I ordered ten Silkie bantam chicks (supposedly pullets) from MyPetChicken.com. They will be four weeks old on Monday.
Today I responded to an ad placed by a woman who had too many Silkies. What really drew me in was that she had blues and splashes, colors the hatchery conveniently forgot to include in my order.
Anyway, when I went to pick them up, they are HUGE. She insists they are four weeks old. They are just gorgeous and fluffy and easily twice the size of my little hatchery babies who are the same age.
They are out of show stock. Is this the difference? I love my hatchery babies but I wish I'd known there was a Silkie breeder so close to me originally, because I would've just gone to her. The size different is just mind-boggling.
Everyone has integrated beautifully. But I just want to make sure that I am not doing something stupid or wrong to cause my hatchery babies to be so... stunted. They are on medicated chick starter feed and get mealworms for treats. I give them a little gravel every third day or so. I keep a close eye on them and their heat lamp and they seemed to be thriving. Thought I was doing a good job until I got my five new monsters today.
Thanks for any input!
Today I responded to an ad placed by a woman who had too many Silkies. What really drew me in was that she had blues and splashes, colors the hatchery conveniently forgot to include in my order.
Anyway, when I went to pick them up, they are HUGE. She insists they are four weeks old. They are just gorgeous and fluffy and easily twice the size of my little hatchery babies who are the same age.
They are out of show stock. Is this the difference? I love my hatchery babies but I wish I'd known there was a Silkie breeder so close to me originally, because I would've just gone to her. The size different is just mind-boggling.
Everyone has integrated beautifully. But I just want to make sure that I am not doing something stupid or wrong to cause my hatchery babies to be so... stunted. They are on medicated chick starter feed and get mealworms for treats. I give them a little gravel every third day or so. I keep a close eye on them and their heat lamp and they seemed to be thriving. Thought I was doing a good job until I got my five new monsters today.
Thanks for any input!
