Consolidated Kansas

[JosieChick]

Hawkeye- Here are my boys, had a tough time taking pics because I had a cochin roo right behind me that wanted to beat the oblivious silkie boys up!!!

Here is what I can tell you about them:
Blue boy- Cons: extra toe nails on his fourth nail on both toes
Pros-I like his overall shape, better attitude than his brother, less hard feathers in his tail, smaller wattles, darker comb, better foot feathering

Splash boy- Cons: Lighter comb and huge red wattles, bad attitude, hard tail feathers
Pros: Nice toe separation, lighter foot feathering but still to the middle toe

Sorry, tried to upload more pics but internet is so slow. Forgot to check their combs for horns and don't know much about wing carriage in silkies so let me know what I should look for there. I would kind of like to put each roo in separately and hatch from the splash hen and a black hen that I have that is broody right now and see what I get from each roo. Could cull all chicks with poor toe separation and just keep the good ones from the blue guy. Can't really see any obvious "gold" leakage in either but the splash seems like he has some brownish tinge in his hackles but they are so dirty from dust bathing it is hard to tell. I don't see obvious gold streaking like you see in a black cochin when they have leakage. I like his type overall better and attitude but let me know what you think!


Sorry everyone else for all the pictures!











My favorite little splash pullet

 

[Trish44]

Hawkeye, I'm sorry about your chick. I'm glad the other one is doing OK though.

HeChicken, when is your hatch due?

KarenS, you sound like me, making so many plans for yourself that you know you're not going to get even half of that done.

I worked from about 4 till 11:30 on my pen for the chicks. I got 3 sides built & covered with wire & I had to put them together in the run since it wouldn't fit through the door if I hooked it together first. I had to do some patching in on the wire, kind of sewed a few pieces in with wire to make my hardware cloth cover all I had built, but it doesn't matter. I decided tonight I'm going to hinge the other end & make it a door, but I haven't started on that end yet. I've been taking apart pallets & using pieces off of those along with some 2x4s I salvaged from the air conditioner place. For the ends I'm using a pallet with most of the boards taken off & covering it with wire. I'll take pics when I get it all done. I have to pick up some chicken wire for the top tomorrow when we go to Lowe's. Since this pen is inside of the run I figure it will be OK to use chicken wire for the top of the pen. It's just a temporary pen anyway for the chicks to stay in until they can be integrated into the flock. I figure I should be able to finish the pen tomorrow evening after my DH goes to work & then hopefully move the chicks out. They're almost a month old & most of them have quite a few feathers, do you all think I will need to put a heat lamp out there for at night for awhile? They haven't seemed to need it during the day at all. Whew then I've got to get to building something fast for my turkeys that are supposed to be here Weds. I did pretty well getting what I did done tonight, I just hope I can come up with something pretty fast for them. I'm not sure how big they will be, I think they're about 3 weeks old.

Well better get down there & do dishes, hubby will be here any minute & he will wonder what I've been doing all night.

 

[HEChicken]

Wow, once again, so much to reply to. I apologize if I forget anyone - I read half the pages I missed last night and then got too tired and just finished up this morning.

Ivy - I'll be interested to hear about your turkey formula.

Trish - your chick run sounds great. I wouldn't think they'd need heat outside at this age. I usually turn the heat off inside around 3 weeks - around the same time I start putting them outside during the day. By four weeks they are outside full-time with no heat. I haven't had any issues. We have a warming trend starting now and temps will be back into the 90's in the next few days so I really think they'll be okay. Pics?

Medawink - Sera is adorable and I just love the color of her splash silkie. I have a splash too but he is much darker - love that lighter coloring. But, ahem, silkies come in pullet? (Sorry - in joke because both of my "pullets" started crowing recently). Oh - on your question of crowing - mine started at about 19 weeks.

Hawkeye - so sorry about your stuck chick.

I hope the other sticky chick continues to do well.

I spent yesterday on day 3 of the coop build but the day did not start out well. It began when the alarm went off and I rolled over moaning. I put my shoulder out in my sleep, I guess. I don't get it - how can you exert enough pressure on a joint to put it out in your sleep and then not be able to exert the same pressure to put it back when awake? I always seem to end up at the chiropractor when something like this happens. However I didn't have time for that yesterday so dosed myself with ibuprofen instead. At first it was spasm-ing so badly that I couldn't even talk from the pain during a spasm but over the coarse of the day it quieted to a dull ache.

Some of you will remember my adventures last week stopping at Lowes to get lumber and the dog jumping out of the car. Well, on this trip to Lowes, I did need to hang a couple of 10-footers out the passenger window but it was a far tamer car ride, and the dog seemed happier. However I had agreed to meet my helper at our barn with his trailer, so that we could pick up some roofing materials that were donated to me by our barn manager. My dogs love the barn so were happy to get out and run around while we loaded. It came time to leave and I called them both and put them in the car. I had transferred the 10-footers to the trailer too so I didn't have any long lumber hanging out of the car for the drive to the coop site - about 8 miles. We started off and about halfway there, something made me turn around to check the dogs in the back of the car. I could only see one - not usually a big deal, but this time something felt wrong so I pulled over onto the gravel shoulder to get a good look. Only one dog back there. I had driven 4-5 miles from the barn, never heard her go and had NO idea when she jumped out. Must have gone through the open back window which was only open to give them good ventilation (and only opens halfway for safety anyway). She has NEVER done that before. So I did a u-turn and retraced my path, looking for her all the way but saw no sign of her.

I won't bore you with the details of the rest of my day. Long story short, my dog is still missing and I am morose. She is microchipped AND wearing a collar that has an ID tag on it. She is also very friendly and would approach anyone so if someone sees her, they won't have any problem grabbing her to see the collar and call me. I've kept my phone in my hand ever since, and every time it rings, hope it is a good samaritan who has found her. My big fear is that she is such a nice dog - everyone who meets her loves her - that some toad will find her and decide to keep her even though she is clearly someone's loved pet. I've alerted all the people who use our barn to be on the lookout for her. I'm still hoping she jumped out there. After we had loaded up to go, we sat idling for a couple of minutes because each of us was waiting on the other to drive out first. It is *possible* she jumped out then and I didn't notice. If she jumped out while I was driving....well, I'm really concerned about injuries. I didn't see her on the side of the road while going back and forth over that road but that doesn't mean she didn't land in a ditch somewhere. I'm going back out to the barn first thing this morning.

she is waiting there for me with that happy grin on her face.

As for the coop progress, looking for the dog really cut into my day and my concentration but since it was the only day this week my helper is available, I wanted to at least make some progress. I had been concerned about triangulation on the roof so we spent the first part of our morning strengthening that. I am now confident that roof is not going anywhere but it didn't lead to any progress pics as there wasn't much to see. However after that we got a few sheets of OSB up on the sides and that is a good feeling because one sheet and you have a good portion of a wall looking like a real wall. I took pics but they are still on the camera - will try to get them downloaded later. We had to stop early as I had to take DS to a baseball practice so with a late start and early finish, it was not the most productive building day ever.

 

[HEChicken]

Oh, and on my turkey hatch. Yesterday around 7pm was the official end of day 28 and nada. Not a pip, not a cheep, nothing. I'm not that surprised based on my final candling but it is still disappointing.

 

[Ivywoods]

HEChicken-Oh, wow! I hope you find your dog. What a bummer. What kind of dog is he or she? Are there other BYC'ers in your area, maybe even lurkers? Maybe you should post a picture of her.

One of the reasons we got our new dog(s) was so that we would have one that could travel with us. I'd be devastated if one jumped out! Now our bird dog wants to go along with us on car rides, and it has been so nice lately we have been able to take him a lot. He is such a clutz, though. He won't even jump IN the car. I don't think he would ever jump out, but we never take that chance. The other day he wanted to go with me when I went to PT. I was going to take him, but he wouldn't jump in the car, and I couldn't lift him, so he got to stay home. He's a BIG bird dog.....maybe I should say BIG baby!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Once I get over this crud, I'm going to make a brave attempt to finish my breeder runs. I think I can do it. Thankfully, I'm feeling better this evening so I can begin to make all kinds of unreasonable plans for myself: Weed the entire garden, rake out the mulch in the mini orchard, plant some annuals in the two front flower beds, finish breeder pens, mow and that's just for starters!

Thanks, medawinks! Love your daughter's happy face, she looks like a lot of fun! There's nothing like happy kids and silly silkies to make a person smile! Love the gutter garden idea, I think I'll add that to my unreasonable expectations list!

I'm wondering the same. I started my ducks and turkey out on game bird starter and then read something that said that was way too high a protein content for them, panicked, and put them back on chick starter. I had to pick up the girls from the bus today so made a quick stagger into Atwood's for some game bird starter and we'll see how we do once we get them switched over. Little turkey was all snuggled in with the cornish and rock chicks. One of the chicks jumped on top of him like a chick blanket and he seemed just fine with it all. Turkeys are really special, if you can keep them alive.

Oh Karen-- slow down!! LOL I LOVE your "mini orchard" (not so mini if you ask me!) I just used plain 'ole chick starter with Seymore (my turkey). She did great. But I didn't ever have any issues with her. I got her when she was about 2 weeks old, so she was already past the critical stage, I'm guessing. Plus, I think having no clue what to do with a turkey worked in my favor, you know? Sometimes I wonder if I over do things.

Thanks Hawkeye! I adore her smile too. She is such a happy little bug! It hurts me to see her hurt lately when kids make mean comments. But, she seems to overcome it all and still is able to make cooments that shock me with her wisdom, like when she told me about the boy who wanted to know if it was her China mom or me who had kicked her face in. She just popped of that he must not be a very bright boy if he has to spend time wondering about that! She said that she has told him she was born that way. He must not be able to remember much!
And dirty.... Wow!! I don't remember getting so dirty as a kid!!! At least they are having fun doing it!
Her Silkie was hatched the end of February. It is our oldest chick. It has a tiny black piece of skin where a comb should be but it is not raised at all. We will keep hoping that Chloe is a girl I am excited that she seems to have a beard. Our white Silkie doesn't. Sera's was supposed to be white, but it is more gray than white and has a few streaks of darker gray.
I am so sorry your little chick didn't make it, but happy that Sticky is doing good! It is just precious! Silkies definitely have a different appeal... My oldest calls them diva chickens I love your chicks colors!!

That is one smart little girl you have there! And that comment shows how loved and confident she feels about herself. YOU did that.

Kids can be so darned mean! My little girl came home crying last night because the neighbor girl (who is like 5 years older) was yelling at her to get off her property and trying to kick and hit her! That little girl's mom and I are very close friends, so we tag team these kids when they get out of hand and set them down. I gave her a once over when she came back over. It's not like you can do that with all those kids your daughter is going to run into. I think girls are the worst offenders when it comes to thinking up mean things to do to each other. Sigh. Okay, so your silkie is right about 3 months then! Should be getting about time to be able to sex her. If you can get a good shot of her face-- showing her comb, I might be able to tell you what you have. But if you can look at her comb right now-- it should be mostly flat. There can be a bit of growth -- a 'pad' that can be bumped up and you're still okay. Even so, if it's a cockerel, it won't be crowing for another 3 more months. And thanks! I am loving my silkies, too! They are definitely a diva bird as your oldest says! ha!

Sorry you lost stuck chick.

Thank you! I buried him last night. So sad, he was my only Blue out of my shipped eggs. So now I have all Splash to work with. And my surprise Partridge colored chick that I can't use, but hopefully turns out pretty. If it's a girl, I'll probably keep it and just use her for eggs.

 

[HEChicken]

Thanks Ivy. She is a black lab/border collie X - all black except for a little patch of white on her chest. Always smiling. Weighs 40-45lb. You can see her ID tag in this picture - it has her name and a phone number to reach me.


Also, I meant to say congrats on your PT! I must admit I wouldn't have fully understood the significance of your progress had I not just been down that road with DD earlier this year. It is certainly a tribute to your hard work in PT and doing the excercises in between appointments too!

 

[Ivywoods]

Just came back from the basement. As soon as I got down there I heard a quail chick peeping in distress, and it wasn't coming from the brooder. He had jumped out into a pile of supplies beside the brooder. It took me a while to find it. He was cold and couldn't stand up. I put him back in the brooder to warm up, but his legs were straight out and he was on his side and all the others kept running over the top of him like the roadrunner in the cartoon. I picked him up, bent his legs into a natural position and just held him in my hand while I set up the next brooder and checked the hatcher, fed and watered, etc.

I looked in the hatcher and there are quite a few turkeys hatched in there, and a good number of chicks. I shut the door and left them since I couldn't do much one handed, still holding the quail. I'll get them out after a while when DH gets home with the jeep. Some of the stuff I need is in the back of the jeep. I gave the little quail a drink of water. He was pretty resistant, but I think he got some. Reminded me of the old saying, "You can lead a quail to water, but you can't make him drink.' Or maybe that was a horse...

Anyway, I put him down in the brooder and within seconds I couldn't tell which one he was. Guess he just needed to warm up.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye- Here are my boys, had a tough time taking pics because I had a cochin roo right behind me that wanted to beat the oblivious silkie boys up!!!

Here is what I can tell you about them:
Blue boy- Cons: extra toe nails on his fourth nail on both toes
Pros-I like his overall shape, better attitude than his brother, less hard feathers in his tail, smaller wattles, darker comb, better foot feathering

Splash boy- Cons: Lighter comb and huge red wattles, bad attitude, hard tail feathers
Pros: Nice toe separation, lighter foot feathering but still to the middle toe

Sorry, tried to upload more pics but internet is so slow. Forgot to check their combs for horns and don't know much about wing carriage in silkies so let me know what I should look for there. I would kind of like to put each roo in separately and hatch from the splash hen and a black hen that I have that is broody right now and see what I get from each roo. Could cull all chicks with poor toe separation and just keep the good ones from the blue guy. Can't really see any obvious "gold" leakage in either but the splash seems like he has some brownish tinge in his hackles but they are so dirty from dust bathing it is hard to tell. I don't see obvious gold streaking like you see in a black cochin when they have leakage. I like his type overall better and attitude but let me know what you think!


Sorry everyone else for all the pictures!











My favorite little splash pullet

I can't be sure until you spread out the Splash's wings-- but the feathers don't look like they stack right, which might indicate a split wing. Both of them are holding their wings well for boys. For some reason, boys hold their wings a bit lower than pullets. This has been a hot topic lately on the silkie club site and it's thought that when they become 'of age' they drop their wings for display, because it's very common. Some hard feathering is to be expected in their tails-- it's when it feels hard and stick up that is really a problem. Your splash does have more of the harder feathering, but it is laying over nicely. I think it's a lesser concern compared to his wattles and comb. Actually, his comb isn't too terrible, but his wattles are VERY red and VERY large. Although, he is non-bearded, so larger wattles are to be expected. But the wattles aren't supposed to be large enough to sit on the chest or create a crease. The wattles instead should be small enough to hang down, but not touch anything and have no creasing from contact with the body. Although, with silkies, if they have really good type, they should have their chests stick out so far, that it would be tough for even smaller wattles not to touch. I've seen some non-bearded show quality birds that have their wattles touch-- although they are still smaller. I think your black is much nicer, for sure. I agree he has better type and better wings from what I can see. A darker comb, and smaller wattles- though his wattles are on the red side, too. But at least they are smaller. I would definitely consider him a good breeder bird. The extra toe nails is a common mutation of the polydactyly gene-- not desirable at all. But if he is paired with the right bird, it may not express in his offspring. From what I've learned -- red combs, and lesser toes are much harder to breed out. I've learned that you should choose type over other faults, so he is probably your best best. And when Blue is paired with Splash, you still get 50% Blue and 50% Splash. Also your Blue's cushion is nearly meeting his neck which is very desirable for type. I may end up with some really nice Splash roo's that I'd sell you when they grow out and I can see what I have (gender wise and type). I'm not so sure I'd hang onto your Splash. So far, all of my own chicks have hatched with non fused toes and no extra toenails-- in fact, their toes are perfect and have great spacing! I won't be able to keep all of my roos. Anyway, something to think about if you ever want to introduce new blood. (although mine are all bearded, so that may be something you don't want to introduce into your non's) ---oh and I see no leakage on your Splash. Male gold leakage shows up in the hackles and in the wings-- he has nothing. If you see anything, I'm going to guess it's dirt. Female gold leakage shows up on the chest and around the face. But it would be worth a shot to go ahead and use your splash and see what happens if you don't want to get rid of him. You may be surprised! Hopefully so! But I would cull for toes (correct number and if they are fused) first on all of your offspring, and then see what you wind up with after that.

Your pullet is really nice! She looks non-bearded to me, as I can see where her beak starts. That is totally fine. She is holding her wings nice and high and so far her cushion is coming in nicely. She has a medium size crest which is also fine, but my pullet does too-- and the judge told me it was on the smaller side! Although the SOP clearly calls out for a "medium" sized crest. But I think the judges really like the large ones. But I would not consider that a fault at all on her. Their wings should look like a smile when they are tucked in-- a little half circle, and she does have that shape. She looks like she has good foot feathering and decent type (second photo shows her pushing her chest out naturally), I'd definitely use her. I think you have pretty nice birds to work with!

 

[tweetysvoice]

Okay... so remind me to never leave the forum for more than a day - 4 days and 12 pages later! Wow. I got all caught up on reading, but sorry if I miss some of the big adventures. Everyone here makes me laugh - I enjoy reading the stories and knowing that I'm not the only one that's crazy and trying to do more than I can fit into one day!

Visit with my family went fine - I guess. My brother did bring his dog, but we kept her fenced on the back porch - which made it hard when my dogs wanted to go outside to potty. When we were out of the house, we just put her down in the computer room locked up. She didn't like that, but I refused to let him keep her in the car like he wanted to. And wow.. my nephew is a little hellion on wheels. He's 5 and talks back more than in 10 minutes than my kids did in one year! He's a whiner too, I don't think I heard him say more than 10 full sentences that weren't whining about something. It really made me realize how lucky I was with my kids - they were nothing like that! Funny thing is that as stressed out as my DH was about the dog, he said the dog was better behaved than the kids! LOL. It was really nice seeing my father though - I don't get to see him as often as I'd like - He's in St. Louis. Graduation went well and it was so nice for everyone to go home yesterday! Nothing's better than a quiet house after 3 days of non-stop activity!

David - I still have my silkies in the house and they are now 5 weeks old, but not nearly big enough to join the rest of the flock. I want them to be at least big enough that they can't slip through the wires of the kennel that I'll use to introduce them for a couple weeks. They are now feathering out and it's so funny, they have odd feathers sticking out everywhere! I'll have to take a pic tonight and show ya'll.

Hopefully I can treat it and keep the algae level down a little this time.

Danz - this is the biggest problem we have with our pond right now. I cleaned it out last friday and scrubbed so much algea out it's crazy. I thought they'd eat the big globs floating around, but apparently not.

There is this restaurant in Lawrence (oops! I put in a local Italian restaurant and now I can't remember the name of my favorite Italian place in Lawrence geesh!!-- Tweety, you said it's over by your house) and anyway, one of my favorite things about that place is that they have guttering up along the walls and they stuck lights and ivy in it. It's so neat!

Long story short, my dog is still missing and I am morose.

awwww.. i'm so sorry HEChicken! I hope she comes home soon!

Thank you! I buried him last night. So sad, he was my only Blue out of my shipped eggs. So now I have all Splash to work with. And my surprise Partridge colored chick that I can't use, but hopefully turns out pretty. If it's a girl, I'll probably keep it and just use her for eggs.

I'm so sorry that stuck didn't make it. If one of my Blues turns out to be a roo, you can have him.

Thanks Ivy. She is a black lab/border collie X - all black except for a little patch of white on her chest. Always smiling. Weighs 40-45lb. You can see her ID tag in this picture - it has her name and a phone number to reach me.

She reminds me of my very first dog, Zoe. Zoe was very excitable and looked exactly like that!