Silkie thread!

[Country Chickens]

Congrats on setting your silkie eggs, ChickenLeg! We love the hovabators--in fact, our third should arrive later this week!

Of course, our Brinsea will always be first in my heart, but since I think I could almost cover the price of all three hovabators with just the one Brinsea...it doesn't have much of a lead.

I am super excited to share that my first six paint eggs went into lockdown today! Plus some white, lav, por, partridge and buff siblings and bator mates. Really hoping the paints especially will hatch. One had a misplaced air sack, which has worked out for me before but I don't know that I can count on sorting itself this time.

Just to make sure I'm good and anxious, with all those eggs in lockdown and another 30-40 (mostly guinea) in various stages of incubation, I'm afraid we'll lose power cause of the storms. It blinked off earlier, but was right back on. If it goes off during the night...I just hope I wake up and can scramble cords together and get all the incubators onto the generator! Crazy!

 

[ChickenLeg]

THANKS! I would of loved to own a Brinsea, but price was a factor. Quick question: are paint egss the same as splashes?

Congrats on setting your silkie eggs, ChickenLeg! We love the hovabators--in fact, our third should arrive later this week!

Of course, our Brinsea will always be first in my heart, but since I think I could almost cover the price of all three hovabators with just the one Brinsea...it doesn't have much of a lead.

I am super excited to share that my first six paint eggs went into lockdown today! Plus some white, lav, por, partridge and buff siblings and bator mates. Really hoping the paints especially will hatch. One had a misplaced air sack, which has worked out for me before but I don't know that I can count on sorting itself this time.

Just to make sure I'm good and anxious, with all those eggs in lockdown and another 30-40 (mostly guinea) in various stages of incubation, I'm afraid we'll lose power cause of the storms. It blinked off earlier, but was right back on. If it goes off during the night...I just hope I wake up and can scramble cords together and get all the incubators onto the generator! Crazy!

 

[Country Chickens]

Yeah, sometimes I wonder that I ever dumped that much on a bator--especially one that wasn't a cabinet! Helps that we got it on sale, but still...

Paint and splash are quite different, as I'm sure you'll hear if you hang about. In the quick and dirty (and tired) answer I can give tonight, Splash is a color that breeds true to iteself, but can be gotten from mating blues. Don't remember what portion will give you splash--too tired. And splashes are often bred back to blues to keep the the splash coloring strong.

Paints, on the other hand, have very complicated genetics and can't be easily sorted like the other colors. They are essentially white birds which have a special kind of white coloring (not found in regular whites) which allows for 'leakage' of a little black. Getting paint is complicated, and when you breed a paint to a paint, you don't always get paint--sometimes it's split over black, fex. Paint, unlike splash, is not a recognized show color but is still quite popular and the birds can be hard to find. Heck, even the chicks or hatching eggs can be hard to get ahold of!

Hope that helps. Anybody (and that would be most of you!) feel free to jump in and/or correct anything I left out or fubbed!

 

[Country Chickens]

PS the reason I didn't list splashes above (and maybe by their ommission gave you the impression splash was the same as paint) is I'm having a little fertility trouble with my splash hen, and my other splash girls are still too young. In other words, silkies being silkies as usual!

 

[ChickenLeg]

I see! Well I understand splashes (from researching blue wheaten ameraucanas, which i own), but paint seems complicated. One day when someone here has time I would like to better understand it. That being said, thank you for helping me better grasp the concept!

 

[ChickenLeg]

How old do you wait til you use the eggs gathered from a silkie for hatching? Do you do it as soon as they begin laying (if a fertile roo is present) or is it better to wait til they're 1 year +? if that makes sense..

 

[Country Chickens]

I hatch my first fertile eggs--and they've done fine. So long as they are even in size and coloring and the shell looks good, it's into the bator they go! I could be wrong, but I think most silkie owners are so thrilled by the time the little beauties start laying (the expected time is around eight months) that they aren't feeling patient anymore!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Ummm, no. Antibiotics are effective against bacteria, not protozoa.
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Antibiotics
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=8121
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/antibiotic

 

[ChickenLeg]

okay, well looks like im about 9 months away from that stage! ha but im already thrilled!

I hatch my first fertile eggs--and they've done fine. So long as they are even in size and coloring and the shell looks good, it's into the bator they go! I could be wrong, but I think most silkie owners are so thrilled by the time the little beauties start laying (the expected time is around eight months) that they aren't feeling patient anymore!

 

[chisNchickens]

Thanks, well aware of all that. You use it all you want. My birds are healthy and don't need it, which is my point. It IS possible to raise birds without medicated (read medicated meaning medication meaning drug) feed. Same with dogs,etc. Too many chemicals and poisons.
My favorite saying, "you can't poison a being into good health" but that is precisely what many try do do - and especially conventional vets. They are the absolute worst.