Silkie thread!

[oosting]

I may have to invest in one. Mine are the same way. There is just a certain part of the day where shade is almost nonexistent and since school is starting and I'll be back at work they won't be able to sit under the bushes and vehicles all afternoon. I have a plan for next year but it's too late in the year to put it in place this summer. Where did you find your umbrella?

Giant Tiger...i think its a only canadian store...not sure if they have Giant Tigers in the states.

 

[katatonic123]

Oh ok. Thanks @oosting.

 

[Sylvester017]

Hi! All your pictures make me jealous ive wanted a silkie for ages!! i'm thinking of getting one to go with my polish hen. I thought silkie becuase they have afros too

also i thought another chicken might help her start laying and keep her outside and acting more like a normal chicken (she thinks shes a dog

) she was 2 this year and im not sure wether to get a silkie the same age or to hatch my own. I hatched harriett (my hen) and shes really friendly and loves to sit on my lap and have cuddles, i'd like another chicken with the same sort of attitude would that mean id have to hatch one or are most silkies like that??

Silkies are a lovely little breed and very similar to Polish in temperament and would be a good flock mix. However, if you hatch your own, there are two things to consider - you couldn't mix the new Silkie hatch with your older hen until the hatchlings are about 5-6 months old to avoid possible jealous bullying by the older Polish, and you need to consider what to do if your hatches turn out to be roos. Cockerels get frisky and want to mate anything they can pin down. What we do to avoid getting Silkie cockerels is to purchase recognizable/identifiable Silkie pullets (about 3-4 m/o) from a breeder so we don't have to deal with having to re-home frisky or crowing cockerels from a clutch. Just a thought to consider. Chicks are cute but we resist the urge to have Silkie chicks because they cannot be identified as male/female until they are older juveniles. The Silkie pullets will still make very nice pets even if you buy them as older juveniles - they are easy to socialize as we discovered when we bought our identifiable older juvie. GL! and I'm sure you will enjoy your Silkie as much as your Polish!

 

[Sylvester017]

You were wondering about the crest on your Silkie? Watch to see if the crest is growing smaller each day. We thought our little Partridge girl was molting as she progressively got balder and balder. Then we found our LF Marans was roosting next to the Silkies and pulling out the crest and tail feathers on them. Eventually the Marans viciously attacked a 6-m/o Silkie pullet and that was the end of our having LF mixed with our 2-lb Silkie gentles! Our Ameraucana's muffed face was being pulled out too. We re-homed all our LF egg layer and dual purpose chickens and only keep under-5-lb gentle temperament breeds now to keep the Silkies from getting attacked or feathers pulled out - Ameraucana and Silkie fluff is very tempting to other chickens.

 

[Sylvester017]

@katatonic123 as soon as i seen the umbrella i knew i had to have it for the chickens. Theres a hawk thats been eyeballing them and theres no shade for a few hrs in their run during the day. They spend lots of time under that umbrella.

We set up a pop-up canopy in our backyard and buried the legs about 1 foot in the soil so it doesn't para-sail away in the wind. After a year the canopy top shreds and we buy a tarp and ball ties to neatly cover the frame for another year of wear. We've had the canopy frame up for 3 years now. It's a good place to set up an Orbit Mistand or Arctic Cool self-standing mister during the summer and the canopy offers protection from the rain in winter. Under the canopy is a 4x4 raised garden box with dry dirt for winter dust baths. We also have a couple plywood shelters set on cinderblocks placed around the yard and 4 large dog houses for the hens to snooze/hide in. We never kept a large or deep pool of water because Silkie fluff gets soaked and they can drown because of that. So for drinking water we set up a couple Brite Tap Rubbermaid nipple valve waterers under the shaded canopy and that way the water stays clean/fresh for days from both the sloppy chicken and the poopy wild birds! We tried a large self-standing umbrella our first year with backyard chickens but found the 4-leg canopy buried in the ground was more stable from para-sailing.

 

[Duckdozer]

My new babies i got yesterday are two chocolate silkies 3 days old and 1 black that's a week old!

 

[nicky5]

Can anyone tell me the sex of my 2 month old silkie?

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[phoenix-silkie]

these little guys sure stress me out. i was up all night looking after them. they are cutie.
the names for them are
tubbs
jake
tulip

and then my phoenix baby is demarcos

 

[Fancychooklady]

Can anyone tell me the sex of my 2 month old silkie?

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It's a little too early to say with any certainty .

 

[Fancychooklady]

these little guys sure stress me out. i was up all night looking after them. they are cutie. the names for them are tubbs jake tulip and then my phoenix baby is demarcos

Cute little partridge .