Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

Trying to get a head-count on silkie lovers...

  • ME! - I like silkies!

    Votes: 794 96.0%

  • ^

    Votes: 96 11.6%
  • Total voters
    827
Pics
Date sort Score sort
DoeAndGander said:
Good morning! I welcomed this adorable little trio to my flock last week 🥰 I know they’re hard to sex but far right seems to be a roo. Either way, I’m so excited for my first silkies! View attachment 2566318
Click to expand...
My hearts melting.... whyyyyyyyyy didn’t I get silkies?????????? (Because they could be roosters, and I can’t keep roosters, but still...)
 
So only one little chick out of 25 eggs! It is a lavender which is what I was hoping for. I won’t know the feather type until it’s about 10 days of age. Hoping it is silkied. Also has a fairly significant vaulted skull. This was a difficult hatch, took her over 3 hours to zip. Had to help her out at the end. I think she was partially shrink wrapped.
The poor little thing ended up being glued to the shelf liner I use at hatch with some of the egg gunk. She had not moved in about four hours, I thought it was just because she was so tired from the hatching experience but it turns out the gunk had glued her wings down, her neck to her body and also her body to the mat! Had to loosen this up with warm water and Q-tips and ended up washing the rest of the gunk off of her under the sink with warm water and a little soap carefully of course with a heat lamp over to keep her warm. This is how she looks now. I will post a new photo when she’s all fluffed up and cute. Going to be tricky I think integrating her in with the older chicks.😊
I am not giving up though, and I did order another dozen eggs from the same breeder. Half lavender and half paint. She packed the eggs beautifully last time and I think it was the post office that shook the eggs despite all the fragile labels and arrows up labels!
😊
BA41FC8D-6656-4757-BDBB-4A5CC96C4896.jpeg
 
LadiesAndJane said:
So only one little chick out of 25 eggs! It is a lavender which is what I was hoping for. I won’t know the feather type until it’s about 10 days of age. Hoping it is silkied. Also has a fairly significant vaulted skull. This was a difficult hatch, took her over 3 hours to zip. Had to help her out at the end. I think she was partially shrink wrapped.
The poor little thing ended up being glued to the shelf liner I use at hatch with some of the egg gunk. She had not moved in about four hours, I thought it was just because she was so tired from the hatching experience but it turns out the gunk had glued her wings down, her neck to her body and also her body to the mat! Had to loosen this up with warm water and Q-tips and ended up washing the rest of the gunk off of her under the sink with warm water and a little soap carefully of course with a heat lamp over to keep her warm. This is how she looks now. I will post a new photo when she’s all fluffed up and cute. Going to be tricky I think integrating her in with the older chicks.😊
I am not giving up though, and I did order another dozen eggs from the same breeder. Half lavender and half paint. She packed the eggs beautifully last time and I think it was the post office that shook the eggs despite all the fragile labels and arrows up labels!
😊View attachment 2566938
Click to expand...

Congratulations on the new little lavender! Sure is a cute little one, hopefully now that the difficult hatch is done with she or he will thrive! I hope it won't be too hard integrating, I've had success with chicks up to a month or so older. :)

I hope the next dozen does well! :fl
 
LynnaePB said:
Congratulations on the new little lavender! Sure is a cute little one, hopefully now that the difficult hatch is done with she or he will thrive! I hope it won't be too hard integrating, I've had success with chicks up to a month or so older. :)

I hope the next dozen does well! :fl
Click to expand...
Thanks! 🥰
I don’t want to give up hope anyway! Hoping to get a few more lavender in the next batch and maybe a few paint. At this point I have your philosophy that if just one hatches, I’m happy! Seems to be the pattern anyway these days.😊
Little ones doing well though I think she’s going to need corrective “shoes” for a few days, her feet are curled due to the assist. Waiting for my daughter to get home so she can help me, tricky with these itty-bitty feet and toes!🥰
 
DoeAndGander said:
Thanks!! I’m really hoping the head poof doesn’t indicate a roo. Yikes I may have two?! I know nothing about them obviously. Fingers crossed for at least one hen 🐥 they’re all so sweet and content so far
Click to expand...
Head puff has nothing to do with gender. It will be a very long wait to tell!
The head puff at this age is sign of a vaulted skull, common in silkies, though not all of them have it. The one on the left in your photo does not have a vaulted skull. 😊
 
There are some lines where the vaulted skull is more common in females, but I would not count on it.
Of my older chicks I have right now, one silkie is male and one is female, neither has a vaulted skull.
Of chicks I hatched last year, 5 had vaulted skulls, 9 did not. Of the vaulted skull chicks, 4 were male and 1 was female.
Of the non vaulted chicks, 7 were male and 2 were female, so no pattern I could ascertain anyway!😊
 
LadiesAndJane said:
There are some lines where the vaulted skull is more common in females, but I would not count on it.
Of my older chicks I have right now, one silkie is male and one is female, neither has a vaulted skull.
Of chicks I hatched last year, 5 had vaulted skulls, 9 did not. Of the vaulted skull chicks, 4 were male and 1 was female.
Of the non vaulted chicks, 7 were male and 2 were female, so no pattern I could ascertain anyway!😊
Click to expand...
Jeez! Great to know. Maybe I’ll just count on having a bachelor trio so I’m not let down lol
 

Similar threads

MokiYoki
    • Like
    • Love
Cutiepie Chicken Breed project.
2 3
Replies
26
Views
9K
Silkie Princess
Silkie Princess

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom