Silkies Are Hatching

grahamsokel

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I have wanted silkies for ages and its almost impossible to get any around here,So plan B was buy eggs off ebay and 21 days later i have ................

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and all fluffed up

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I now have 4 and another 7 are chipping
 
Oh Cute ! :wub: Give us some pics as they mature ! :good:

Good luck with the rest hatching.
 
OH MY GOD I WANT ONE!!!!!! They are so cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pleeeease send me one, I promise to love it and cuddle it!! AHH too adoreable!! Look at the little fluffies!!
 
Thats really cool, I was telling people the other day you could buy eggs to hatch off ebay and they were like yeah right.Apparently you can even buy guinea fowl eggs.
 
Ooooooh, i'd order some reds, my nan used to live on well basically a farm, she'd have all types of hens there, quite intelligent creatures them hens and cockerals... only problem is if i got a cockeral my neighbours would hate me, as the roosting isn't really what they want to be woken up with.

Graham how did you hatch your eggs, cus i did try with some bantams and they never went off and never hatched... something definatly went wrong. Either way me wants me wants XD

Saw some hens, geese, ducks for sale at the Cheshire show, wanted to buy one as they were only £4!!!! was so tempted, but was with college and im sure they wouldn't have appreciated me bringing a hen or duck on the bus LOL...
 
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Graham how did you hatch your eggs, cus i did try with some bantams and they never went off and never hatched... something definatly went wrong. Either way me wants me wants XD

I have an automatic turn incubator so i just need to keep the humidity right for them.
If you dont have an automatic turn incubator you need to keep them at a constant temperature of 37.5 and a humidity of 40-45% for 19 days turning the eggs at least twice a day then on day 19 stop turning them and raise the humidity to around 70% and they should hatch on day 21 if they are fertile
I now have 9 hatched out.
Once these are all hatched and i move them into the brooder i am going to be hatching Call ducks
 
Ah they're so cute :wub: ! Reminds me of when i used to have bantams, so many cute chicks everywhere, bantam chicks are the cutest ever (ducklings come pretty close though) :wub: .

Just wondering, but why do you choose to artificically hatch them instead of just let the hens sit and raise their own chicks?
 
being curious, I just looked up images of bantam chicks, and I am wondering, is this normal?

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Pink and green chicks?
 
being curious, I just looked up images of bantam chicks, and I am wondering, is this normal?

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Pink and green chicks?

I think they are dyed- however i'm not exactly sure how people do this. Personally i'm against it even on this little information though, bantams are beautiful birds and don't need to be dyed or anything like that to look better than what they already are. IMHO, if people want a colourful small bird, they should go buy a budgie.
 
I have wanted silkies for ages and its almost impossible to get any around here,So plan B was buy eggs off ebay and 21 days later i have ................

Glad to know I'm not the only person here that likes chickens. When I recently moved, I had to give up almost all of my animals except what I was allowed to bring and what my grandparents are taking care of for me.

For all of you that may be interested, there is a site dedicated just to bird auctions. Adults, chicks, eggs. Many species. eggbid.com It has a lot more variety than eBay, but sometimes the prices can be a bit higher since the people that are buying usually know what they are buying unlike a lot of the people on eBay.
 
Aww, cute :) Good luck with them. I'm tempted to get a couple of dozen chinese painted quail eggs off Ebay- tonnes cheaper and easier than sourcing adults. And although I know it's naughty, I really want Muscovy ducks...
 
Aww, cute :) Good luck with them. I'm tempted to get a couple of dozen chinese painted quail eggs off Ebay- tonnes cheaper and easier than sourcing adults. And although I know it's naughty, I really want Muscovy ducks...

If you get button quail chicks, be very careful as they are very fragile. I had 23 hatch this past winter. I've got six left. Make sure they constantly have water in front of them. That's how I lost most of mine. When I was moving, it was a four hour drive one way. They couldn't have water on the trip, of course, but we didn't think anything about it since I've moved birds/animals all of the time. Well, that's how they ended up dead. They are so tiny that they dehydrate quickly. Once they start losing their balance, it's a 50/50 chance of bringing them back. Just saying to make sure they have plenty of water if you plan on going somewhere for most of the day sometime.

Oh, and as per the dyed silkies pic... There are several ways to do it and none of them hurt the bird. You just use food colouring which is non-toxic. You can either bathe them in it or put some in their water. As they drink it, it will slowly be absorbed into the feathers. People like to do things like this for Easter or "shows".

There is also a dangerous way to do it that I think is very stupid. You inject dye into the egg and the chick comes out in bright colours. They go away as the chick ages, but if you don't know what you're doing, you could kill the embryo. I think it's just...not worth the risk just like dying fish. :no:

Forgot to add:
Grahamsokel - Check the chicks over carefully and make sure they are purebred. It's very easy and possible to get ripped off on eggs. First off, check for feathered feet. I can see that the current chicks have this in the pics, so you're okay there.
Secondly - You know what a comb is, right? On newly hatched silkie chicks, it'll look like they don't have one. If it looks like they do, they aren't pure. It should just be a blank spot of dark skin. No bumps, ridges, or anything.
Thirdly - Dark skin/beaks. They have that. Good.
Fourth - Toes. Each foot should have five well developed toes. The fourth and fifth should not be connected or look like they are one toe with two nails. They should be very obviously separate.
Fifth - And the most obvious - feathers that come in should be silkied. That's a given. :D
 

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