Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[Chicken poppy]

Like - 15 to -20.

My opinion: age matters a lot, whats the age? And if its not drafty/windy and their mature in age, its not bad.

 

[LynnaePB]

I candled earlier today (day 5) and 7 of my 9 shipped mille eggs are developing beautifully! My 8 eggs from my own flock here are all developing nicely so far as well. Just starting to see the start of some dancing today in both the shipped eggs and mine, it never gets old!

Well I did it, 5 eggs went into the incubator yesterday evening. Fingers crossed everything goes well and hatch day should be February 16th. After Chiquita laid her 5th egg yesterday I finally let Branch meet her as he has been dying to. He was so good and spent 30 minutes in the cat carrier where she lay's her eggs rearranging her nest calling both girls to him to supervise his work. If these 5 eggs are duds, I will try again in March and hopefully by then Poppy will be laying and I will have more eggs to fill spots.

Oh good luck with the eggs! Branch with the girls sounds absolutely adorable, lucky little guy!

Ok.. here is the polish that has me changing my mind on a daily basis. Sorry for the pic overload.. of course the creature would NOT let me take a pic from the front of its face.. except the screaming one. I included that to help your ears sense the screeching i endured

They all (even my wcb Esmeralda)have some iridescence to their black feathers, but the one i think is male is just so much more vibrant, you don't have to look for it, it just reflects everywhere. This one does not have the same iridescence.

The obvious male is humongous!! This one is just slightly larger than my obvious female, and no where near the size of the obvious male.

I am trying to analyze the crest, but the black feathers are soooo slow coming in, and the ones in are crusted w food and water (i swear, cleaning doesn't help w little piggies ). The white feathers it does have are round, there just arent many of them. But.. i think i see some brown pointier ones about to come in (slightly blurry close up).

But if anything is obvious to you guys that i am missing, just break it to me Today im back to thinking male just based on behavior. The little girl did no screaming.. in fact this one was screaming bloody murder when i took her out of the run. Not sure if that's just random, or male behavior.


Forgot to add.. 7 weeks and 5 days old.

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Gorgeous! I'm not good at guessing with polish either, so I'm glad some others here are. Too bad it's not looking so much like you'll be surprised with another girl but what a pretty little (probably) guy!

Here's the latest pictures of my brood. I moved them into the brooder with a MHP. They were in the sunroom but I felt like it was far too cold in there so we moved the brooder pen into the dining room. Chicks have been relatively active today but I feel too cruddy to go get some decent pictures. Maybe tomorrow....

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ETA - see the dark chick with the yellow spot on its head? That chick came from a Blue Andalusian mama but I'm wondering if dad could be my CCLB roo... If so, then maybe he is autosexed with a spot? Would be interesting to see if the prediction comes true....

Awww they are so adorable and what pretty colors! I don't think with the dad being the one passing on the barring you'll get autosexed babies either unfortunately. Dads pass that barring on to both sexes but moms can only pass it to sons.

Yall the chick bug bit me hard...all yalls fault!
So a guy that has a farm is on his way to get Mango, Milli and Vanilli. They've both been BROODY for a week and no eggs!
I've been lockin them out of their little coop in an effort to break their broodiness.
I looked out the window and I see Milli sitting on a make do nest she made out of hay thrown in the run!
I didn't think anything of it til I let Mango out of the little run one last time and he goes over and uncovers a little egg!!!
I've been watching for her to lay so I could get one last one of HER's specifically cuz she is a light splash in an effort of a pretty blue baby!
My grandson n I brought it inside so that gives us 1 of hers and 6 of Vanilli's that are all we have left!
Incubating TOMORROW!!!
I'll miss these first little cuties but I pray they will have a happy time on a farm!

Oh I'm so glad you got an egg from her and you've got the 6 from Vanilli too! I hope they all do great in their new home and you'll have some lovely babies hatch from them for yourself.

Floof is getting heavy.
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Grandpa Scaredy for comparison.View attachment 2974853View attachment 2974854

Oh wow he sure is! What an impressive guy!

Okay everyone...the first chick has hatched!!!❤❤❤❤❤❤

What a cutie, congratulations on the first baby!!!

 

[kurby22]

Haha silkies are so funny…these two So I do have a question—what is the best way to trim their feathers around their eyes? They’re such nervous little ones I worry about hurting them! But I think they’re more scared cuz they can’t really see all that well!

 

[chickengr]

Haha silkies are so funny…these two So I do have a question—what is the best way to trim their feathers around their eyes? They’re such nervous little ones I worry about hurting them! But I think they’re more scared cuz they can’t really see all that well!

I used scissors.

 

[LynnaePB]

Haha silkies are so funny…these two So I do have a question—what is the best way to trim their feathers around their eyes? They’re such nervous little ones I worry about hurting them! But I think they’re more scared cuz they can’t really see all that well!

Oh they are so beautiful!

I've also used scissors. I like the smaller ones best since they are easier to work with for more delicate tasks like trimming around the eyes. I get my husband to hold them while I do the trimming. It helps a lot having someone there to help.

Good luck when you do trim! Mine always seem so much happier when they adjust to actually seeing well. I've never had a problem except sometimes going a bit too far and giving them an ugly cut.

 

[kurby22]

Oh they are so beautiful!

I've also used scissors. I like the smaller ones best since they are easier to work with for more delicate tasks like trimming around the eyes. I get my husband to hold them while I do the trimming. It helps a lot having someone there to help.

Good luck when you do trim! Mine always seem so much happier when they adjust to actually seeing well. I've never had a problem except sometimes going a bit too far and giving them an ugly cut.

Thanks! Yeah I was mostly worried about using sharp pointy scissors near their eyes and having them move and get hurt I will make the husband help and maybe use the small fingernail scissors so I don’t go over board Thanks!!

 

[chickengr]

my chicks hatched in november/december. I hope to get cockerels and wonder when they will be ready to mate? I had silkies years ago and forgot if they mated at 6 mo.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Thanks! Yeah I was mostly worried about using sharp pointy scissors near their eyes and having them move and get hurt I will make the husband help and maybe use the small fingernail scissors so I don’t go over board Thanks!!

Let me know how it goes! I hate to try and do that with mine so I hadn't ever! But Josie can't see squat and is easily freaked out. I would prefer to do a pony tail of sort but unsure how to do that when they have pins. Anyone know how that would work?

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

my chicks hatched in november/december. I hope to get cockerels and wonder when they will be ready to mate? I had silkies years ago and forgot if they mated at 6 mo.

Mine was more like 8 months or so.

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Thanks! Yeah I was mostly worried about using sharp pointy scissors near their eyes and having them move and get hurt I will make the husband help and maybe use the small fingernail scissors so I don’t go over board Thanks!!

I use the dog grooming scissors with rounded ends.