hi!
one of the doctor's i work for is way into chickens and offered me a couple of silkies, and here we are! they were born on january 2, so we don't yet know if we've got girls or boys - keeping my fingers crossed for girls because a boy would mean we'd have to change plans. the county we live in just made it legal to keep up to 4 hens, so i've made arrangements with a friend who lives in a rural area to take any rooster i may have. actually, even if only one of my little friends is a boy, i may give both away so they can stay together. i don't know if that's silly, but they seemed very attached to each other and i can't stand the idea of breaking up their friendship.
i realize it's a gamble, but this has been a great learning experience for us and even if we have to start over, i think we've put in some good groundwork for a future that will always include backyard chickens! i had no idea how entertaining and endearing these little critters could be. even my teenage son is in love with them!!
they are currently living on our lanai in the brooder, but we've got the coop all ready to go and are planning on moving them out there full time the last week of march (we will be full time at home on vacation that week and figured we can pay a lot of attention to things while we make the move) i've read that silkies are not super great with heat, so we put the coop under the shade of a large live oak. i've always been cooler back there myself, so i've given them one of my favorite spots in the yard!
here they are in some cell phone pics. the first was the first night we had them. the second was about three weeks ago and the last pic was this weekend in the yard.
one of the doctor's i work for is way into chickens and offered me a couple of silkies, and here we are! they were born on january 2, so we don't yet know if we've got girls or boys - keeping my fingers crossed for girls because a boy would mean we'd have to change plans. the county we live in just made it legal to keep up to 4 hens, so i've made arrangements with a friend who lives in a rural area to take any rooster i may have. actually, even if only one of my little friends is a boy, i may give both away so they can stay together. i don't know if that's silly, but they seemed very attached to each other and i can't stand the idea of breaking up their friendship.
i realize it's a gamble, but this has been a great learning experience for us and even if we have to start over, i think we've put in some good groundwork for a future that will always include backyard chickens! i had no idea how entertaining and endearing these little critters could be. even my teenage son is in love with them!!
they are currently living on our lanai in the brooder, but we've got the coop all ready to go and are planning on moving them out there full time the last week of march (we will be full time at home on vacation that week and figured we can pay a lot of attention to things while we make the move) i've read that silkies are not super great with heat, so we put the coop under the shade of a large live oak. i've always been cooler back there myself, so i've given them one of my favorite spots in the yard!
here they are in some cell phone pics. the first was the first night we had them. the second was about three weeks ago and the last pic was this weekend in the yard.
from Ohio. So glad you joined. It will be hard to give them up, but you are right about not to separate them. It can stressfull. Here's hoping they are both girls. 
