oh no, poor guy! Sorry about that. I don't let my silkies out either-- too much invested in them and it would be pretty dumb to let them roam around my place. I have tons of hawks and coyotes and random dogs that come through. I have neighbors that shoot about anything, so it's gotten a bit better. But I do need to catch a possum that is eating my feed. He dug under the fencing in my layer pen and created a burrow he's been using. No harm to the chickens-- they are locked up at night and I have started moving my feed into the coops at night. But a real PITA. Going to have to catch him soon though, I don't want him around. I think my neighbor has a trap, I'd like to borrow it and shoot him. And that pen is a temporary set up-- it's a chain link dog run, which is not ideal. We plan on digging in posts and putting up hardware cloth like I have for the silkie pens. And I haven't bothered to fix the hole, because I need to get motivated and catch him. I am really leary of the vaccines and have kept up on reading about what everyone is saying about them. So far have not vaccinated for anything. Still am not entirely sure what is safe and I don't want carrier birds. I would do it if I knew 100% it was safe and it would not make them carriers.
love hearing your advice!
About the only birds I would breed are your whites. But they have crests on the smaller side, but it's doable if you can work for a bit larger. I've found it's easier to get bigger crests on if ONE parent has the crest you are looking for. I did that when I had great type, but poor crest and still wound up with great crested birds after they grew out. But you'll have to check their combs and make sure they are the right color-- and the right shape. The last show I was at (last weekend) I was astounded to see someone brought silkies in with some sort of single comb on them and they were red. I'm guessing they had no clue what a silkie was supposed to look like. I should have taken a picture just for grins. Be careful on your colors too-- because not only are you breeding for the type, but for correct color as well. Wings are very important and for some reason, I have been fighting with that lately. They should be tucked in nice and high and when you pull them out-- absolutely NO gaps in them. You want all your toes, and no extras, no extra nails, and the correct skin coloring on them along with a well feathered middle toe. Anyway, I would go check out the standard and start checking off how close your birds are. If you have serious faults, then it's time to search for a better bird. I have gotten rid of gorgeous birds this summer, but had toe or wing faults.
My girls are starting to pick up on laying (silkies). However, the ONE bird I want to start laying is refusing! I hope she starts up soon. She's still on the younger side, but not too young-- about 8 months. Hasn't laid yet. The others are all ready, but figure I don't want to over winter chicks this year. Last year I did it, was NO fun. We had ice all winter long and it was miserable.
