New Hens!

[Carly Rae]

Thanks, I am aware of that.

Also Silkies are really gentle chickens and can aparently be bullied easily. So I will be extra cautious when I put them together.

 

[Magic Marker Minis]

We have a frizzle rooster. Once we move to Missouri, we will be getting Silkie and Polish hens for him. My roommate wants to make Big Birds, Polish/Frizzle cross.

Silkies also become very broody and make excellent mothers.

Do you have any new pictures of Texas? Ever figure out if your other mare is pregnant?

 

[Carly Rae]

Oh cool ! I've been thinking about breeding my silkies. But they are all from the same hatch, so I don't think I can breed them together. And to top that I know barley nothing when it comes to chickens, but my sister's friend that sold me the Silkies might be able to teach me a few things. And my Silkies have names now!

The biggest one is called "Einstein" and the two smaller ones that follow him around are called "Experiment 1" and "Experiment 2"

I have LOADS of pictures of Miss Texas, but I have no way to post photos here anymore, every uploading site doesn't work for me anymore and the forum's up loader says I have "Exceeded my limit"...

I have so many photos to share of my new Cat, my new car, the new rescue horse living here, and a growing Texas, plus my silkies. But it has decided not to let me upload anymore...

Texas is 6 months old this month..

I think my mare is pregnant, its still a bit early to tell, if she was pregnant she would only be 5-ish months along, and she has her big fluffy winter fluff on now so its a bit hard haha.

My sister called yesterday, she said her friend called telling her that she accidentally hatched Frizzles, and we can buy them. So in a few hours I will have 2, three day old Frizzle chicks!

 

[Carly Rae]

YES!!! I tried my uploading site again, It works!

 

[Carly Rae]

Here are my Silkie Chicks

 

[Magic Marker Minis]

I don't think breeding related chickens is as big a deal as horses. Also, do not breed Frizzles to Frizzles. It messes up their feathers.

As for your mare, you should be able to put your arms around her belly after she has started eating. You should feel the baby bumping your arms or hands. Make sure your hands are right in front of her bag. You can feel baby sometimes at five to six months along.

Your silkies are cute.

 

[Carly Rae]

Oh really? I didn't know that. How do they get the frizzle breed if they cant breed them together??

I'll have a go seeing if I can feel any movement

Thanks

I got my Frizzles yesterday. Turns out they are only 2 days old today. We went and got a heat lamp and made a small brooder. I have one Buff and one Black/Brown.

 

[Carly Rae]

 

[Magic Marker Minis]

The Frizzle is a result from a mutated gene that can show up in any breed. Mostly banties.

If you breed a Frizzle to a normal feathered hen, there's a certain percentage that Frizzle.

A couple years ago, one of our hens got broody and wanted to set. We left her with six eggs. Four hatched. Of the four, one turned out to be a frizzle.

 

[Magic Marker Minis]

The yellow one will most likely be white. The black and brown one may be black with brown head and wings.

 

[Miniv]

If your mare is only about 5 or 6 months along, you'll probably only feel a "flutter" of movement during meal time.

We have a silly hen who escaped the chicken pen/run awhile ago and began laying on a pile of eggs. So far ONE has hatched. We moved mom, chick, and the eggs

into the barn under a heat lamp. She has separated out some of the eggs to sit on and is ignoring the rest. I'm assuming SHE knows which are viable and which aren't, but haven't brought myself to removing the pushed out ones yet. The chick is several days old now and doing fine. (The dad is a big black standard cochin.)

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Those silkie chicks are ace , reminds me of watching "Chicken Run"

 

[Carly Rae]

I did not know that, thank you.

I'm not too sure what I'm going to do with breeding yet. I'm not sure if I even own a rooster yet lol. Although I'd love the experience.

I have ISA browns from the same hatch, Silkies from the same hatch, and Frizzles from the same hatch. Can you breed Silkies with Frizzles??

Oh cool! If she pushed them out, and they have chicks in them, can they still hatch without them under her?

I have always wanted to know, once a hen lays a fertile egg, I have heard of some people 'storing' them until they want put them in an incubator for them to hatch. How long can they store them?

I know barley nothing about chickens, I am just learning as I go lol.

Haha, Thanks Ryan

 

[amysue]

You can collect fertile eggs from a hen and hatch them in an incubator. Most hens will lay an egg daily during the months of the year with the most day light, they taper off in winter and take a break during molting. If you keep a roo with your hens, then most of her eggs will be fertile (no rooster, no chicks). They only keep for about a week, then hatchability decreases drastically. I keep my eggs no more than 5 days before hatching, they should be kept in a cool dry and dark place and be rotated twice a day until being incubated. Storing them until you get a clutch together to hatch sort of suspends the animation a bit so they hatch around the same time. If you put each one in the incubator every day with others in progress then they will hatch far apart and most likely contaminate the other eggs and kill them. If using a cabinet incubator it is different, but they are very expensive, so most people use a box type. Once incubation begins, they need to be kept at the right humidity and temp and be rotated every few hours (I love my automated egg turners). 3 days before the anticipated hatch date, stop turning and after hatching, once dry, place chicks in a brooder. I kept silkies with my cochins years ago, got 1 frizzle roo out of 6 cochin chicks (not all inherit the frizzle gene) and everything my silkie roo crossed with that we hatched came out naked necked like the "show girl silkies" so I gave them all away as I thought they were ugly, like a defective dr. Seuss creation. I liked my silkies, they would hatch a golf ball if u put it under them, they did not tolerate the hot weather though. That was a challenge. Enjoy them.

 

[Carly Rae]

Thanks amysue! I'll keep all that in mind

 

[Carly Rae]

I got another chicken today!

I have 12 now.... Everyone just keeps getting them for me!

This one is from my cousin. Her friend owned 2. Then they got a puppy, it killed one of the chickens so they decided to giveaway the other one. So my cousin jumped right in and bought her straight to me haha.

Shes a brown Silkie, apparently she has just gotten clucky

She had no name so I called her "Tuffles"

 

[Carly Rae]

My silkie chicks have grown into fine young ladies.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

WOW !!!! Very cool carly

As ive said before you are very talented behind that camera of yours

 

[Carly Rae]

Thanks Ryan!!