Okay, everyone probably knows the answer to this, but the answers I've found don't really tell me what i need to know *G*. I have a silky setting about 5 eggs. It is entirely possible that some of them are fathered by a standard sized roo. Are there issues with that, or will the mixed chick fit into the little egg just fine? What I've read is that the chicks will be medium sized when grown, but not how big it will be when hatched, and since I know nothing about chicken genetics, I thought I'd ask :). My concern, I guess, is that with other species (dogs are what I'm thinking of) a large parent/small parent X can cause problems if the mom is the small one. The pups may be too big for her to deliver naturally.
Yes, I know there isn't anything I can do about it, but do want to know what to expect.
WorryWart....
Standard/BantamX
I wondered the same thing when Nutmeg sat on all those eggs. Would i have chicks that would develop so big they would bust the shell before time? or would they just die because they lacked the room to develop properly? I also have a bantam silkie who has decided to sit on eggs. She started on 2 fake eggs & 3 real ones but I've found she allows the others to come into her nest & lay eggs. SO I'm left wondering how many eggs I'm sacrificing for her enjoyment. (i forgot to mark which day she started setting too... so idk when they are due) I "think" they are due on New Year's day...
We had crosses like that hatch and do just fine...this past summer. Momma banty hatched out 11 beautiful babies so I don't think there could have been problems...
Same here--my Nankins, which are very small bantams, have hatched out several crosses from standard sized roosters with no problems...one, a Penedesenca/Nankin cross just started laying very pretty small brown eggs.
Yep, we have several bantam/standard sized hatch this past year as well. They all do fine and are medium sized now that many are grown.
Oh good. Thank you for making me feel better. I finally let ther keep some eggs when my favorite banty Roo disappeared, just on the off chance some might be his. Then I realized they could be from one of the standards, too.
Greykyttyn, I had the same problems. No idea when they're due, or if she's added more since I gave up and let her have eggs to keep. I guess this is very much "time will tell".
shesh.. i checked this morning.. someone laid 5 more eggs in with her over night.. i can't get the ones i'm letting her keep marked before they lay more. she got up to eat.. stepped one tiny toe out onto the snow.. & make an abrupt U turn to go back in the nest. I brought Miss Priss her breakfast on a paper plate.
Mine chose her nest spot in the box about 1.5-2 feet from the feeder, 3 from water. Thank goodness she was smart enough to stay in the coop:)
I normally feed mine on a concrete slab just outside the coop. They ate inside today. When my computer starts cooperating I'll post pictures. I happened to think to take the camera & be ready when the coop door opened this morning. It was hilarious! well.. until i spent 30 minutes rounding up wayward chickens who were so freaked out by the snow they wouldn't' move once they landed in it. I went to check bc a couple will get brave from time to time & venture out, i collect them & carry them back to teh coop, went to check on Silkie.. she was in the box on the eggs, along with 4 other bantys in there with her. I guess they were cold.