HOOSIERS Only - INDIANA - Ru1?

[Momma 2 silkies]

I really don't care what they turn out to be. They are beautiful little birds with very interesting personalities. If you have silkies, maybe you can answer this question for me. At what age will they start to form the comb, I know that they don't have regular combs but I was just wondering when cockerels will start to get theirs? My chicks are almost 4 weeks old areas and some look to be getting small bumps where their combs should be coming in and others have smooth areas where their combs will be. Is this a good indicator that I have cockerels?

 

[teach1rusl]

Gosh...I don't remember when my silkies combs began coming in/looking different from one another. I know that I suspected I had a boy in my mix (because I'd bought all pullets) due to his coloring (because male part. typically seem to have much brighter/bolder browns/reds than the females) and because his legs/ankles were big and thick compared to the others. His comb didn't stand out. He was crowing (pitifully) around 10 weeks, and sometime thereafter his comb came in fuller... But mine were hatchery stock. I've read that well bred silkies are usually slower to mature and therefore take longer to figure out...???

 

[Momma 2 silkies]

I have 4 whites that I believe are hatchery chicks, they are a lot smaller than the 6 I bought from a lady that lives close to me. The whites are smaller but have more feathering on their wings. The others I have are partridges, light and dark and are growing like weeds. They are getting bumps were the combs will be, I tried to get pictures but it doesn't show up well in the pictures.

 

[sdsmowen]

Hello we are brand new we are a family of 6 just moved into Greencastle and have a mixed flock (Rainbow layers) plus 3 Pekin ducks. 3 Dogs and 3 Cats.

 

[gale65]

How is everyone dealing with the crazy weather? We have about 800 acres of crops drying up. Talk about stress.

 

[teach1rusl]

Welcome sdsmowen!

Gale, when I'm stressed I go pet a chicken...lol! Yeah, if my income was coming from crops (or being supplemented with crops), I'd be stressed too. I just grow a garden for hobby/leisure, and this drought has me stressing over it. I think we need to plan a mass car washing day across the state - that is sure to bring on rain....

 

[Cremesoda34]

My sprinklers are running everyday in our garden here in cass county. We are in a severe drought in our county and this is horrible. They say light chance of rain tonight and I hope it hits here. I miss walking barefoot in green grass. Now it crunches when walking on this brown dried up grass. Our birds free range during the day and they are not finding the normal bugs so they are not very happy this year. They spend the day in the edge of the woods to keep cool. I should say I pray for rain only as I don't want any tornados or severe weather lol. I am still looking for bearded silkie eggs,hens, pullets or chicks if anyone has any from indy to south bend or fort wayne areas, ok any place from indy north to almost michigan. I am very willing to drive a couple hours one way for some.

 

[gale65]

My sprinklers are running everyday in our garden here in cass county. We are in a severe drought in our county and this is horrible. They say light chance of rain tonight and I hope it hits here. I miss walking barefoot in green grass. Now it crunches when walking on this brown dried up grass. Our birds free range during the day and they are not finding the normal bugs so they are not very happy this year. They spend the day in the edge of the woods to keep cool.  I should say I pray for rain only as I don't want any tornados or severe weather lol. I am still looking for bearded silkie eggs,hens, pullets or chicks if anyone has any from indy to south bend or fort wayne areas, ok any place from indy north to almost michigan. I am very willing to drive a couple hours one way for some.

Most of our crops are in Cass County but apparently only the areas where there has been no rain. I know they've had some rain (definitely more than we've gotten here in southern Pulaski County where we live) but not even close to enough. We walked right on the wabash river bottom the other day. DH thinks the corn is a near or total loss. So if it rains RIGHT NOW maybe the beans will be saved.

 

[sdsmowen]

We are in Putnam county and the local people are starting to worry about thier wells...we need rain in a very bad way. I can not even imagine the stress of watching the crops this year.

 

[gale65]

We know a farmer that farms several thousand acres (I'm thinking 5 or 6 thousand at least) that dh said in the past, never bought crop insurance. I'm not sure if he does now but I'm sure dh will hear about it either way at some point. My BIL use to work for this guy and is still good friends with him. We are lucky-we have no mortgage or car payments and our equipment is all paid off too. I feel bad for the farmers that have farm payments and equipment payments to deal with and worrying about little or no yield this year. But that is a big reason dh prefers to buy used equipment and pay cash. Our car and pickup were bought new but we also paid cash for those. DH is adamant about having no payments.