Has anyone received white silkie's from Ideal Hatchery?

[ole-crone]

The comment about chickens developing slower from Ideal. I've felt that too with both of my orders. I wonder why?

I also have a bunch of silkies from there and I'm not too impressed with any of them so far.

 

[therealsilkiechick]

i got 6 white silkies last year from them, i was very disapointed and gave them all away to a friend for eating. bright red v-comb and a huge rose comb on 2 of the roosters, they were very pet quality, there was no way i could even use them for breeding with the flaws, cuz they didn't even have the right comb or right color of comb.

he still has those 2 if u want me to take pics of them as adults now. the rest did not look much better and have been eaten now. foot feathering was very little and horrible also and small crests no vaulted ones either.

i ordered 25 total the other breeds i was very pleased with, beautiful babies. i'd recommend the other breeds and they r a great hatchery, one of my favs but i do not reccomend the silkies at least the whites from my personal experience with them. if u want quality good silkies u will not find that at a hatchery only with private breeder stock.

 

[jakmallex]

I got 5 white silkies from them. One male is bearded, the rest are non bearded. I'll take some photos of them later today to post.

 

[Beanbag]

Quote:
Thanks! I'd love that... even though I very very seriously doubt I will get any from them... How about Buff Laced Polish from Ideal? What were they like if anyone has gotten any from them?

 

[therealsilkiechick]

i didn't get them but i got w/c blues and red/c red polish from them. they were very beautiful and well tempered. they were not skidish polish like most polish r. mine actually come to the doors to be petted and loved and want to play rather than freak and run. i was very satisfied with them. all were at least breeder quality or better. i couldn't have asked for better birds on those 2 breeds.

 

[Beanbag]

Quote:
I have heard that about a lot of other breeds, but when it comes to white silkies the quality of the birds are not as good.

 

[jakmallex]

Here they are as babies. I don't have any current photos of them (they are 11 weeks old now). I'll take some current photos in the next few days and post them.

 

[Beanbag]

Quote:
AWWWWW!!!!!

I love them they are so cute!!!! I am so jealous of your photography skills!

What kind of Camera do you have?

 

[silkiechicken]

I got buff silkies and although none are show quality and are all non bearded, I would have to say their temperament is great. Come running as soon as they see you and are gentle. Very unlike a set of black silkies I got from the feed store one year who'd freak out at everything. They were like leghorns in disguise!

On quality though, out of eight one lacks a crest, two have red combs, one has a single comb, but two have decent head poofs that cover their eyes, one has no black in her feathers, and two have feathers that cover their entire middle toes. They are all puffy which is nice and their wing feathers aren't too stiff. I don't show though so I don't know all the details and doesn't matter to me as personality wins when no showing is involved.

They are a real mixed bag and it's luck of the draw on what you get. Not sure with the whites, but my guess it's a mixed bag. If you want show quality though, best buy from a breeder. If you don't want to see a ugly walnut like comb like you posted, just don't get a rooster. You have to look for a comb on the girls.

Two of the buffs as chicks:

 

[denasfarm]

I have purchased silkies from Ideal twice. The first time was a year ago. Most had the wrong number of toes and a few ended up big and lanky looking.
Out of that first 10 I kept six. 4 white hens, 1 white roo 1 Black roo NONE are great quality but the silkies are my 15yo daughters and if any of you have 15yos you understand. Plus I use them to hatch my other breeds. I hatched several silkie eggs (ummm I think 8) in a year and created One black hen that we kept that has huge waddles but nice clean faced feathering. With the silkies its not always the best that stay and I dont always get to pick keepers. When I ordered my Marans a month ago I of course had to order more silkies from Ideal at the same time for a 15yo silkie lover.
I ordered her 20 silkies knowing I would have to cull... ALL BUT TWO were DOA!!!!!
So this time I ended up with one red (acts like a roo) with 4 toes and one Grey that is really big for a month old silkie but seems to have nice coloring for a grey and has the correct # of toes.
This is Sophie from my 1st ideal order, 1yo hen from the miracle chick topic. I took this pic this morning

I will run take a few of the others...Dena