

 

[Colie <3]

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Awesome I'm glad you're having good luck with your LG. My first bought incubator was an still air LG. I added a computer fan but it still didn't work all that great for me. I had a lot of temps fluctuations with it idk why! You've got a good idea to get all that planned practice. It'll give you the best start definitely wish I would have practiced! LOL When you splurge on shipped eggs you'll at least know if they don't hatch it wasn't you and can blame shipping

 

[laughingdog]

lol thanks colie, with the LG still air, you want to just leave the thermometer on middle bottom and it should be just under a hundred, and dont take the plugs out, and if humidity trouble mist once day or more lightly, or add shallow yogurt cup of water. seems to be working with two cups for my quail, and misting when seem the water is evaporating fast from cups. rest is just my experimentation and seemed to work better than first two eggs. the only for sure thing i know is the plugs help balance the heat and humidity that fluctuates to much when plugs are taken out (from an LG, hova, and some others on review websites).

 

[Colie <3]

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I live practically in the desert so the climate here is very very dry. I think my house usually is 20% humidity or lower a lot of times it's so low it won't even register. The plugs I've noticed as well do impact the heat and humidity but I'm wondering what role air flow has on hatching? I've read that it's important but how important and how much airflow do you get from the small holes? I try to now keep from touching my knob at all on my styrofoam bators and just pull a plug or two if it gets to hot in there or vice versa add a plug or two when it gets too cold even sometimes add a folded up blanket to the top. My house is stable in temperature but the LG that's a whole 'nother story! I end up adding water frequently regardless but even more so when the plugs are out. I try and not take off the cover nowadays and just add thru an airhole using plastic tubing. Probably going to sell the LG and maybe even my fall harvest styro even though it's been a lot more stable than the LG. I have a 1588 and a Brinsea Advanced Octagon now that have been a total dream thus far not having to fight with the temperature and babysit so often! Probably keeping the Brower too just for a hatcher since cleaning it is such a breeze being all plastic

Haha I sound like a incubator junkie

 

[laughingdog]

yeah, the foam bators get enough airflow from the middle were they dont stay sealed enough, and the small holes on top and bottom combined with the fact that foam bators have alot of air flow through them as actually very porous. so the plugs just throw off so quick maybe, when taken out and also create pockets of humidity and neat flux (ive moved my thermometer around alot to test). its suggested to just put a thin tray on bottom to fill up as much space as possible, as the foam ones lose alot of moisture. though some suggest not adding any water at all, but id at least mist the eggs, but im just learning about all this

 

[Colie <3]

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That's a big no go on not adding water here in my climate lol I tried that and ended up with a few dozen eggs that were fully formed yet didn't have room to even start to pip. Yikes! I figured what works for others would be good for me but nope! Not the best start to incubating wish I could turn back time and try one go round just following the incubator instructions

I'm seriously considering starting to weigh my eggs lol my husband aught to love making fun of me for that! I'm running two batches of eggs at the moment at 40% humidity hope it helps because I feel like a slave to the water wells trying to keep it up that high

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Colie <3 :

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ARRRRGH!!!! Genes are not, CANNOT be recessive to DIFFERENT genes; only to different MUTATIONS of the SAME GENE.

Heeeyyy now back down killer

I didn't know that, hence me saying I have no idea and I imagine. I don't tell anyone anything without noting my uncertainty or adding that I'm guessing if I'm not positive on the answer. Adding it to the notes though...​

Sorry...it was a LONG day, but I should not have taken it out on you.

A common misunderstanding of genetics is that a dominant gene prevents a recessive one from expressing. But that is not how it works. Every animal has every gene. The differences between two individuals are caused by the particular mutations of each gene.

Every chicken has two genes at the blue-locus. If they are both "not-blue," black pigment is not diluted to blue. If one is blue and one is not-blue, black pigment is diluted to blue. If both are blue, black pigment is diluted to splash. This all has no bearing on whether the gene has mutations that cause partridge or grey patterning or not, or gold dilutions, or recessive white. All can be, and often are, present in the same bird. It is much like wearing a striped scarf does not prevent a checkered jacket or a paisley skirt.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Colie <3 :

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IMO for sure that is not a paint. Paint is white with clusters of black feathers. Slightly similar to the clusters on your girl but the rest is way off.
I've seen many different variations of splash so that is what I would call that girlie, a splash. I have some splash chicks that started out with an almost white base and it has darkened as they have gotten older. I can see why the coloring could be called gray as well just because her head looks darker.
I also have a splash that I'm pretty sure is split to lavender that has a smokey appearance to it.
Sonoran Silkies is very good at identifying colors by the picture, wait till she comes thru lol she sounds a lot more professional than I do! :lol
How old is this girlie? You said hen so over a year right? Does she need to molt? I've heard people say that silkies' color can look pretty whacky before/during a molt also because of sun exposure.

Thank you

The pictured girl is definitely splash. The lighter background of a splash is not lavender; it is a part of the splash appearance, whch is caused by two copies of the blue gene.

Paint has large patches of solid coloured black feathers. On a splash, the dark marking are unlikely to be solid coloured feathers; rather they are streaks on the feathers, with lighter background colour being present on the same feather as the streak.

Grey looks completely different. It has a regular pattern called penciling on each feather. Grey is a black & white version of partridge. Silver in the context used was silver partridge, which is the pattern for grey.​

 

[LeasureChix]

I had an amazing time at the show today. My first poultry show. I was very lucky to run in to Karen Larson (Kelar) right away. I oooohed and awwwwed over the young birds she donated to the Silkie Breeder Auction. She brought 2 gorgeous (probable) pairs of porcelins, a pair of blues, pair of whites, pair of blacks and 2 partridge probable pullets. There were two older white pairs donated also. We talked about her birds and I fell in love. Then it was time to check out the exhibition birds. My poor hatchery layers don't hold a candle to the gorgeous larger than life chickens I saw. I have to say though, my group is real consistant at giving me real large brown eggs so no complaining. I watched quite a bit of the Silkie judging, trying to see what the judge was looking for. Being the Silkie National, there were a lot of really nice birds. OK, that got me to about 10am. I knew the breeder auction wasn't until 4pm.... that was a lot of walking around time. My sister in law showed up, she wanted to find some nice laying hens. We went to town and had some outstanding, genuine Mexican food at Joe's. She couldn't find any hens for sale so she was also waiting for the breeder auction.

My sister in law won a great prize at the raffle and it was finally time for the auction. She was still looking for laying hens, my heart was set on Karen's youngsters. Kim was real lucky to get a lot of young Buff Orps, some brand new Banty Welsummers and then she practically stole a gorgeous trio of mottled cochins.

At last! The Silkie auction. They started with the young porc pair. I had to have them and was very happy to get them for a great price. I would have bought the other pair also but wanted to be sure I had enough money to get the very pretty blues. There were some very happy bidders! After the youngsters came the two older white pairs. I bought the last pair so I went from having a whole lot of eggs to actually owning 6 awesome silkies!

Poor planning on our part, neither of us had any starter or crumbles! The feed stores were closed so what to do? I knew my new "kids" would be ok for a while and I could improvise. Not really so with Kim's young chicks. After dinner with my husband and their brother we made a mad dash to Target. We bought millet, budgie treats, frozen veggies and I had to buy a couple of crates since Kim wanted hers back. Kim is now on her way back to Gig Harbor and a waiting brooder.

Back to the hotel I was surrounded by young Silkies on the bathroom floor. Oh what fun! The young ones weren't super interested in the veggies or seeds but the older white pair made quick work of dinner. I took a bunch of pics with my i-phone but can't get them transferred to my laptop tonight.

Sorry for rambling... I'm just so excited about my new Silkies that I had to share. I met other BYC'ers but for the life of me can't list them by name. Might have something to do with needing toothpicks to keep my eyes open.

Thanks for letting me share,

Julie

 

[Muzzie]

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Sounds like a perfect day to me.

Enjoy your new Silkies