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Thursday, September 24, 2015

A new adventure in raising Silkie chickens.

 It looks like my nest is not so empty anymore.
You saw a few photos in my last post. Why raise Silkie chickens? 
I did not tell you the story of how this started. But some of you know from Facebook. or YouTube
 My new hen is named Willow, a Partridge silkie. She is said to be about a year old. I did not plan on raising chickens. But I find it hard to put those eggs in the fridge. Because, I know they are fertile. She was with a white Silkie rooster when I bought her.

You may ask how do I know they are fertile? The first egg laid was accidentally cracked, by my grandson. In the yoke, was a white spot with white thread like veins. Kinda like a small faint look of a bulls eye around the white spot too.

I gave my daughter the next 6 eggs. The first one hatched. on September 20, 2015. It was exactly 21 days in the incubator. It is adorable, But could not get up and walk. It is slow to start eating too. But there is hope.
My next post will be on helping this chick overcome. Splay or spraddle leg condition.


Also soon to come to this blog. :)
I now have a new incubator. It has all the bells and whistles. Egg turner, Digital temperature control, it show humidity level. So you have to adjust that  by more or less water in the bottom.

I will also conduct an experiment,  Fact or fiction?
How to tell a girl egg from a boy egg?
I have read, that more pointed eggs would be roosters and the more rounded eggs would be hens. I also have heard this does not apply to all breeds of chickens but does seem to work for the large breeds but not as well on bantams. 

I have read  using all.rounded eggs for hatching and have resulted in about 75 % hens. 
I also know if this was true for all breeds. The commercial breeders would not hatch pointed eggs. So we will see, how this works on my current eggs.  

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.Photobucket

5 comments:

greekwitch said...

Ohhhh!!! Sooo cute! Will he be okay?

angela said...

I would be very interested to see if the theory is proven. I didn't know about the commercial breeders. Your chicks Are very cute xx

Grammy said...

Thank you both. It is making improvements every day. I am starting to get it to eat a little more. Will update in next post. Thank you.

peppylady (Dora) said...

I can't say I every never learn anything on blogs. I didn't know about the shape of the egg if it going to be a rooster or hemn.
It sure cut little chicken. Please keep us inform.

Coffee is on

greekwitch said...

I hope she is better!!!