I will post pictures tomorrow!
Okay our silkie pair, both girls we thought. Gertrude is the year old hen and quite tiny. They are bantams anyhow. But the other one is Gertrude's niece/nephew, literally, and she doesn't seem so pullet anymore. The rancher (at home ranch not hatchery) told us that she was a girl. She is like 2 times bigger than Gertrude too. Today my mom and I noticed it, we let the whole flock of youngins out while the standards were on the other side of our driveway eating some greens and weeds (don't worry they're edible weeds!). And we already have 3 roosters, the barred rock (he stays with our standard hens), a cochin, and a new hampshire which we also thought was a girl. The new hampshire and the silkie started fighting like crazy. Their neck hackles were up and they were jumping at eachother, this is called sparring right? The new hampshire never fights with the cochin. Plus they have age differences, the cochin is 4 1/2 months old and the NH should be about 3 months, same with the silkie.
I had to step in because they would not stop fighting so I had to grab both by the neck feathers and pull slightly, you know that thing chickens do in the pecking order. I then carried the silkie to my mom and we discussed what we're going to do. If he really is a boy, which I bet anything he is, we gotta give both him and Gertrude a new home.
We don't wanna leave Gertrude alone (since she's our only bantam, including the other silkie) and my mom doesn't want anymore chickens.
And that feather question. They are both black silkies but recently the roo's neck hackles are turning blondish white. Just the tips. Any ideas on what that is?
Okay our silkie pair, both girls we thought. Gertrude is the year old hen and quite tiny. They are bantams anyhow. But the other one is Gertrude's niece/nephew, literally, and she doesn't seem so pullet anymore. The rancher (at home ranch not hatchery) told us that she was a girl. She is like 2 times bigger than Gertrude too. Today my mom and I noticed it, we let the whole flock of youngins out while the standards were on the other side of our driveway eating some greens and weeds (don't worry they're edible weeds!). And we already have 3 roosters, the barred rock (he stays with our standard hens), a cochin, and a new hampshire which we also thought was a girl. The new hampshire and the silkie started fighting like crazy. Their neck hackles were up and they were jumping at eachother, this is called sparring right? The new hampshire never fights with the cochin. Plus they have age differences, the cochin is 4 1/2 months old and the NH should be about 3 months, same with the silkie.
I had to step in because they would not stop fighting so I had to grab both by the neck feathers and pull slightly, you know that thing chickens do in the pecking order. I then carried the silkie to my mom and we discussed what we're going to do. If he really is a boy, which I bet anything he is, we gotta give both him and Gertrude a new home.
We don't wanna leave Gertrude alone (since she's our only bantam, including the other silkie) and my mom doesn't want anymore chickens.
And that feather question. They are both black silkies but recently the roo's neck hackles are turning blondish white. Just the tips. Any ideas on what that is?
