Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[Ponypoor]

Plotting stealing more treats over a shared meal. poor girlies just wanted to keep up.

Yes wanting to keep up it exactly correct! And it has made them more advanced than their mamas were at their age (when I first brought chickens... they were supposed to be my only chickens - what's this chicken math anyways? is is contagious?). Keeping up with the regular sized chick and the other chickens has made them already flap/hopping up onto the roosts (No! don't go there!), running everywhere after the others (what?! where?! how did you get there - sheesh!), they love Mount Poopmore (manure pile), and they have learnt that the horses paddocks are great place to run and hide - brats!

If I had Silkie chicks again I would definitely mix them in with regular chicks, and my three are the boss over their brother is twice their size!

 

[-Chanticleer-]

Yes wanting to keep up it exactly correct! And it has made them more advanced than their mamas were at their age (when I first brought chickens... they were supposed to be my only chickens - what's this chicken math anyways? is is contagious?). Keeping up with the regular sized chick and the other chickens has made them already flap/hopping up onto the roosts (No! don't go there!), running everywhere after the others (what?! where?! how did you get there - sheesh!), they love Mount Poopmore (manure pile), and they have learnt that the horses paddocks are great place to run and hide - brats!

If I had Silkie chicks again I would definitely mix them in with regular chicks, and my three are the boss over their brother is twice their size!

Chicken math is crazy. I ended up with eight instead of four. In my defense the farmer I originally got the four from gave my four year old two extra and the other extra two fell into my lap .

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

Awww they sure look like they are having fun

I use Ivermectin oral to treat all parasites. I don't bother mucking around trying to get smelly chemicals on them. If it bothers my then I am sure it bothers them.

Gosh they look like they are having a blast - what a pair of cuties! I love watching the dirt fly hahahaha!

I don't like to overuse the ivermectin due to the parasite resistance comments I've seen. I prefer to keep it, if possible, for my extreme cases. Last time I used it was for a very bad scaly mite infestation I had, that I did try other treatments for weeks before just using the ivermectin.
I think I'll try the powder treatment again one more time and if it doesn't work I'll do the Ivermectin.

 

[Ponypoor]

Chicken math is crazy. I ended up with eight instead of four. In my defense the farmer I originally got the four from gave my four year old two extra and the other extra two fell into my lap .

Hahaha - I won’t tell!

The three little pullets belong to a friend, I just borrowed them to raise with my single chick - my two silkies were co brooding them

I wanted one of the silkie chicks to be a Roo which I would keep, but boohoo all pullets! I did a gender dna test as I didn’t want to wait until the crowed or laid an egg my friend is thrilled.

 

[Elliemae1984]

Hahaha - I won’t tell!

The three little pullets belong to a friend, I just borrowed them to raise with my single chick - my two silkies were co brooding them

I wanted one of the silkie chicks to be a Roo which I would keep, but boohoo all pullets! I did a gender dna test as I didn’t want to wait until the crowed or laid an egg my friend is thrilled.

Hmm, so that’s the trick, eh? Tell the universe you “want a roo” and it’ll give all pullets. I’m trying this on ALL my next babies

 

[CSolis]

Color questions. I have 3 silkie crosses (F2's) that I'm wondering about. White gal with slightly off white crest, the other two are males as far as I can tell. What color would you call this crest? Blue?View attachment 3560155 Lil guy in the center is a partridge offspring.View attachment 3560157 And this young pup is a son of my Calico Splash and a blue and white satin splash with a black crest. I'm thinking of putting him with the little white (white and red) girls. What say you?View attachment 3560163

Ok, the bluish youngin' on the bottom I was thinking was a cockerel in the making based on the hackle feathers. I had pulled some eggs from Poof Poof's nest (she's the one who raised the youngster). So, as the eggs hatched, I let the babies dry a bit and took them out to Poof Poof. She's such a great mom. Well tonight at lock up, the young bluish chick was in the nest beside mom. The last hatch another youngster was in the nest helping out, but that one is female. Would she actually let a young male in the nest with her? Even more so, would a young cockerel take on baby duties?

 

[chickengr]

Not really. They don't have a permanent coop/run right now. They sleep in a dog crate in the shed at night and are out in a run during the day (fox problem atm so I am keeping them where it's safest). The run is on grass and moved every couple days. I'd like to get these dealt with before I set them up in a more permanent space.
I'm not sure whether to try the treatment again or just use some ivermectin. I only like to use that when it's bad though, and I don't consider them bad, just persistent

if dog crate is made of wood treat it. I use some liquid for sheep to treat my chickens. repeat it every 2-3 months. my coops are made of iron with tin roof.

 

[Hinotori]

Ok, the bluish youngin' on the bottom I was thinking was a cockerel in the making based on the hackle feathers. I had pulled some eggs from Poof Poof's nest (she's the one who raised the youngster). So, as the eggs hatched, I let the babies dry a bit and took them out to Poof Poof. She's such a great mom. Well tonight at lock up, the young bluish chick was in the nest beside mom. The last hatch another youngster was in the nest helping out, but that one is female. Would she actually let a young male in the nest with her? Even more so, would a young cockerel take on baby duties?

Ive had boys do that. They tend to be really good flock roosters when grown.

My hens don't care if the boys snuggle against them when broody. Everyone tries to surround and snuggle the broodies at night. Even some of the adult roosters will go sit with them for a bit during the daytime.

I think that's the influence of that super friendly mama's blood on my flock. She was my first partridge. Most of my birds are related to her now. She had little crest and all of her descendents had huge ones.

 

[MROO]

Hmm, so that’s the trick, eh? Tell the universe you “want a roo” and it’ll give all pullets. I’m trying this on ALL my next babies

It works. I have seven Nankin chicks from this year's first clutch. They were hatching eggs I ordered, hoping for a couple of nice cockerels to freshen up my line. I got one ... but JUST one. Any other time, I'd be over-the-moon with so many pullets - but I really like the direction my girls are headed in. All these wonderful new ladies are grand, but this means I'll need to re-evaluate and redirect, next Spring. The "up" side is that now, I'll still be able to use my best rooster. He'll never know how close he came to losing his top-dog rights!

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

So like most others we are in heat advisory with temps at 100 and feels like 124°.
On top of that I'm treating my flock for coccidia. Ugh - so no electrolytes for them til after Sunday or Monday.
I'm wondering if I could just dip their booties in cool water to wash their bums.
Or would this be risking their ability to regulate body temp in this heat wave and high humidity?
All the girls have icky bums and 1 boy. I'd rather not cut it out...but will if better for them so as not to get fly strike now.