Hi all the way from NZ

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Rescuehaven14

Rescuehaven14

Hatching
5 Years
Sep 25, 2014
2
0
7
Hi all,
I'm Lauren and I'm just starting out hatching silkie chickens. New to chickens, we have just about every other animal you could think of. We rescue bunnies and my children asked if we could get some chickens and this was the breed they chose silkies. Any advise would be greatly appreciated
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Hi Lauren, Welcome to Backyard Chickens. Silkies generally make great broody hens. So once you have some grown ones, hopefully you won't need to incubate again. There are numerous 'silkie' threads on BYC, some regarding different colors, even one on grooming and bathing silkies for show. My favorite silkie thread is called just that "Silkie thread" if you put that in the search box, it should pop up. There is also a variety of silkies called

"Show Girls," both sexes are called that. Behind them is a cross of turken to silkie. They look like puffy dust mops, with either totally naked necks or partially with a puff called a bow tie halfway down. They are unusual but, very pretty I think, and have the silkie personality and broody instincts.
 
Welcome to BYC< Lauren. Glad you decided to join our flock. I used to raise Black Silkies and they were delightful, little birds; sweet, friendly, cute, and funny. My children made lap pets of them. As drumstick diva said, they make great broody hens. Several of our Silkie hens raised broods for us. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can.Good luck in getting your Silkies.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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I don't keep Silkies so I can't give you a lot of advice. I can tell you that sometimes you do need to trim the feathers out of the eyes so they can see to eat and drink. They can develop all kinds of health issues from not getting enough to eat and I have even heard of Silkies wandering into ponds and drowning because they couldn't see properly.

I might want to stop by our Silkies thread to chat with our Silkie owners. They can tell you all you need to know about raising this breed....https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/297632/silkie-thread

Enjoy this wonderful adventure you are on and welcome to our flock!
 
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they are super cute chickens, but if you decide to get other breeds I recommend they are kept separate, they get picked on due to their limited ability to see by the other chickens. Good luck to you!
 
liz9910 said:
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they are super cute chickens, but if you decide to get other breeds I recommend they are kept separate, they get picked on due to their limited ability to see by the other chickens. Good luck to you!
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X2 on that. The only standard breed we were able to keep our Silkies with was our Polish (which had the same problem). Our Black Silkies and Golden Polish got along fabulously together and had some of the most beautiful offspring we ever had.
 
Welcome to BYC!

You will find a lot of good information here. Keep on asking questions and you will get many good answers.

You may also want to read the FAQ below.
 
The worst thing happened, they hatched but once fluffed they couldn't walk! It was awful, their little legs spread right out to the sides and their feet never opened up properly. Took them to the vet and he said we could do wraps on thief legs but I'd have to make little shoes (which he was happy to help me with) but would be lot of hard work and then they weren't eating! It was horrible! My other lot of eggs turned up and are a bit bigger (from a different breeder) and are all the same shape and size, the eggs the chicks hatched from where really tiny and odd shapes. Vet seems to think either bad lines or poor feed. Would love to hear what you all thought. Vet talked me into putting them to sleep as one was so bad it legs had folded right back :( was heart broken!
 

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