Are Silkies contagious?

[gabbyscritters]

Too darn cute. We just sent off a order to Urch-Turnlund for 25 chicks. Oredered 5 Silkies, sure hope they come! I already told my 8 year old that if they don't come with the order we can get some eggs for her to hatch. Maybe we will still need eggs for more colors, they only had white and those are sooo cute!

 

[Mahonri]

Haven't got a silkie yet, but I'm considering it for brooding purposes.

 

[spydertoys]

I can attest to the fact that Silkies are INDEED contagious! I had 4 of them all white. Then a friend of mine whose husband is terminally ill, gave me all of hers since she would not have the time to care for them properly while her husband needs her. That brought the count up to 14.
Since then I have 8 babies in the barn, 6 babies in the house (still more hatching daily) and yesterday I stuffed 18 eggs under a Cochin mama who decided to go broody on only one small pullet egg.

The problem?? I don't think I can sell any of them..they are by far the cutest chicks there are, and they get cuter as they grow. The ones in the barn are a couple of months old now and they look so funny with their "mohawk" hairdos..lol!!

 

[little_grey_bantam]

It's really funny, when I first started with chickens that's ALL I had... On and off, I always had silkies!

this going back nearly 20 years ago of course! They were always big on setting and I was bedazzled when I found out other chicken breeds were bred NOT to set on eggs.

Of course, what people don't know is that they're pretty tasty too in the pot (haha, I am Asian afterall) if you cook them a certain way. It could be the medicinal purpose the Asian culture believes in, it really perks you up and takes about 8-12 hours to simmer down properly with all these special ingredients I could never figure out! The meat is sort of bland (I think it's due to one of the ingredients) but not a bad bland, a sort of intoxicating, addicting taste to it. I use to sit around the pot all night if let be lol Surprisingly, not all our silkies were friendly back in the day (heck, even the one now we have is scared of everything!) but it's probably because we got them from the butcher's and all they can think of is: "THEY KILLED BEN!!!! and JERRY! and SHIRLEY!!!! They're going to kill us next!!!"

 

[cici_p]

Silkies in the pot! Blasphemy!
Be gone oh evil one

 

[the_great_snag]

McMurray's website also extolls the virtues of silkies for meat. lol Might be a good way to use excessive roosters. (dons flame-proof suit) The purple skin sounds very intriguing and yummy! lol

I love grouse, woodcock, dove and other small poultry-type game birds, so I'd have to think silkies would be excellent eating.

Are silkie roosters noisy? I would like some quiet little birds that I would keep in the backyard without annoying the neighbors too much.

I have to admit I am a life-long admirer of clean legged single combed birds with the normal number of toes, but YOU PEOPLE have given me the silkie bug as well. Darn you all to heck!

As far as flock mixing, I would try to put them in with your standard birds. I've run OEGB's with very large standard birds and never had troubles. I know OEGB roos are tough little guys, but their hens are not particularly aggressive and I never once had a problem. Once they establish a pecking order, things are usually more or less cordial.

 

[MNmommy]

Quote:
I am suppose to pick up a couple silkies from him on monday. I hope he has some for me....i have been waiting for over 3 weeks. He says they aren't hatching as many this year. It has been a horrible winter here!!!