Partridge Silkies - Nothing else

[FishMtFarm]

Sylvester017 your right, my partridge hen is bigger and fluffier than my black hen. My black hen doesn't weigh nearly as much and her head fluff is shorter as is her body feathering isn't as dense. My other partridge hen is also more dense as well. Good observation.

 

[Hinotori]

The BBS I had before were super fluffy. I think it depends on the silkie line. Some people breed for heavier feathering.

 

[FishMtFarm]

I have a blue and a splash that are fluffier and over heat easy. I have been on a search for a black and buff that are equally as heavily feathered.

 

[Hinotori]

My partridge hen from an unknown line isn't as fluffy as the other partridge line. Her offspring inherit the better fluff. I get different sizes of crests. The best ones are bred from. Pictures wouldn't help right now because my birds have access to ground and water. The girls figure out how to slick back their crests pretty fast growing up.

 

[Sylvester017]

I have a blue and a splash that are fluffier and over heat easy. I have been on a search for a black and buff that are equally as heavily feathered.

How is the feathering density on your Sandy from Amber Waves? Silkies can all look fluffy but feather density/thickness can be different from bird to bird. My Black and my Partridge Silkie hens both look fluffy and rounded with cute heart-shaped profiles yet my Black has much finer softer feathering than the thicker-feathered Partridge. One thing nice about the Black is that it takes less time to blowdry her after a bath

!

 

[FishMtFarm]

Sandy is rediculously thick! I actually am gonna bath her tonight cause she went broody and I wanna get her poop butt clean. I have a splash hen who is so dense that I don't look forward to blow drying her cause it just takes forever. I also have a blue pullet that is the same way. My black hen is the same way as yours. Looks thick and rounded but very fine and soft. Here is Sandy in her nesting box:

 

[Elbert Garrett]

Just a pic of the little rascals from this morning.....

 

[Sylvester017]

Sandy is rediculously thick! I actually am gonna bath her tonight cause she went broody and I wanna get her poop butt clean. I have a splash hen who is so dense that I don't look forward to blow drying her cause it just takes forever. I also have a blue pullet that is the same way. My black hen is the same way as yours. Looks thick and rounded but very fine and soft. Here is Sandy in her nesting box:

Silkies look so fluffy when nesting! I used to think my Silkies were ridiculously broody for more than the normal 3 weeks until I discovered that molting chickens are miserable, get reclusive, standoffish, seemingly broody. My Partridge was broody, I thought, after she layed eggs for a couple weeks in November. But what I discovered is that she was growing in new pin feathers and when chickens molt they hide away or detach themselves from the others until they don't feel so miserable anymore. I treat a reclusive molting Silkie the same way as a broody Silkie -- take her out of the nest at least a couple times a day to eat/drink/dust-bathe/and exercise. It took me a couple years to catch on to when the Silkie was being "broody" or just reclusively molting. Because they spend so much time hiding on a nest during molting they get confused themselves whether they are broody or not. Warmer weather should return behaviors back to normal.

 

[FishMtFarm]

Gosh I hope she isn't molting this time of year. Poor girl. The rooster is totally in love with her right now and he is getting a bit rediculous but she lets him do that's why I thought broody.

 

[Sylvester017]

Gosh I hope she isn't molting this time of year. Poor girl. The rooster is totally in love with her right now and he is getting a bit rediculous but she lets him do that's why I thought broody.

Some confident pullet/hen breeds won't let a roo mount them unless they want it. But with Silkie females, they seem to be easily bullied by roos. It's nice to isolate a broody hen from roo contact to give him other hens to bother. Is Sandy setting eggs now or on an empty nest?