He is so cute!!! My two babies are growing so much! I'm pretty sure they are both hens! I got a picture of them both.I have a silver partridge too; Such a gorgeous color! Mine ended up being a boy. He’s a sweet boy; I do hope he stays this way!
I’ll show some timeline pictures for ya…
His name is Sassafras ~>
At Present— August 28th
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At Present— August 28th
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His comb grew like crazy around 4-5mos of age.(Hatched on April 3rd) Its a bit silly; it’s definitely not SOP for Silkies, but I don’t show any of my birds, so I don’t care one little bit! — I actually love his uniqueness…
— Here, on August 11th, just 17 days before those pics showing his comb growing out large and drooping over, here it’s now beginning to grow back further down his head/forehead in a straight line. It’s also getting taller and fatter; therefore he got the “overhang”… Haha!
— I do really think it’s too cute!
Bless his heart…
August 11th ~> Just 2wks Earlier (17 Days)
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August 11th ~> Just 2wks Earlier (17 Days)
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By 12wks, I was really comfortable calling him a Boy due to some serious feisty behaviors; but that, of course, is never an indicator proving gender one way or another.
— But, this little comb that’s beginning to show up was a “red flag” for me. It’s still very “in between” tho right now.
— If it stayed just this way and never bloomed into the large, bright comb he has today; Do you think this could’ve passed for a normal pullet comb…
July 11th ~> Sassafras, 14wks old Here
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Here is when he started having trouble seeing due to that gorgeous floof! Ughhh, it was hard but I had to trim it! — He was really struggling around the chicken yard. That’s where I drew the line; I won’t let it interfere with his development and his way of life — It was my first Silkie Haircut!
June 8th ~> Sassafras is just 9wks old!
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June 8th ~> Sassafras is just 9wks old!
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May 4th ~> 1 Month Old; The fuzziest Ever!
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April 15th ~>12-Days; Just a Baby!
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Yes, I can only keep 5 xl sized hens and silkies are rather small especially the parents of these (hopefully) girls! For their age they are tiny little things! I'm keeping my two little LBC hens, Peep & Cheep, Susan, and Eda. For the size of our coop my flock of mostly tiny hens is equal to about 4 xl hens. I'm going to keep Buff Buck and Darcy will have his own coop with 2-3 maybe 4 hens.
I actually have little owl nest boxes in my chickens area and they breed there every year! They are extremely territorial, but they are too small to hunt anything smaller than a Serama so they keep all the hawks away. My chickens have actually become friends with the hooded crows. So every now any then like 5-12 crows will sun bathe with the chickens. It's really wierd, but sadly the crows are very skittish so getting a photo would take extreme skill I don't have. It has only happened a few times (that I know of) but the crows definitely have a friendship with the flock also keeping any hawks far away. The owls will attack the crows if they are flying around and not on the ground.Yes, yes, allowing them the freedoms of free-ranging has its definite down falls. However, I think the benefits outweigh the bad. Even I’ve lost one to Hawk in my own Backyard! And, I live in a Urban neighborhood; I was fooled into a sense of safety out here away from the farms. But, those Hawks will find them anywhere, that’s guaranteed!
Needless to say, I’ve got a lot more Hawk deterrents out in the chicken yard now!
— “Lessons learned, Mother Nature”
Yeah I have the whole flock of crows nesting in a huge oak tree every year! When the crows sound the alarm my chickens run into the coop. The main reason they go into the field is because the crows are actively foraging with them! It's really cool! I'm glad you also have that kind of protection for your flock. Also the flock of crows actually had a huge battle in my yard with one of the fledgling golden eagles!!! Sadly it did kill four crows, but it got away with it's life!We do have Crows near us in the neighborhood, they have gradually moved-in over this past year and I do see what you mean. Those crows are so helpful!
They aren’t close to my chickens like in your situation. — But, they definitely DO HATE HAWKS and they will scream & chitter very loudly when a Hawk is around, making for a really good warning system!
I never really thought much about Crows before; now, I seriously come to like those cheeky little birds!!
I even have some fake, plastic Crows staked down into my yard as one of my many Hawk deterrents. — My goal is, from the sky above, it looks like Crows are actively forging in my yard…Ha!
PS — I’d love to have some Owl boxes in my yard! That would be really cool
Ok, thank you very much!
!
His name is Sassafras ~>
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