Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[Silkie Princess]

Theyll be hatching on Tuesday, I was looking at the wrong date, they were put in on the 1st, super late but I was test running the incubator on the 31st

just candled to be safe and theyres some minor veins still but I see movement… cant tell with the EE eggs yet.

What a realief! I was getting dissapointed

 

[Sara S]

What a realief! I was getting dissapointed

Me too hopefully theyll start hatching tomorrow morning. I won’t be home most of the day but maybe I’ll come home to some baby chickens

 

[LadiesAndJane]

*Not an expert here*
Maybe safety holes? @LadiesAndJane

Safety holes should only be placed after the chick has internally pipped and it’s been at least six hours. This is only if you’re really concerned about malpositioning.

 

[Chickeria]

Hi there
I thought I'd get back into chickens after having ducks and quail. Decided on silkies as I really like them and they take confinement well. But man am I having the hardest time hatching them out. The first batch all the eggs were fertile but two chicks hatched out. I was bumbed but ok with that. The second batch of eggs in my second week I have 4 eggs developing out of 15 set. Shipped eggs. I've been hatching for a few years now so not a newb and I have a pretty decent incubator Rcom but I just can't get a decent hatch on these darn silkies.
Suggestions?

I'm absolutely no expert (only hatched once and was lucky, from 15 shipped Silkie eggs 12 hatched) - shipment is always kind of a gamble (with any breed), there can happen so much one will never get to know when they are on their way. What time of the year did you get your shipped eggs (temperatures)? Where did you buy your Silkie eggs (both times) - from a breeder or a private person for example seller on ebay?

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

I love that your NKOTB (I remember that group) get along so well
And that they do so many things together, like the sunbathing in the picture (it looks like they are all watching tv in that moment, only little Betty doesn't approve the program )
Fred really looks huge compared to the others
Barney and Betty are such a cute pair! I think it's really intersting how cockerels or roosters sometimes do find their special lady.
My Mirabelle never seemed very ...impressed by my little James. There were even some disagreements regarding the frequency of mating. They do have a pet carrier as one of their nest boxes, and some of the girls decided to sleep on it There is not enough comfortable place on the carrier for all 7 and Mirabelle, being the lowest in hirarchy and being very smart decided to sleep in the pet carrier. James joined her after a while. Now they sit next each other at nights, huddled together, like an old couple And I observed that she now doesn't mind the mating at all - their relationship improved extremely. I think this is because they now sleep every night together in that carrier.
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Can I have Mirabelle and James please!? Lol.. they are beautiful I do love buff and wish I had one! Or a few.

 

[Chickeria]

Can I have Mirabelle and James please!? Lol.. they are beautiful I do love buff and wish I had one! Or a few.

I must not tell them what a great setup you do have with all those spacious, Silkie-appropriate roosts - or they will take the next plane
...Thank you

 

[LynnaePB]

My Saturday hatch went pretty well. Two malpositioned babies didn't make it to hatch but the other 10 did (1 was also badly malpositioned but I got to her in time). No definite mottled or mottled splits this time, all the chicks look either black or paint. I finally got my first Nn baby from my mottled/split Nn boy and his paint (maybe) mottled carrier partner though! Out of 10 eggs incubated only 1 of 10 got the gene.

This pair makes the lightest skinned paint babies, I'm guessing the mottled influence.

Unfortunately the 2nd egg that was pipped passed in the shell. I also candled the 3rd egg this morning and did not like what I saw, I did a egg-topsy and sadly I was right. The chick must have passed around the time they went into lockdown. The surviving chick is very strong and was moved into the brooder this morning. She will have to be a singleton until Tuesday when Rural King gets in a shipment of chicks. I hope to find someone who will split a order with me as I only need 2 or 3 siblings for her, but if not she will get the minimum 6 siblings.
My mom and daughter have named her Ezzie.
View attachment 2998836View attachment 2998837View attachment 2998839

Oh I'm so sorry the other two didn't make it.

Ezzie sure is adorable though and I'm so glad she is doing well! I hope it won't be too complicated getting some little buddies for her!

The littles love hanging together all day.. while the big girls are perch potatoes in the coop I guess i cant call them chicks or Littles, they are so big (except Bambina).. maybe ill just refer to them as the NKOTB.

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I took Betty (the black polkie) out today to show the neighbors, and Barney, the paint roo, got very upset and made attempts at crowing!! Betty and Barney are usually together, so cute.

You always get the cutest pictures of your adorable little youngsters! Barney and Betty sound so adorable together!

I love that your NKOTB (I remember that group) get along so well
And that they do so many things together, like the sunbathing in the picture (it looks like they are all watching tv in that moment, only little Betty doesn't approve the program )
Fred really looks huge compared to the others
Barney and Betty are such a cute pair! I think it's really intersting how cockerels or roosters sometimes do find their special lady.
My Mirabelle never seemed very ...impressed by my little James. There were even some disagreements regarding the frequency of mating. They do have a pet carrier as one of their nest boxes, and some of the girls decided to sleep on it There is not enough comfortable place on the carrier for all 7 and Mirabelle, being the lowest in hirarchy and being very smart decided to sleep in the pet carrier. James joined her after a while. Now they sit next each other at nights, huddled together, like an old couple And I observed that she now doesn't mind the mating at all - their relationship improved extremely. I think this is because they now sleep every night together in that carrier.
View attachment 3000389

Oh goodness what a gorgeous pair Mirabelle and James are! I'm so glad the carrier helped with their relationship!

Hi there
I thought I'd get back into chickens after having ducks and quail. Decided on silkies as I really like them and they take confinement well. But man am I having the hardest time hatching them out. The first batch all the eggs were fertile but two chicks hatched out. I was bumbed but ok with that. The second batch of eggs in my second week I have 4 eggs developing out of 15 set. Shipped eggs. I've been hatching for a few years now so not a newb and I have a pretty decent incubator Rcom but I just can't get a decent hatch on these darn silkies.
Suggestions?

Shipped eggs are just such a gamble. Sometimes you get great results and others the whole batch might never even attempt to start development. I haven't found that my silkie eggs tend to be much harder to hatch than other breeds except sometimes when a baby has a large vault which makes malpositions more likely. Shipped eggs though have always been trickier. I do find being more hands on at hatching time is sometimes required for better hatches with the shipped eggs. I've had too many malpositioned babies from shipped eggs that couldn't pip properly at hatch so I candle often during lockdown and usually add a safety hole when I see an internal pip. Once I got more hands on like that I lost a lot less babies at lockdown with shipped eggs. Quitting earlier in incubation or not starting is hard to prevent though. Do you treat your shipped eggs any differently than non shipped? I've found letting the eggs rest at least 24 hours after receiving them before setting has seemed to help (as long as they didn't arrive in hot weather which can start incubation and they need to go in sooner). There are so many methods to try to increase the eggs chances when shipped but a lot of it still seems to be luck. I personally try to incubate upright at least the first 3 days and don't turn the first 2-3 days. Depending on how the air cell looks will affect how I position them the rest of incubation.

 

[Chickeria]

My Saturday hatch went pretty well. Two malpositioned babies didn't make it to hatch but the other 10 did (1 was also badly malpositioned but I got to her in time). No definite mottled or mottled splits this time, all the chicks look either black or paint. I finally got my first Nn baby from my mottled/split Nn boy and his paint (maybe) mottled carrier partner though! Out of 10 eggs incubated only 1 of 10 got the gene.

This pair makes the lightest skinned paint babies, I'm guessing the mottled influence.

View attachment 3000750



Oh I'm so sorry the other two didn't make it.

Ezzie sure is adorable though and I'm so glad she is doing well! I hope it won't be too complicated getting some little buddies for her!


You always get the cutest pictures of your adorable little youngsters! Barney and Betty sound so adorable together!



Oh goodness what a gorgeous pair Mirabelle and James are! I'm so glad the carrier helped with their relationship!



Shipped eggs are just such a gamble. Sometimes you get great results and others the whole batch might never even attempt to start development. I haven't found that my silkie eggs tend to be much harder to hatch than other breeds except sometimes when a baby has a large vault which makes malpositions more likely. Shipped eggs though have always been trickier. I do find being more hands on at hatching time is sometimes required for better hatches with the shipped eggs. I've had too many malpositioned babies from shipped eggs that couldn't pip properly at hatch so I candle often during lockdown and usually add a safety hole when I see an internal pip. Once I got more hands on like that I lost a lot less babies at lockdown with shipped eggs. Quitting earlier in incubation or not starting is hard to prevent though. Do you treat your shipped eggs any differently than non shipped? I've found letting the eggs rest at least 24 hours after receiving them before setting has seemed to help (as long as they didn't arrive in hot weather which can start incubation and they need to go in sooner). There are so many methods to try to increase the eggs chances when shipped but a lot of it still seems to be luck. I personally try to incubate upright at least the first 3 days and don't turn the first 2-3 days. Depending on how the air cell looks will affect how I position them the rest of incubation.

Congrats on your Saturday hatch
I'm so sorry that you lost the two malpositioned babies It's awesome that you could save the third one
Awww one little Nn Adorable! With a tiny bowtie if I see it correctly
Do you know who is the mom?

 

[LynnaePB]

@Chickeria Oops I forgot to quote so I hope this edited ping works!

Thank you!

This is mom (paint) and dad, I had them separated from the others so I knew for sure who the parents would be. You are definitely right, the little one has a little bowtie.

 

[Chickeria]

@Chickeria Oops I forgot to quote so I hope this edited ping works!

Thank you!

This is mom (paint) and dad, I had them separated from the others so I knew for sure who the parents would be. You are definitely right, the little one has a little bowtie.

View attachment 3000856

Oh wow they are beautiful!