Silkie saga

[Goats N Cluckers]

I bet that's so adorable! The fluff is just captivating to watch.

How many silkies do you have and what colors?

I only have two adults so far, a partridge hen and a white rooster. I've got 4 of their chicks in the brooder, i think two are partridge (chipmunk) and two are white. I've got a clutch of 9 in the incubator due to hatch around the 20th.

Our little hen, Chanel, is a fantastic layer. She lays nearly every single day, and gave us two yesterday. I'd been in the coop at 10pm and my son was out there at 7:30am - no eggs. By 11am, she'd laid two!

I have a very mixed flock. Barred Plymouth Rocks, RIRs, BCMs, Starlight Olive Eggers, Sapphire Gems, Speckled Sussex, Golden Laced Polish and the Silkies.

The Silkies are becoming my favorites, which is weird because I hated Silkies when I was a kid. My parents sold eggs on the farm and were given some Silkies. My parents didn't like them because their eggs were too small to sell and they got picked on in Gen Pop, so they butchered them. I couldn't get over the color and flavor of the meat and it made me dislike the chickens. My job in the chicken production was plucking and I remember having to pluck them after scalding. "Regular" chickens were much easier for my little hands.

I look forward to seeing more of your photos!

 

[2ndTink]

Fabulous hubby is on board definitely makes it more fun overall and you both have something to share. My guy loves birds in general so at least he understands my obsessions, he just doesn't want to do the work.

Good luck with pigs, they are SO easy to fall in love with! When you see your first piglet, it's difficult to see "breakfast meats" in their little eyes.

Birds are so fascinating, the more you know about them and watch them it seems the more awesome they are.

Ugh, we don't need more pets I'm trying to convince myself to raise some chickens for meat, it's got to be way better than commercial chicken meat. But they're so cute I'm not convinced yet I could eat them.

 

[TwoCrows]

Birds are so fascinating, the more you know about them and watch them it seems the more awesome they are.

Ugh, we don't need more pets I'm trying to convince myself to raise some chickens for meat, it's got to be way better than commercial chicken meat. But they're so cute I'm not convinced yet I could eat them.

Some people are able to separate themselves and raise some for meat. I tried this with Quail, I was sure I could keep my emotional distance and process them up. NOPE! I just can't do it! I think if you can get passed the first butchering session, it gets easier, hopefully it's easier for you than it is me.

 

[2ndTink]

I only have two adults so far, a partridge hen and a white rooster. I've got 4 of their chicks in the brooder, i think two are partridge (chipmunk) and two are white. I've got a clutch of 9 in the incubator due to hatch around the 20th.

Our little hen, Chanel, is a fantastic layer. She lays nearly every single day, and gave us two yesterday. I'd been in the coop at 10pm and my son was out there at 7:30am - no eggs. By 11am, she'd laid two!

I have a very mixed flock. Barred Plymouth Rocks, RIRs, BCMs, Starlight Olive Eggers, Sapphire Gems, Speckled Sussex, Golden Laced Polish and the Silkies.

The Silkies are becoming my favorites, which is weird because I hated Silkies when I was a kid. My parents sold eggs on the farm and were given some Silkies. My parents didn't like them because their eggs were too small to sell and they got picked on in Gen Pop, so they butchered them. I couldn't get over the color and flavor of the meat and it made me dislike the chickens. My job in the chicken production was plucking and I remember having to pluck them after scalding. "Regular" chickens were much easier for my little hands.

I look forward to seeing more of your photos!

Feel free to share some silkie pictures here too! Partridge are beautiful, I bet the chicks are super cute! Great flock mix, I love having diverse egg colors. Right now I have BR, RIR, GC, EE, BA, SLW, and the silkies. I still need a marans though, and maybe olive eggers,, and a white egg layer, lol. Need...

I've read about the silkie meat, I was also wondering how they would be to pluck. I can imagine especially as a kid how aggravating that fluff would be. Hmm, were satin's originally made to be an easier to process silkie?

I weighed 7 eggs in the incubator so I can track their moisture loss, this morning I grabbed 4 of my hen's eggs for breakfast so decided to weigh them too. The big brown eggs I have were 70g to 80g and my Easter Eggers were 46g and 65g. I have one EE that has started laying little eggs, I think she's super smart I like to bake, so I'm thinking I'll need 2 silkie eggs per 1 egg a recipe calls for.

 

[2ndTink]

Some people are able to separate themselves and raise some for meat. I tried this with Quail, I was sure I could keep my emotional distance and process them up. NOPE! I just can't do it! I think if you can get passed the first butchering session, it gets easier, hopefully it's easier for you than it is me.

My hubby said he'll do the kill step, the rest is mine to do. I want to skin the first batch and if it seems I can do this, buy one of those motorized pluckers. We shall see.

 

[TwoCrows]

My hubby said he'll do the kill step, the rest is mine to do. I want to skin the first batch and if it seems I can do this, buy one of those motorized pluckers. We shall see.

If your hubby does the killing, this is much of the battle. If my guy could do the deed, I'd be fine with the rest of it. I have no fear of blood, guts and gore. I just can't take the life. You might ask around in the meat birds forum on the pluckers and removing feathers, there's definitely a technique to it.

 

[2ndTink]

If your hubby does the killing, this is much of the battle. If my guy could do the deed, I'd be fine with the rest of it. I have no fear of blood, guts and gore. I just can't take the life. You might ask around in the meat birds forum on the pluckers and removing feathers, there's definitely a technique to it.

I can't take a life either, I hate mice and rats, but I have a hard time killing them or watching our cat slowly kill them. The dog isn't so bad, she stuffs them out so fast I don't think they even have a chance to know what's coming.

 

[TwoCrows]

I can't take a life either, I hate mice and rats, but I have a hard time killing them or watching our cat slowly kill them. The dog isn't so bad, she stuffs them out so fast I don't think they even have a chance to know what's coming.

Yep, me too. Last year I saw a snake swallowing a mouse whole, good grief, I felt sorry for the poor mouse, but I guess this is nature. I certainly can't partake, I'd starve to death if I had to kill everything to eat.

What kind of dog do you have?

 

[2ndTink]

I have little air cells now! Did these pop up too fast? 24 hours from no air cell to a small one? They've been between 25 and 31% humidity. And, I just realized today my scale isn't quite accurate enough as it only shows whole grams ans I need to see them losing .2 to .3 g / day.

Photos of the air cells attached

 

[TwoCrows]

I have little air cells now! Did these pop up too fast? 24 hours from no air cell to a small one? They've been between 25 and 31% humidity. And, I just realized today my scale isn't quite accurate enough as it only shows whole grams ans I need to see them losing .2 to .3 g / day.

Photos of the air cells attached

No I think this is normal loss of moisture, but keep looking at the attachment on this page for a guide, https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/silkie-saga.1576460/post-27004574 if you get nervous in the next day or so you can add humidity. Normal levels of humidity during incubation are around 45%.