Well, this morning while doing chores I let the crew out of the coop. After feeding other critters around here I went back to check nest boxes. Most of our guys are just starting to lay, but there a few that were laying from some chickens we picked up locally. My daughter got three silkies from this lady who was selling out her herd and was told that there were two hens and one roo. Well, she named them as such - Sushi, Chun Chun and Samari. Well, I saw a dark silkie in the nest box and it was just laying its egg, so I leaned on the wall taking a break to let it be. After a couple of minutes I reached in to get the egg and nearly got pecked to death. Boy was she hot at me! So I decided to gently put my hand over her head and take her out of the box with my other hand. Needless to say I was very surprised when I took SAMARI out! I never questioned the lady why he didn't have any fancy feathers to him because she said he was young. LOL So now we know. Samari is now Sassy. Makes me feel a bit dumb.
Yep, it's pretty funny how some of the flock get's your attention and in alot of cases make you like them, without thinking this one would be a favorite. Gotta Love those pretty hens! bigzio
Oh, don't feel dumb, silkies are VERY tough to guess the sex on. I bought 6 from a breeder, and I asked for older chicks (6-10 wks or so) that she was reasonably sure would be pullets. I have ended up with 4 DEFINITE roosters, one pullet, and one mystery. I read a couple of posts from silkie breeders that say even THEY have trouble guessing!
Well I am glad silkies are hard to sex. That makes me feel a little less dumb. I think ours look a bit ratty really so that isn't much help to figure out who is what. They just are not as pretty as the ones I see some of the breeders on here have. Of course I am on a waiting list for eggs next week! But it is always nice to have one more layer.
I have a RIR with spurs that still has me wondering... especially since I've got 8 "hens" that lay up to 12 eggs...a day...and two of those have gone broody on me and pecked me, growled at me, no less, when I tried to take their eggs as I always do...and they've been such personable, friendly, chatty girls! Tonight, I bring home their other 16 sisters... I do feel stupid, too...my girls are very content and have no plans to share their contentment w/others, including the sisters they thought they left behind at their first owner's house...I think they'll be separated, in quarantine and then when the bigger building gets moved, insulated, wired, and sectioned off, the entire flock will be in the biggest building but sectioned off in half, possibly a roo for each side.
