Silky hens are setting on BIG chicken eggs!

[uppityperson]

I have a flock of mixed large chickens and a smaller flock of silkies. My friendly sweet big rooster Arnie has been mounting his flock, as Mr.Fluffy has been on his.

2 silkies have gone broody and I gave them 6 big eggs to set on. I marked them with Xs so I can tell them apart (half baked egg, ewwww) and they are letting the big hens into the nest to lay, then scrurrying back in then it is empty again.

I'm excited, have wanted to see if it is possible to continue my backyard flock on my own. Will post back with pictures later.

[uppityperson]

1. Broody biddies, MrFluffy and Arnie

Shhhh



MrFluffy and the Big hens



Arnie keeping watch inside the coop

[Dover]

2. Nice pics!

Would you explain what you're doing a little more? I'm not sure I understand.

Where did you get your Am. Dominique? Beautiful!

[uppityperson]

3. Arnie is a Faverolle. I've a mixed flock, got some silkies because they

go broody and are good moms. My old one died a couple yrs ago and I had to raise these ones under a lightbulb until they were old enough to go outside. When she got broody (wanting to sit on eggs, incubate and hatch them), I'd take the eggs, give her golf balls, then 2 weeks later get some hatched chicks from the local feed store (regular sized birds that lay larger eggs than the little silkies), and stuff them under her at night. She'd wake in the morning OH SO PROUD that her golf balls had hatched!

I marked 6 eggs from the big chickens (whom Arnie takes care of) and gave them to the 2 brooding silkies to hatch. So far they are sharing them back and forth, keeping them all warm. If/when they hatch, the chicks will have 2 moms to watch over them and keep them warm.

Arnie is a faverolle. I tried getting several of them yrs back with the idea of continuing the flock, but they were punky birds. They are supposed to have feathered feet, which only a couple did, and extra toes (again only a couple did). However, they start showing which sex they are within a week, and Arnie was the first to be definitely male so we picked him up, cuddled him, etc, since he was a peeper. He is a very nice rooster. I still scoop him up sometimes, hold him on his back, "baby rooster" position, to let him know I'm top of the pecking order.

[Dover]

4. That's so sweet. Sounds like you're a good 'momma hen' too.

What I don't quite understand is why the silkies aren't hatching their own eggs?

Arnie is absolutely beautiful, but I was asking about you American Dominique (the black and white spotted one) shown in your group photo. Where did you get her? I was under the impression they were kind of hard to find via most local chick suppliers.

[uppityperson]

5. Got you. They could, but I would like some more big chickens, as well as

seeing if they can hatch larger eggs. It is an experiment to see if I can keep the regular sized chicken flock going.

They are barred rocks (plymouth rocks) that I got from the local Cenex who got them from some supplier. Notch has a notch in her comb and TUC (the unnamed chicken) is the more pleasant of the too. Looks like the one nearest in that picture above is Notch.

I didn't know what dominiques were (quick search on poultry site). Oooo, they are plymouth rocks. Sort of. Or rather, plymouth rocks and they were one, then were divided apart by their combs. My girls have a single comb, not rose combed. Interesting comb on the dominiques, rather like the one on Lucy my 11 yr old pet Hamburg (she's furthest away on the left, head sticking up behind one of the reds).

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/poultry/
'The Dominique breed developed from the fowl introduced during the early settlement of New England. These were of the type predominating in the south of England and from which the Sussex and Dorking descended. This stock was widely distributed in the Eastern half of the United States by mid 19th century. The breed was generally known as Dominiques except in the region of origin where they were known as Plymouth Rock and occasionally as Pilgrim Fowls. The differentiation between Plymouth Rock and Dominique was not made until 1870 when the management of the New York state poultry show ruled that only rose combed fowl of intermediate size could compete as Dominiques, and that all medium and large single combed fowl of this color would be known as Plymouth Rocks. A small single combed bird of this color was called a Dominique Leghorn. "


Dominique Plymouth Rock (barred)

Hamburg

[Dover]

Interesting! Thanks for clearing that up. I love them ALL!!!..n/t

[Dover]

6. dupe post...n/t

[knitter4democracy]

14. That's a prize winning flock right there.

You taking them to the county fair this year?

[uppityperson]

7. 3 hens are taking turns on 4 eggs now. Waiting impatiently for my eggs to hatch

I set up the chick box last night for the moms and newly hatched babies to live in for a week or so until they get a little bit of size. Put one of the moms on some spare eggs in there and she was NOT happy. So they are all crowding into the big coop still.

1 egg disappeared, another was dropped by accident during a henpecking episode. I used markers to color the head of each of the 3 moms so I can tell them apart. Greenie is the worst pecking of them.

Waiting, impatiently, to see if any hatch

[uppityperson]

8. Wahhhhhh. MrUP left the coop open last night, today there are only 2 eggs

He set rat traps right outside the coop door tonight. crap crap crap crap crap. Not even broken shells, just 2 eggs missing.

[uppityperson]

9. update, for the chicken followers

There ended up being only 1 egg left and it has been 4 weeks so I removed the egg and am starting over.

I put the 3 gals in their own coop so the big hens won't be shoving them out to lay and no one can get in to steal or eat the eggs. They are all very happy, muttering to each other. But now I have to wait for 3 more weeks.

Don't count your eggs before they hatch.

[uppityperson]

10. One hatched! Yesterday we got a tan with brown striped chick!

Today we have 1hen sitting on 4 eggs, 1 on 2 eggs and the chick. It is very teeny tiny and peepy. Tomorrow is day 21. If they don't hatch by Monday, I'm taking the rest of hte eggsaway and letting the 2 biddies raise the one chick.

It is very exciting. I am used to several day old chickes from the feed store, but a new one is, well, egg sized. Teeny tiny

[uppityperson]

11. What a day! another one hatched and now 2 more have also!

I've been checking on them every hour or 2 today since the broody biddies wanted to stay on the eggs and were rather ignoring the Fuzzy One. 3 eggs left to go!

I'm taking their cozy box out next time I check as the moms are out on the floor with fuzzies and eggs underneath them. They are so tiny. This is very cool. It worked. I can make more chickens!

The first 2 chicks have pink legs and feet. The second 2 have blue/black legs and feet. Since all the hens the eggs came from have yellow legs/feet, that means that Arnie is the father of 2, and MrFluffy (white silkie like the brooding biddies) is the father of 2.

This will be very interesting, seeing what turns out with them.

[bvar22]

12. Very cool.

We were hoping for chicks this year, but I think its too late now.
We have a rooster and 7 hens, and the rooster is doing his thing, but none of the hens have gone broody.

Congrats on the chicks.
They are so cute and lovable.

[uppityperson]

13. That is very cute. The last egg exploded in my hand today, wasn't fertile

so we have 4 chicks and 2 moms talking to them, keeping them warm, etc. They have slightly different markings, will be interesting to see how they turn out.

I was checking the last egg when POP! I am very glad I was holding it outside as it was not very pleasant.

[LWolf]

15. Congratulations on your new chicks!

I had 2 hens get broody this summer; I let them both set, since none were broody last year. My flock only has two of the original pure bred hens left; the rest are all crosses that they hatched out themselves. My buff orpington hen hatched out two black chicks; funny, because they had to have been the australorp's eggs; she's the only black hen I've got. One chick disappeared on day 8, so she's raising one, who is feathering out black and gold.

My australorp hen hatched out TEN. They are 2 weeks younger than the other hen's. She hatched out 7 of them and took them out of the nest to explore; I found 3 more that hatched after she left, and got them with the group. They are 2 weeks old now. 3 black and 7 yellow chicks; looks like I'll have 3 black and gold, 6 gold, and one red/brown/gold mix (from the easter-egger.) I have one australorp hen, one australorp/orpington cross, one orpington, an easter-egger, and 2 orpington/wyandotte cross hens.

My rooster is a 4 yo buff orpington; a mild mannered gentlemen who is pecking and scratching alongside his new brood.

Having the hens hatch the eggs is great; I don't have to worry about incubating, turning, or keeping them warm once they've hatched. Mom does that; they get lots of exercise with the rest of the flock from day 1. The only drawback is that I can't handle them, so they grow up a lot shyer.

[uppityperson]

16. 10 chicks? that must be very funny. Here's an updated picture

2 on the left are from the faverolle dad, 2 on right from silkie dad. Further right one is quite red. They are very cute. I wonder how many are roosters?

[LWolf]

18. Nice!

At this stage, watch their stances, combs, and for beginning efforts at crows. Generally, cockerels will have a more upright stance, a redder comb, and will be louder, although they aren't really "crowing" yet.

[uppityperson]

21. I'm watching behavior & checking hackles, esp of the most agressive one.

Their voices all sound the same still though.

[dhpgetsit]

17. Hehe! I like your nick. Love your Silkies!

Are you in BYC too?

[uppityperson]

20. Hi and thanks and what is BYC?

backyardchickens?

[uppityperson]

19. Updated photos. Still can't tell who are roosters.

They are all different colored. Arnie's 2 are speckled, one has rust stripes on it's belly (they are the 2 in back of the group). MrFluffy's 2 both have lighter heads than bodies, are in the front of the group. One is brown, one is greyer (thinking one had red mom, one had barred rock mom).

The pict is rather fuzzy, they were running around after bread crumbs and it took many shots to get them all together. Speedy little chickens.

[bvar22]

22. Thanks for the updates.

I don't respond to every post, but I am following along.
It has been 18 months since we got our first chicks from the feed store, and you are providing a good tutorial. No chicks yet, but we are looking forward to some of our own home made chicks.

[Name removed]

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