The fever has set in...

I confess, I flicked too when I was hatching. Just got to see them! I think broody hens flick too. Who could stand setting for a month straight & not want to 'move it along'?

i get my tweezers grab it and pull

umm, which flap are we flicking here? heck, i take a fork and whack it good!

when a chick pips and the shell thing is raised

soi we mean the flap being the top part of the shell?

i went to hatching mine successfully in egg cartons. if they are zipping fine, i actually don't flip the flap... seem to strengthen their legs to push out on their own.

but i do the fork thingy pretty regular if they need a jump start...

how is the black-less one?

no we mean when they pip with there beak the little bit of shell do u just flick it off

oh, YEAH! [light bulb flicking on...]

i alwyas want to be sure the membrane isn't covering their little nostrils. silkiechick taught me that... the tough part is not making th e hole too big...

so ur meant to do that

here i was thinking i was very impatient

wellll, pretty sure hatcheries don't do it... but i have pretty intensive manaagemnet practices...

well u know heaps about chickens so i am going to go with your method

u r 2 nice.

well u do u help every one and all i do is go u should ask tf its funny but i will learn

oh, yeah, btw thanks for all the referrals LOL...

I think I'll just leave you two alone....:0)

i have never been up this late, blame it on the coffee without rum LOL. guess Josh is on his own now...

LOL cats can u know heaps to

more than me and i am a country person :0)

G'night Tamara. G'night Josh.

ok cya it is only the afternoom here

no, you are a country bumpkin! and i think her name is cat scan, but i have never asked, maybe it is cats can???

g'night catscan

Night Y'all!

i think it is cats can or maybe she had a cat scan LOL wat a mystery i just picked my name of a list randomly

night tf

Did somebody say rum?................

Hey josh I will point this question to you since I know you have silkies anyways I have 1 silkie that is 2 weeks old in with the same aged 3 guineas well my sikie seems to be so timid the guineas are bouncing off the brooder walls and the silkie just kinda stands their she is eating and drinking and is the only one of them that will come and sit in my hand when I open there brooder. Is this normal for her to be so quiet or do you think she might be sick.

Hi fieldsems--Josh is sleeping now--so I am his alter ego and will answer. Well, he is sleeping!

I only have one Silkie, Riley, and he lives a very separate life from the other chickens. He is very slow and deliberate in all his actions. Watches what the other chickens do and works his way around them to avoid confrontations. It sounds very much like what your lone Silkie is doing. A lot of standing and watching--then he finds food that no ones else has noted and quietly eats it while the others fight over the obvious bowl. At first I thought he was a bit "dim", but now I see he is actaully very careful and thoughtful. And he is easy to pick up. I adore him.

well good I am relieved I was beginning to worry about her.

I'm back from our adventure today... the cute buff/grey one I posted a pic of above really looked like a roo, so I ended up not getting it. The woman said that in a couple of weeks of she still has it and its looking to not be a roo she'd email me. That being said, I still don't think I'd get it. We took two of the siblings (2ish weeks old) and when I got them home one has mites... HELP! What can I do for mites on a little one this young?

fieldsems the hatch i just had was only my second time hatching silkies so i am not exactly an expert but i had the same idea as ctscan so i must be learning LOL