Integration time line?

[Lady of McCamley]

I'm glad integration is going well.

I'm curious. Do your "Silkies" have 5 toes...they look to have the black skin...they should have full leg feathers and 5 toes.

Not sure what's about the leg featherless Silkie...nor why these seem larger...but hatchery bulk product can definitely have some oddities (that TSC seems to get more than a sampling).

A Silkie bantam is on the larger of the bantam scale (if you consider a Sebright on the smaller size scale), so it is not tiny, but it should definitely be noticeably smaller than the other breeds.

And yes, my wet Oregon can become a mud pit regularly...which is why I keep my feather footed birds on bark chips.

I hope it all continues to go well, and yes, you will be happy when the meaties have been processed. They are especially smelly birds.

LofMc

 

[DreamsInPink]

I'm glad integration is going well.

I'm curious. Do your "Silkies" have 5 toes...they look to have the black skin...they should have full leg feathers and 5 toes.

Not sure what's about the leg featherless Silkie...nor why these seem larger...but hatchery bulk product can definitely have some oddities (that TSC seems to get more than a sampling).

A Silkie bantam is on the larger of the bantam scale (if you consider a Sebright on the smaller size scale), so it is not tiny, but it should definitely be noticeably smaller than the other breeds.

And yes, my wet Oregon can become a mud pit regularly...which is why I keep my feather footed birds on bark chips.

I hope it all continues to go well, and yes, you will be happy when the meaties have been processed. They are especially smelly birds.

LofMc

Sorry, I missed that you replied to this... Yes, my Silkies have 5 toes and black skin... but only 1 had full leg feathering. One other one has 'some' feathering. And as for their size, I just have no idea. I thought I knew roughly how old they were... but now, I have no idea. They are as big if not bigger than the Silver Laced Wyandottes and Barred Rocks.

I am going to talk to my son in law. He works for a local tree trimming service so I can get wood chips as well.. I think a nice big pile of that would be advantageous to me... we get mud a good bit too.

We did end up getting our meaties taken care of... Tuesday. So yeah, they are gone. Kind of sad. I know most people hate them, but I'm such a softie, I found myself enamored by them. They were very friendly and inquisitive. Ahh well... it comes with the territory, I guess.

The integration is going ok... I've only had the teenagers out with the Isas one other day. And the Isas did their fair share of chasing and herding. I really thought it would go better after they were in the coop together. Even though they are separated. *sigh* I don't know. I finally put the teens back in the pen the other day because I felt sorry for them... I figured they were getting stressed.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

No idea on the sizes of the Silkies...I'm pretty sure there are no standard size Silkies in the US.

They should all have heavy foot feathering, so I suspicion they may be a mix with something....definitely not standard, so no surprise other things might not be standard as well.

Integration can take time, and you are wise to make sure no one is getting overly stressed.

Just letting them integrate on free range together but putting them up at night separately can help with the transition too.

LofMc

 

[DreamsInPink]

No, no standard size Silkies.. maybe they are crossed with something else, especially since they have no feathers on their feet or maybe they are just a lot older.. I have no clue. How much does a full grown Silkie typically weigh?



My patience is wearing thin with the integration.. I just don't know why they can just get along. LOL I'm hoping to be able to get them out in the run within the week. Hopefully that will make a difference.