I HOPEFULLY have four silkies to hatch any time now......My FIL let me put some eggs in with his Marans. I'm scared bc in the silkie thread some ppl have posted silkies are hard to hath. Cross your fingers for me.....
RE WIND: My DH told me the wind blew over my coop yesterday. Only one casualty, an egg. He said the chickens were still inside with it turned over. I'll bet that scared the poop out of them.
What do you guys use for parasite/bug maintenance. I dont have a problem, but I don't want one either. There are too many decisions re pest control and being new to chickens, i want whats best for them and me. Dont want to hurt any potential babies. Thanks for your help, Nikki
Hey CCK I hatch silkies out like popcorn, I've never had any problems. Good luck with them.
As far as bug issues....do you mean wormers or lice/mite treatment. There is tons of good info here. My younger silkies are the only ones in the flock that keep getting lice & mites. I have used adams flea & tick spray and redosed with a dust. And also dusted the roosts and their coop. They are in a seperate grow out coop, but free range all day. So I suspect the problem is in the pen they sleep in. I myself will be looking for the next best thing to do to get rid of these gross bugs.
Apple cider vinegar for things in the gut! Just a tablespoon per gal each day! Some say bleach..?.. Diatomaceous earth dust works well, by slicing through mite bodies like razor blades!!! You can dust bird,coop,and run! DE is all natural too! Hope it helps. Correct if I'm wrong! But these are a few tricks I picked up!
I'm just patiently waiting now for I FINALLY got a broody hen, since I spent my incubator money on a pressure canner instead... so I have to get the silkies to do my hatching!
So my black hen is sitting on 6 eggs, 4 Japanese Bantams & 2 silkies. What colors? Its a surprise I guess!