Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[AngBantamLuv]

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Here’s nezuko. sorry about the pictures it’s raining here.

Awww she looks just like my Elsa did.. such a light color.. she is a very light splash. The way you can tell is to look at the spine of the feathers.. they are dark. If it were to be lavender, it would match the feather color (harder to do on a silkie).

Here is what Elsa looks like now.. she is a cochin.. but still a blue splash.. i think @LadiesAndJane might have splash silkie pics..

 

[Buckingham Palace]

Awww she looks just like my Elsa did.. such a light color.. she is a very light splash. The way you can tell is to look at the spine of the feathers.. they are dark. If it were to be lavender, it would match the feather color (harder to do on a silkie).

Here is what Elsa looks like now.. she is a cochin.. but still a blue splash.. i think @LadiesAndJane might have splash silkie pics..

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Awwwwwwwwwww. What a pretty girl. I love how it looks my Cochins float above the ground. Sorry abit confused are you saying Elsa is a light splash or nezuko. Thanks

 

[LynnaePB]

Thanks!

We’ve been getting mostly bantams this year and they’re just so delicate! I’ve never lost any chicks after that first 24 hours from shipping (and that was just one too), but these have been about a week later… Just don’t grow and then gone. The smell of Nutridrench is burned into my mind as dead chick now

I'm so sorry.

Have you tried treating for coccidiosis? With lethargic chicks and multiple deaths happening this long after shipping it might be something to try. I see it being one of the more common killers of chicks and they do not always present with bloody stools. You'd want to make sure not to give any extra vitamins while treating but after treatment giving extra to replenish thiamine is a good idea.

I kind of wondered if she had the potential to be a very very hard to notice mottled Silkie @LynnaePB. I figured being so young it could just be weird baby feathers, so I guess time will tell! She’s so pretty and has that very Silkie stance I wish she could be more confident! She did put herself to bed two nights in a row now, so maybe we are on the road! I got confirmation that I was right today that an EE hen I adopted is partially blind (previous owner just thought she was a weird chicken) so I decided she might best fit in with the two silkies that can’t see real well either She’s a really pretty and sweet hen and very quirky so I figured she’d probably relate well with Sia and Cher When the Polish get big they can join the “can’t see club” too!

Aww the little EE really is such a pretty girl! I'm glad she'll have a good place with the silkies and later polish.

With mottled being mixed into a lot of paint lines I expect the color might be more and more common to see just pop up sometimes even when not from a mottled line. It will be neat to see if she really is mottled.

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Here’s nezuko. sorry about the pictures it’s raining here.

I'd say a very light blue or a splash. If the little one is splash it will become more apparent as she/he grows and the splashes of darker blue start to show up. If she/he does turn out to be splash that means the black parent is actually a very dark blue. Blues can be so melanized as to be indistinguishable from black at times and only test breeding reveals what they really are.

The baby sure is a cutie!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Agree! Nezuko is either a super light blue or a splash. The splash markings become more prominent as they get older. Often times they are hatched solid colored and you can’t tell until a few weeks later when the flecks start coming in.
If she is blue you’ll be able to see it in the wing feathers as they come in. They will be darker than her down color.
This is my Splash hen, Layla. She was a white chick at hatch with just a slight tinge of gray to her down.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

That teenage stage where it looks like a toddler spent the day at school doing cottonball arts & crafts
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Super cuties! I love this awkward chick stage, too.
Your description is perfect!
They really do look like someone just stuck bits of cotton balls and fluff randomly on them.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

My babies have all hatched! 10 out of 13 that went to lockdown. Three were DIS. A lot of malpositioned chicks and chicks coming out the wrong end of the egg. Had to do a lot of assisting. Two did not look like they were going to make it but one is now walking around and doing well. The other one still lying on its side in the incubator. It’s only been about 14 hours since it hatched so we’ll see. All the others look great. Looks like I got five blues and five paint. Not getting those great paint markings like I did with Amai. The blues are gorgeous though!
More vaulted skulls this time around which could explain some of the assist needs. None of the parents have vaulted skulls in this batch. Still don’t quite understand how these are passed down.
A few photos just now with them sleeping under their brooder plate. I’ll get more later when they’re awake!

 

[gimmie birdies]

I just hatched a silkie/NN, more to come. The eggs were from an in-law who lives in MT.

This is "Boze"

 

[Poodlemum]

I'm so sorry.

Have you tried treating for coccidiosis? With lethargic chicks and multiple deaths happening this long after shipping it might be something to try. I see it being one of the more common killers of chicks and they do not always present with bloody stools. You'd want to make sure not to give any extra vitamins while treating but after treatment giving extra to replenish thiamine is a good idea.

I didn’t think to treat them, but I guess it couldn’t hurt. They’re on medicated feed, but I know it’s not fool proof. Only the D’Uccle have been struggling and they’re sooooooo tiny, I figured it was shipping stress in this colder weather. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Here's a pic of my Milli & Vanilli...both were white as snow as babies...but both were splash!
The splash coloring can vary quite a bit! The last pic you can begin to see the greys coming in for the splash at bout 4 weeks here.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Babies are up now! A few photos. Looks like one is black actually and not blue. I’m always amazed how quickly they figure out how to eat and drink, less than a day old.