Silkie thread!

[peepblessed]

I hope they are not seriously thinking about shipping this time of year! That would be cruel.

They are responsible breeders and I'm sure they won't ship unless the weather permits.

 

[Fancy Feathers]

I guess that depends on where in the US you are. I'm in South Dakota and temps are in the 70s today. I had the heat lamp on all day yesterday in the nursery for my young chicks.

I have 8 chicks from this roo and they are Gorgeous, typey Silkies. IMO this is a terrific deal!



ETA: The chick in my avatar is from this pair!

 

[Wyogirl]

Quote: I don't know I bought her from someone on BYC, will contact her . Can someone post a picture of a blue Silkie PLEASE.
Thanks
Ayda

 

[tilosi]

Oh, I'm pulling for your little eggs....and YOU. Hang in there, Tilosi.

We have the opposite problem in California with low huidity.

The 4 chicks in the "farm" and "basket" photos are the only eggs that hatched from Mary's eggs out of 16.

But, they were shipped coast to coast. And, it was my very first time incubating -ever! I was using a borrowed, old Brower that was terrible at keeping even temperatures. Needless to say, those 4 babies were spoiled, house chickens for 8 weeks! I sold 2 because they had joined 4th and 5th toes. I can't believe Mysty Blue and BB are almost 6 months old. They are kind of like my firstborn (or rather first-hatched) babies.

You are fortunate to live by a good breeder. I'm fortunate to have a good breeder close to me too. However, someday I would like to order another dozen or so from Mary. Again, good luck with your eggs. Please keep us posted.

Thank you! It's over...for the most part. Six out of 18 good eggs...one chick actually was upside down and suffocated before I "felt" it was time to help, I was a little too late.

Another bled terribly as it pushed from its shell--I took it out and immediately applied styptic powder and am nursing it with sugar and vitamin water a little at a time...not sure how it will fare.

SO, that leaves me with four good chicks...I have two buffs (one is the sick one), a white and two from the black and blue pen. One looks black the other blue...I think. The black was the last baby out, just in the last hour....so, I say I have red, white and blue chicks!

Yours are adorable...I think I saw the pics from Mary's on you page, but I'm not certain. They are such cute chicks! Your Misty Blue and BB are very nice looking!

Yes, we are fortunate....
I'm going to go get my white trio Sunday, so my incubators will be in the form of broodies, during the hot summer months anyways.

Yes, we are fortunate! I just love Mary--such a sweet lady.

Our humidity is AWFUL in the room. Can range from 30-100%. Right now it is 88% humidity, and it is maybe a tad bit less inside. It has never bothered my incubator at all. It stays steady between 25-35% even when my room humidity is 40% higher.

I never had trouble in the cooler months...all eggs did great! You are so fortunate yours stays good on humidity--you must have a great incubator. With the week I've had, I don't even have the energy to be jealous of you right now...

are you running your incubator dry? Or are you running with water? Have you checked to see if the air cells are growing properly? I do run my incubator dry often.

Yes, I run completely dry. And, air cells seem to do very well for the most part. It seems from day fourteen to day 18-19, I have several late quitters and then some will be living, but with way too much fluid still at lock down time. I've even started doing lock down at day 19-20 to give them extra time, but they just don't make it.

I'm doing a thorough cleaning and disinfect on the Hova bator today, then transferring the other set of eggs in a few days, as the LG is awful. Also, getting new hygrometer and thermometers. Oh, and a full bag of rice will be going in the bottom of the HB to hopefully take out some of the moisture.
If I can get the hens to go broody, I will transfer them to them.....if you guys think that will be a good idea?

 

[peepblessed]

I guess that depends on where in the US you are. I'm in South Dakota and temps are in the 70s today. I had the heat lamp on all day yesterday in the nursery for my young chicks.

I have 8 chicks from this roo and they are Gorgeous, typey Silkies. IMO this is a terrific deal!



ETA: The chick in my avatar is from this pair!

I was thinking the same thing. Not hot everywhere! I hope someone snatches these guys up!

 

[Hawkeye95]

I don't know I bought her from someone on BYC, will contact her . Can someone post a picture of a blue Silkie PLEASE.
Thanks
Ayda

I have dark blues-- so I don't know how much help my pictures will give you. But I'll post them anyway to give you an idea of my Blues. Maybe others will jump in and post some lighter blues... because mine are all dark. The picture of the 3 chicks isn't the greatest example of blues, because at that age, they are growing in new feathers and appear to be two different colors. Blues should be one solid color.

I'm doing a thorough cleaning and disinfect on the Hova bator today, then transferring the other set of eggs in a few days, as the LG is awful. Also, getting new hygrometer and thermometers. Oh, and a full bag of rice will be going in the bottom of the HB to hopefully take out some of the moisture.
If I can get the hens to go broody, I will transfer them to them.....if you guys think that will be a good idea?

sounds like you have a plan. I don't have any experience with the LG's... Definitely get new therms, and double check the ones you have. Be careful with that rice and check your RH twice a day if you are putting rice in there.

 

[tilosi]

sounds like you have a plan. I don't have any experience with the LG's... Definitely get new therms, and double check the ones you have. Be careful with that rice and check your RH twice a day if you are putting rice in there.

Will do! Thanks. I had put about a half bag in for the last week this last batch (I was out for the first week and a half), but I just put it in pill bottles that would fit beside the turner. Really, did very little--maybe changed RH by a couple percents. Spreading out may do a lot better. IDK....

 

[tilosi]

What kind of coops do you all have for your Silkies? Do you have a covered run? Not just with predator protection, but also from the rain? And, do you have a solid floor for the run, so their feet don't get soaked in the rain? We want three adult pens and one grow out pen....any suggestions or if you have pics, that would be better. I need something very economical to build. We have the large plastic dog kennels and lots of shingles. Oh, the area will be shaded most of the time. Is that a good idea?
I know this is probably an irritating set of questions, I've searched and looked at so many coops and plans, but want to do what's best for my Silkies.

 

[peepblessed]

What kind of coops do you all have for your Silkies? Do you have a covered run? Not just with predator protection, but also from the rain? And, do you have a solid floor for the run, so their feet don't get soaked in the rain? We want three adult pens and one grow out pen....any suggestions or if you have pics, that would be better. I need something very economical to build. We have the large plastic dog kennels and lots of shingles. Oh, the area will be shaded most of the time. Is that a good idea?
I know this is probably an irritating set of questions, I've searched and looked at so many coops and plans, but want to do what's best for my Silkies.

It's my opinion that a silkie's run should be covered for rain. They don't know that their feathers don't shed water and will stay in the rain and die. Make everything as big as you can afford. No one ever complains that they made and coop and run too big. I prefer coarse sand in the run but some people are happy with wood chips or pine shavings. Make sure the wire on the run is small enough to keep raccoons from reaching in. Of course snakes can be a problem too.

 

[Sanna]

We have a hen that came from a different farm with a couple others a few weeks back. They all had the scaley leg mite, this hen being worst. I've been treating it and all of their legs had cleared except for this one hen that had just a tiny bit left. Well, I wasn't too concerned about her legs at that point and I haven't been out there to put anything on her feet for about 2 weeks. (Yes, bad me.) I went and checked on her today and found out that the mites were back and had spread quite a bit. All the other chickens still have clear feet.
The problem is that looks like one of her toes had had a cut on it and it didn't look pretty AT ALL. I don't know if it was caused by the mites or something else. Her foot is very puffy and swollen and plain ugly. I'm thinking it looks like a start of a bumblefoot? I'm hoping I'm wrong and it's something minor, but incase it's bumblefoot, what is the cure for this? Other than a vet's visit?
　
I took a couple of pictures. They are not great pictures, I just couldn't get a good angle to show the puffyness of the foot. But you can see the toe that is badly injured on her right foot. Pardon all the mud and dirt on her feet. It poured here today. I feel so terribly quilty for not checking up on this hen more often.

　





What can I do??? I have some antibiotics called Amtyl. Will this be of any help?
　

Anyone?