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Post by Cluck N Waddle on Dec 28, 2008 8:01:54 GMT 8
Well the first of the chickies finally hatched a few minutes ago. Quite a few eggs have pipped during the night but now they're having a rest. I quickly candled the qld eggs this morning and 1 has broken through into the air sac, I really hope this one hatches as I think its the only one I'm going to get from that lot. I'm hoping that its black or maybe its my lucky day and its lavender. But I doubt it Here's the newly hatched chickadee
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Post by fluffychook on Dec 28, 2008 8:13:49 GMT 8
Aren't they so gorgeous. What colour do you think it will be. Great to hear about the QLD eggs. I sent an email off to them about the colour, toes etc. I will let you know what they say
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Post by Cluck N Waddle on Dec 28, 2008 11:20:15 GMT 8
Its white. We went out for about an hour n a half and when we got home there were 7 chickies, with another hatching just a few minutes ago. All these currently hatching are from my own eggs. The one qld egg that *should* hatch (from perfectpoultry) hasnt made any more progress yet. Of the ones that have hatched so far, a couple have got pink combs again so it looks like there was obviously a bit of reginald sperm (the old frizzle roo) still floating around. I was hoping there wouldnt be this time as the dates of the oldest eggs were right on the 14 day borderline but the old bugger had duped me once again. It will be interesting to see what the breeder says about the toes etc.
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Post by Cluck N Waddle on Dec 28, 2008 13:28:50 GMT 8
We've now got 9 lil chickadees, with 3 more zipping. I've had to take the 9 down to the brooder because it was too darm humid in the bator, they were saturated and couldnt dry out. Definately gotta get myself a hygrometer for next season. But on the upside, the high humidity seems to be making it nice and easy for the chicks to zip out of the shells. Hows your weakest little chick doing fluffy?
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Post by fluffychook on Dec 28, 2008 15:11:49 GMT 8
Just passed in the last 1/2 hour. Now I have a hygrometer and lost some to too high a humidty, so be careful as they drown. Glad yours are hatching easily and look forward to some more pictures. The reason I asked about the colour of the first chick is it seemed to have gold bits in it. My ducklings are still taking their sweet time about hatching, we have two breech. Hopefully the others are not the same. It usually means we have to help them out.
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Post by Cluck N Waddle on Dec 28, 2008 17:05:19 GMT 8
Aw, what a shame. Sorry to hear that. Any more progress with the ducklings? My qld egg is also taking its sweet time. Its driving me nuts, because I so wanna help it but know that I should leave it alone. I just really dont want it to end up dead in shell. I've now got 11 chicks with one more hatching at the moment.
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Post by Duck Diva on Dec 28, 2008 17:54:03 GMT 8
Fluffy sorry to hear about the chick. Hope the ducklings hatch out ok. Steph, Ive got my fingers and toes crossed for your QLD egg
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Post by fluffychook on Dec 28, 2008 19:19:37 GMT 8
We have tried to help one duckling but had to stop as the egg yolk has not been fully absorbed. The other has peeped but no progress, the others I can hear chip chip but no peeping. They were due yesterday, this is soooooo painful. I understand your pain...lol
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Post by Cluck N Waddle on Dec 28, 2008 19:47:37 GMT 8
This is soooo frustrating lol. I couldnt help myself, I had to do something so I chipped some shell from the air sac end to have a closer look at whats going on. I thought it had pipped through to the air sac but it hadnt. Its still alive just not doing much, so I've moistened the membrane and wrapped a wet tissue around the shell opening. I'm about to take 2 chickies down to the brooder, the 12th egg hatched just a little while ago after some help. So that looks like all that will hatch from my own eggs, which I'm happy with. 12 out of 18 isnt too bad. Just wish some of them werent 'half reginalds' lol.
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Post by Cluck N Waddle on Dec 29, 2008 7:03:21 GMT 8
Well, the qld chick died in shell last night. So disappointing But these things happen, I'll just have to wait until friday and hope I get a good hatch from the d gregory eggs.
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Post by fluffychook on Dec 29, 2008 7:20:57 GMT 8
Sorry to hear about the little chick, it is so hard when they die in the shell. I hate it. Fingers and toes crossed for the next lot.
Dave and Gerri Gregory are such nice people and this is the response I got from Gerri about the questions we asked.....
Thanks again for another update ...it's always great to know how the hatchings have going...glad you were also happy with my packaging.... Hope the tiny one is pulling through...sometimes they can really surprise you!!! Silkies should all have 5 toes. Sometimes when they are forming some merge & you get one or 2 less. I've even come across some with an extra...a 6th!! Did the chick have 4 toes on only the 1 foot? Can you take a couple more pics on the baby with the yellowing?? Can't tell you much about that...haven't seen that before. How's he/she coming along now? From the pics the feather colouring looks a mix of silver with a golden face/belly...couldn't get the pics large enough to see clearly. sorry. No beards but a range of colours there.
(I will resend the pictures but not as thumbnails this time)
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Post by Duck Diva on Dec 29, 2008 8:21:06 GMT 8
Hi Steph, sorry about your chick Good luck with the next lot.
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Post by Duck Diva on Dec 29, 2008 8:25:22 GMT 8
Hey fluffy hows the duckling with the yolk out going?Hows the rest of them? Waiting in anticipation
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Post by Cluck N Waddle on Dec 29, 2008 9:52:40 GMT 8
Thanks guys Here's some piccies of the chickies. Out of the 12, 6 have pink legs and comb. So I'm hoping thats thanks to Reginald and not one of the other boys. As my OH pointed out last night, Old Reg had been in the Silkie pen for at least a year and I've not had one 'half reginald' chickie come out in any of the clutches during that time, until the last two. And the only thing thats changed since then is the addition of Igor, Pearl and Clifford. So if Reg isnt the problem then I suspect it may be Clifford (the santa roo). I'll have to separate some into pairs next season to collect eggs that are definately from each roo, then incubate them and see what we get. Anyways, most of these chickies are a pale orange, with a few whites. See the pink legs: Interesting comments from the gregorys about the chicks. Thought they would have elaborated more on the yellow legs. By the sounds of it, maybe 4 toes is something she gets quite often. I've never had a silkie chick come out with 4 toes. I'm wondering if its genetic related and something that once in your lines might be hard to get rid of? I'm probably wrong though. You should ask the Silkie breeders on BYP about the occurence of 4 toes and how common it is, if it will breed through to the offspring etc.
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Post by Duck Diva on Dec 29, 2008 10:39:04 GMT 8
Steph, they are so cute Youve had a really good hatch. Well done
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