# 21 days later...



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

One of the baby chicks hatched today!!

Please excuse all the feathers. They belong to my dad's Red Star chicks (they live in a pen right beside my Silkies and they're molting, soooo). For some odd reason there are rocks everywhere, too.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Congratulations, you have a new peep. Are there any more eggs left to hatch?

Peep actually looks like it could be a couple of days old. Where's mom? She should be hovering making sure you don't do something wrong.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Thank you! She has four eggs left that she's still sitting on.

Really? I feed them this morning and didn't see anything. She was right beside the chick. I didn't get her in the picture. She did seem like she didn't want me messing with the chick. Earlier, he/she was on the other side of the pen.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Yeah, newly hatched peeps usually stay under Mom the first day or two. Unless you pick Mom up you don't even know they're there.

I'd candle those remaining eggs.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Oh, that explains it.

Yes, I am planning on doing that. Is it okay if I bring them inside to candle them or wait 'til the sun goes down?


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Yes, you can take them in to candle. It won't hurt them. 

Make sure peep knows about food and water if the eggs are viable. Mom won't budge as long as she has the eggs.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

I candled the remaining eggs. I couldn't really see anything. One smelled like death (I threw that one away). She is sitting on them now.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you! Btw, Dawn was pecking the chick. What should I do about that?


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Like she was trying to drive it off? 

You probably need to take those two eggs. It's been long enough now if they were viable they would have hatched. Then watch to see if she accepts the peep to take care of.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

I don't know. My brother said she was pecking it. I didn't see it. Knowing Dawn, she probably was. LOL.

Yeah, probably. Thank you!


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Keep an eye on her. It's not normal for adult like Dawn to drive off her peeps. First time Moms will do it or even kill them.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Oh, okay. Thank you. I will. You have been an amazing help. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'd love to see pics of peep as it gets older. I saw what looked like a black spot on the body. It might be a paint.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

I will keep posting pictures. I'd like to get him/her in the grass. Would make for a better picture. Yes, he/she has a couple little black spots. Just might be! We'll see.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'll be here watching for them.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

There appears to be a scratch on my camera. Or maybe just a smudge. 



















He/she is getting more little black spots.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

So, peep is a paint. How is mom doing with it?

Is it the only egg to hatch?


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Yay! If it's a hen, I plan to keep her. Mom is always with him/her. She seems to doing a good job. I haven't seen Dawn peck the chick.

Yes, the only egg.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That's if the spots I can see are black. Dawn is the black hen. What color is the roo? I've forgotten.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

They look black to me. Strut is lavender.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Dang, then I don't know what peep is. I'd have to do some digging but I think black to lavender should give you either black or lavender peeps. Not one that's spotted.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

The chick's mom is the white hen. Soooo, white to lavender could result in a spotted chick?


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I went looking, something is wrong. If he's lavender and she's black, all peeps should be black.

Did that breeder have any paints? Now I really want to see what that peeps does as it grows.

I don't know what you have. Lavender is recessive, so is white. It would take two lavender parents to make lavender and two white parents to make white.

Lavender to black would be all black peeps but since the black peeps are carrying the lavender gene if bred with lavender they would have half lavender, half black peeps.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

The chick's mom is the white hen. Soooo, white to lavender could result in a spotted chick?

Sorry, you had to go through all that trouble. Genetics are interesting, though. I need that in the future. Thank you.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

No, it shouldn't. A recessive white to a recessive lavender should bring out all the background colors that exist in white. Or even in the lavender. The lavenders were a newer variety when I sold out so I don't know what all they've discovered about them since then. 

Silkies genetics are tough. Heck, genetics are tough. Silkies are just tougher.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Hmm. Weird. I don't know if the breeder had paints. I can ask if need be. Maybe the rooster is actually blue. 

Genetics can be very hard! I find cat genetics very fun but confusing.

Here's a picture:


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I think you're right, he's lavender. You almost never seen a blue that light in the states because of mixing blacks and blues. The blues got so dark the only way to confirm a bird was actually black was to breed it to a white. If all the peeps hatch black then the parent is black. 

That might be because black is dominant color gene. I'd have to look but it might be that blue is also recessive so you could end up with any color when breeding white to blue.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. 

Yeah, I remembered that blue is recessive after I posted that. 😄 Thank you for your help!


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

How do I get the chick to eat the starter/grower feed and not the adults' feed?


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You don't. It's why I put all of mine on a 20% protein and gave them oyster shell on the side. 

The roos shouldn't have layer anyway if you want them around for a while. It's hard on their kidneys.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Oh, okay. Thank you. I need to see how much protein is in the feed I'm feeding them now. I'm pretty sure my dad has some oyster shell. So I can feed the chick OS now? 

Yeah. Darn. I thought about that when I asked about the chick and looked it up. I didn't see anything about it being hard on their kidneys. I assume there's nothing I can do about that.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'm guessing your dad is using layer feed since that's what his birds are for. 

The chicks won't eat the oyster shell but the two hens will. Everyone will eat the non layer feed. 

Yeah, since the boys have no need for the extra calcium their kidneys need to filter it out.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Yes, he is.

Oh, okay.

Darn. That sounds bad. What can I do about it?


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

He's fine if you switch over to non layer. It's just not something you want him to have long term.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Okay. Thank you. Is there any way I can train him to eat his food and not the hens'? I highly doubt this but I'm asking anyway.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Sorry, no. He will call them to his but he'll help himself to theirs too. It's the peeps you have to be concerned about since they do need the higher protein.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Darn. Okay, thank you!


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

I am thinking that the chick is a rooster (I know you can't be sure with Silkies until they start laying or crowing). He can fly/glide better than the hens and he seems to have longer legs as well as a less round body like Strut. I'll try to post an updated picture later today.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Yeah, the leggieness can be a giveaway they are males.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Thanks for the confirmation!

Here's a picture of the chick I took earlier: 









I apologize for the poor quality picture. I cropped it so it's 10x blurrier. 

That little, teeny-tiny black spot is about all the color he's got.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Watch him when he walks away from you. If he's got this weird bent at the knee look to him as he's walking, you can say pretty certainly you have yourself a boy.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Hmm. Interesting. Thank you.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It's so hard to describe. It's like they have their legs bent at the knee so they are only half as tall as they really are. 

Someone many years ago posted a video of her boy walking away from her. It was an excellent video and displayed so clearly what I'm talking about.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

I think I know what you're talking about. He's legs appear to be kinda bent in the back. I'll try to get a picture.

Was that on here or YouTube?


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I think it was on here but it was years ago. Trying to find it would be impossible and I don't remember if we could load videos directly to the forum then or not.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Oh, okay. Thank you.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Cleo (the white hen) is broody again. She's sitting on maybe five eggs. Some of which belong to Dawn (the black hen). I'm starting to think she'll never go broody.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Aren't they about five years old? That might be why Dawn never goes broody, she's gotten old enough that she doesn't. 

Something I just thought of, can you identify whose eggs are whose? Dawn may not be fertile anymore too.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

Yes, almost five years. Probably so. We got them in April so I assume she's done. 

Their eggs look the same. I found some eggs in the nestingbox (Cleo is finally using it) before Cleo starting laying again. From what I can tell, she is still fertile. So maybe Cleo will hatch some of her eggs. I'm really hoping for some pullets!


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

If you want to know for certain, you can put food coloring in the vent of Dawn. If the egg with the food coloring hatches then you know she's still fertile.


----------



## SilkieGirl (Apr 29, 2021)

We don't have any food coloring on hand right now. I'll consider getting some next time we make a trip to the store. Thank you!


----------

