Black silkies

[PremierSilkies]

Chris you should have some great stock, just don't let people sponge off of you for eggs & chicks! And congrads again to Cody on his Jr. Champion FL win!
Had a great time and see you again soon.

 

[destiny_56085]

Congrats on the win at Peoria to both of you! Hey Connie, how did that young trio of blacks that I gave you last fall ever turn out? One of their siblings did really well at Delmarva for Hannah. Did the parrots that I gave you drive the rest of the family nuts yet? Doc especially could be fairly annoying.

I do give away eggs and if they are people I know, I do give away alot of chicks and young stock too. I like to give kids and other people that can't afford to spend an arm and a leg just on birds a chance to get involved with the breed too. When they win with them, I congratulate them! When they start breeding from them, I refer the overflow of people that write to me their way. I don't claim the best of their babies for myself or demand that they give the birds back if they do turn out to be something. I don't dictate who they sell to or how much they should sell their culls for. I guess for me its about promoting the breed and getting people involved. I'm as happy as a lark just to sell the culls out of my growout pens and enough chicks to make a dent in the feed bill. "Winning" (pardon the bad Charlie Sheen expression) is sometimes more than just the ribbons and trophies. Sometimes 'winning' is just seeing a kid smile or making new friends.

 

[Darling Farms]

Quote:
I LOVE this! GREAT SENTIMENT!

I know Im not supposed to admit this... but we gave away almost as many chickens last year as we sold! I sell them... my husband gives them away. I used to get irritated... but he got me hooked. IT IS THE BESTEST EVER!

If you ever meet us at a show and your a 4-Hr... go find my husband... he will dig around and find you a bird... at a price you can afford... wear him down!

Bat your cute little 4-H eyes...

Don't get me wrong... We sell our top birds for top bird prices (and we have a fair number of them)... but anything 'lesser' goes for something reasonable that people can afford. At some point in time in the process of a year we will have something for EVERY budget... it may need some work... but what is life without a little challenge!

~Darling Farms

PS... funny... new mama posting at ONE in the morning. Our one year old has been teething since 4 this morning.... the other one still trying to kick her way out of my belly here at 5:30... sleep? What's that!

 

[Bat Cave Silkies]

Amy~~

couldn't agree with you more

I know I'm suppose to try to at least "break even" when it comes to my Silkies....I also know that will never happen because I, too, love to see the pleasure it brings a child when they're able to buy a BQ/SQ bird from me for little to nothing. To me~~thats priceless

 

[Gordonhillfarm]

I love shareing what I have when I can . And shareing isn't with a demand attached to it . I'm not rich with monetary things -- but I'm very rich with lifes blessings - The Creator always takes care of my familys needs . I'm glad to hear so many are grateful for their blessings and share them with others also .
How is your little one Amy ? Is she done with the late night crying ? If so what finally worked to help may I ask ? ~~~ Tammy

 

[silkieluver_07]

Here's some quick pictures of my two girls I got from Amy last May. They're beginning their one year old molts.

 

[Gordonhillfarm]

I have a couple of questions for those experinced please . I really feel kinda dingy but I don't know " what is double coop " ? I have the entry form for the spring show here and it says $ for double coop . I don't know what it means . And soooo many people have tried to give advice that I'm grateful too . But I am not intirely sure who is right

so I'm comming here . Next what exactly is an AOV = see my girl in the avatar -- I want to put her in the show and was told to put her in AOV class -- Is that correct ? and I would put her as a silkie --Do you put what you want for color ? And I really want to take my Roos and young cockerals someone shared that for my first show I should take some of my best hens . I really don't understand why . They said Roos are judged harsher . Why ???? And really the Roo is the seed of the crop so for me I want to see how they hold up against others --Am I wrong in my way of thinking ? Please share with me why ? I live to learn

~~~ Thank you ~~~~ Tammy

 

[kfchickenlady]

Wow, its really nice to hear all of you that are in this for the fun of it and love to share with others! Makes me wish I was a cute little 4Her!

(my two 4Hers do horses and livestock, one does waterfowl, so no help there).
Im still looking for some pure blacks to start off with, they and the buffs and whites are my favorites. Ive contacted many very nice breeders and hopefully am on the chick waiting list for Destiny_56085s birds, (we emailed last week). I have a nice 2 month old black chick, but he/she has 4 toes on each foot.

He is very very black, not from a pure black pen, but still pretty, if its a roo, I will have to keep him in the "frat house" for a pet, since I doubt anyone would want a roo except for breeding.

Well, in the meantime, Im loving these beautiful pictures people post, and am not giving up on those blacks, seems like there arent any available anywhere near, so hard to wait for the fall!!!!

 

[destiny_56085]

When I give stuff away (or sell it so cheap that I'm practically giving it away) I don't feel that people are 'sponging' off me. First of all hatching eggs are nothing more than a gamble. I see enough of that at work.... When my incubators are overflowing or I'm done hatching for the year, yes I give eggs to people sometimes. I can't guarantee that that egg will even hatch much less be their next show winner. Chicks aren't much better, but at least I have some quality control then and I know they are getting a live bird. I don't price gouge people like some. I just make a waiting list....

Over the past years I've tried to get alot of kids involved. There should be alot of 4-Her's hopefully at state fair this year with silkies.

At our local fair last year I had a whole lil gang of kids that had never shown before all of a sudden have poultry. I know they weren't all ready for featherlegs. A trip was made to Duane Urch's and they all picked out chicks. We had buckeyes, wyndottes, leghorns, faverolles, phoenix, a few silkies, you name it... Everything was kept out at my friend Deanna's place. I may not have knew about every breed they chose, but I handed over the standard of perfection and we studied together. We bathed birds, went over showmanship. A number of those same kids came back for the open shows in the fall.

Haha lil 12 year old Jenny panicked when she came back on saturday and 1 of her birds wasn't in the cage. I pointed at her Phoenix on champ row and her mouth just dropped. Its that feeling right there that gets you hooked....

I have 1 kid especially get involved with the silkies over the past few years. Oh did I catch hell from Connie that one year and she even made me put 1 bird back in my own name.... Bridgette helped me all summer long. I gave her a bunch of chicks to get started in 4-H and paid for her membership in the ASBC. That fall we were filling out forms for the fall shows. Everything in my growout pens I gave her first pick on showing. Ex... say there were 22 white pullets. She got to go pick out her 11 and I took the rest. This girl and her mom helped non-stop with the show from setup to teardown. Linda Harrison did a profile of her on the ASBC newsletter and sent her a jacket. I'm kinda irked that Ryanne never did anything with those show reports. It makes it look like Bridgette hasn't exhibited even once over the past few years. This same girl now has a whole barn on their farm dedicated to just poultry. She's also branched out into d'uccles and her mom has alot of waterfowl. She puts on 4-H demonstrations all the time now and gets more kids involved too. At the MN Game Breeders sale last spring, they met me up there. I was selling a few extra birds and being 8 months pregnant was a little awkward crawling on the floor trying to get birds out of cages for people. When kids came up that were too scared to even touch a bird, she would take them out and show them how to hold them, why a silkie is unique, etc. I've watched this girl just blossom. She used to be so dang shy and scared of her own shadow. The birds have given her the confidence to reach out to people.

I've also been getting kids from other poultry people into silkies too. Brian Hauger is this huge waterfowl breeder and has this adorable lil red headed 5 year old boy. He's never been into chickens.... Haha I send his lil boy with a bunch of silkie and cochin chicks and boy has that changed. Brian says that kid carries those birds everywhere. I've converted quite a few of my hardcore pigeon advocates over too. Darren is an NPA judge and his daughter Tristan has gotten a ton of chicks from me. Darren is now spending every weekend in the fall going to both pigeon & poultry shows. Marilyn is bigtime into call ducks, pigeons and seramas. I got her lil girl Emily into silkies... You should have seen that kid absolutely beeming at the MN State show last fall.

I also hear back reports from people like Hannah, Montana, etc and you woudn't believe how proud I am of their accomplishments. Can they all afford $100+ birds, probably not a chance.... Call it 'sponging' off me or whatever.... at least those people are getting a start.

 

[kfchickenlady]

Good For You. I know the feeling watching kids blossom finding something they love. Your daughter is very lucky.