Silkie saga

[2ndTink]

So my husband was telling his boss about silkies and their meat at work today, small birds, dark skin etc. So I showed him a photo of one of the cockerels and said "you know you want to eat one of these" pretty much joking, but his response was "actually, yes I do!" Oh... lol! (We work together, longish story... I'm his boss' boss... )

Here's photos of Nu and Heavy this morning. Nu has caught up to Heavy in size it looks like. I even got video of Heavy crowing! So cute Nu was trying to tidbit to the girls over a leftover piece of Swiss chard. One of the times Heavy crowed he then ran over to the fence and did a half step of the rooster dance. The little buggers are only 15 weeks old!

They're getting saddle feathers, Cappy still doesn't have any. I'm still not sure what Cappy is! Probably a slow developing cockerel, but...

 

[2ndTink]

Here is Cappy!

 

[TwoCrows]

Good evening!

What a Christmas gift! Merry Christmas, you get new fresh feathers! Nevermind the long hard process in sub-zero temperatures to get them

Hopper, well at least 1 of the 16 have a name! Jet Pack would be a good name for the black frizzle cockerel so maybe 2 down, 14 to go.

We left work early because of the bad storms forecasted so we could get everyone locked up and such. We were thankfully in a pretty darn peaceful bubble. We could see bad swaths of rain, heard thunder, saw lightening, got a slight breeze and a light rain, there was a crazy cold breeze, huge difference in the temperature. I think the ambient temp was in the 80s and the wind was probably in the 60s, totally crazy! I watched the clouds to me left heading north east, then happened to look to my right and the clouds were heading north west. About a half mile north of our house they were colliding. It was the wildest cloud activity I've ever seen. It even started to rotate as it was moving north. Then thankfully fell apart, but it was insane to see clouds right next to eachother moving in different directions. Like someone was madly stirring the clouds. I heard there was a tornado touch down south of us and quarter size hail. So I'm very very thankful we were in a bubble what a Monday!

Yes, Jetpack, perfect name! How is Hopper today? Yes, naming them is half the fun! Stay safe in those storms!

So my husband was telling his boss about silkies and their meat at work today, small birds, dark skin etc. So I showed him a photo of one of the cockerels and said "you know you want to eat one of these" pretty much joking, but his response was "actually, yes I do!" Oh... lol! (We work together, longish story... I'm his boss' boss... )

Here's photos of Nu and Heavy this morning. Nu has caught up to Heavy in size it looks like. I even got video of Heavy crowing! So cute Nu was trying to tidbit to the girls over a leftover piece of Swiss chard. One of the times Heavy crowed he then ran over to the fence and did a half step of the rooster dance. The little buggers are only 15 weeks old!

They're getting saddle feathers, Cappy still doesn't have any. I'm still not sure what Cappy is! Probably a slow developing cockerel, but...

Nu is so pretty! So white and his face is do dark! ❤ Nice conformation too. He sounds adorable with his tidbitting!

Here is Cappy!

Cappy looks like a Llama. Sorry Cappy, I just had to say it. But seriously, Cappy is gorgeous! ❤ You have the prettiest Silkies, all your birds are gorgeous!

Have a great day today, avoid all tornadoes! 🌪

 

[2ndTink]

Yes, Jetpack, perfect name! How is Hopper today? Yes, naming them is half the fun! Stay safe in those storms!

Nu is so pretty! So white and his face is do dark! ❤ Nice conformation too. He sounds adorable with his tidbitting!

Cappy looks like a Llama. Sorry Cappy, I just had to say it. But seriously, Cappy is gorgeous! ❤ You have the prettiest Silkies, all your birds are gorgeous!

Have a great day today, avoid all tornadoes! 🌪

Hopper is still the same, it's still getting right in there to eat when I put fresh mash out. I have a friend coming this weekend who used to breed and raise Dominiques ans Silkies, I'll have her take a look at Hopper and give an assessment on the quality of the chicks. Those hock feathers have me thinking they won't be show quality... we shall see. I'll have her evaluate my white silkies too, Nu is my only one with correct toes.

I've been referring to Cappy as Cappy Llama all day since you said that it's totally sticking .

Avoided all tornados today except for the ones at work, lol! The unexpected always pops up, today was no exception, but tomorrow I have some old colleagues coming in to assist and I know we're going to make some good progress! The stress level has been really high again the last 2 weeks, it really got me today, full body aches and chest tightness, that hadn't happened in about 3 months. Tomorrow will be better... if I'm found under my desk rocking back and forth, just exit the office quietly and close the door, only come back if you can slide some chocolate for stress eating under the desk my friend and I joke about having an EPC - Emergency Pocket Chicken - to help deal with stress at work. I think it's worth a try

 

[TwoCrows]

Hopper is still the same, it's still getting right in there to eat when I put fresh mash out. I have a friend coming this weekend who used to breed and raise Dominiques ans Silkies, I'll have her take a look at Hopper and give an assessment on the quality of the chicks. Those hock feathers have me thinking they won't be show quality... we shall see. I'll have her evaluate my white silkies too, Nu is my only one with correct toes.

I've been referring to Cappy as Cappy Llama all day since you said that it's totally sticking .

Avoided all tornados today except for the ones at work, lol! The unexpected always pops up, today was no exception, but tomorrow I have some old colleagues coming in to assist and I know we're going to make some good progress! The stress level has been really high again the last 2 weeks, it really got me today, full body aches and chest tightness, that hadn't happened in about 3 months. Tomorrow will be better... if I'm found under my desk rocking back and forth, just exit the office quietly and close the door, only come back if you can slide some chocolate for stress eating under the desk my friend and I joke about having an EPC - Emergency Pocket Chicken - to help deal with stress at work. I think it's worth a try

Glad to hear Hopper is at least good with eating and all. Let me know what your friend says about the little guy. Maybe they will have some suggestions on how to fix him!

Cappy Llama, Cappy Llama!! Pretty catchy!

Oh no, sorry to hear stress is getting you! I've had panic attacks in my day as well, some mild, some severe. Life can really get to a person sometimes. Yes you need to take a support chicken to work with you! Chocolate never hurts either!! Well I hope you are feeling better tomorrow.

Well get some rest tonight!!

 

[2ndTink]

Glad to hear Hopper is at least good with eating and all. Let me know what your friend says about the little guy. Maybe they will have some suggestions on how to fix him!

Cappy Llama, Cappy Llama!! Pretty catchy!

Oh no, sorry to hear stress is getting you! I've had panic attacks in my day as well, some mild, some severe. Life can really get to a person sometimes. Yes you need to take a support chicken to work with you! Chocolate never hurts either!! Well I hope you are feeling better tomorrow.

Well get some rest tonight!!

I handled today better, thankfully, but oof, still not where I need to be.

We stopped for chicken feed tonight and I resisted the $1 white leghorn chicks that look to be around 2 weeks old. Pretty proud of myself for that!

 

[TwoCrows]

I handled today better, thankfully, but oof, still not where I need to be.

We stopped for chicken feed tonight and I resisted the $1 white leghorn chicks that look to be around 2 weeks old. Pretty proud of myself for that!

I was thinking about you today, glad you are a tad better.

Wow, you are one strong gal resisting those $1 chicks! But yeah, its SO hard to ignore all the peeping and cuteness!

Have a wonderful evening my dear!

 

[2ndTink]

I was thinking about you today, glad you are a tad better.

Wow, you are one strong gal resisting those $1 chicks! But yeah, its SO hard to ignore all the peeping and cuteness!

Have a wonderful evening my dear!

I've never had leghorns either, so pretty tempting, but... I'm not impressed with the quality of the SLWs I bought from TSC earlier this year, so that's a big factor in helping me not take them home!

I got a few quick photos of the black silkie this morning, "she" is cute I need to get some good feet photos, some of them have crazy long foot feathers already, they're tripping on them if they try to turn too quick. The darker striped chipmunk chicks are growing in dark blue foot feathers. The one might be partridge though, there's some brown tips on those feet!

Oh, and we had a bald eagle in the field across the street this morning, that was cool. Horrible photo but you can see the white head


Have a great night!

 

[TwoCrows]

I've never had leghorns either, so pretty tempting, but... I'm not impressed with the quality of the SLWs I bought from TSC earlier this year, so that's a big factor in helping me not take them home!

I got a few quick photos of the black silkie this morning, "she" is cute I need to get some good feet photos, some of them have crazy long foot feathers already, they're tripping on them if they try to turn too quick. The darker striped chipmunk chicks are growing in dark blue foot feathers. The one might be partridge though, there's some brown tips on those feet!

Oh, and we had a bald eagle in the field across the street this morning, that was cool. Horrible photo but you can see the white head
View attachment 3605678

Have a great night!

Good morning! Oh isn't it fun to see a Bald Eagle?! Nice photo, at least you got to see him, even at a distance! We occasionally see them soaring over the house here too, mainly in the winter. Summer time they hang out in the high mountains. Really heart stirring stuff!

Beautiful black silkie chick! ❤ Will she stay black? I hope so, super precious.

Well it's Friday! I bet you are glad. Weekend is only hours away, hang in there and have a great day!

 

[2ndTink]

Good morning! Oh isn't it fun to see a Bald Eagle?! Nice photo, at least you got to see him, even at a distance! We occasionally see them soaring over the house here too, mainly in the winter. Summer time they hang out in the high mountains. Really heart stirring stuff!

Beautiful black silkie chick! ❤ Will she stay black? I hope so, super precious.

Well it's Friday! I bet you are glad. Weekend is only hours away, hang in there and have a great day!

Ok, first for the responses before the "should I freak out or not" part. Argh!

We love seeing bald eagles! I remember seeing them quite often growing up, then it seemed to be less and less often. As a kid I had one fly right over my head, mayne 10 feet above me, so especially being little, the bird was just massive! They are so beautiful!

Yes, I believe she will stay black, so that's cool because it seems to be the only black silkie other than JetPack the frizzle cockerel.

Thankful for the weekend, I managed to get my frazzled self to bed at a decent time and sleep always helps make things less insurmountable. Today, our friends came over, I think I mentioned she had silkies, my TSC silkies seem big to me, she confirmed it. Apparently they aren't supposed to be the same size as SLWs who are 3 weeks older than they are. Hey, know anyone breeding giant silkies who needs a really cute white silkie cockerel? Nu even has the proper toes

She checked out my chicks and said she thinks the feet thing is from a virus, Hoppy is not getting better and not I have another one favoring it's leg and another one looking a little suspect too. Hoppy's one hock is definitely bigger on his bad leg. She said the virus attacks the joints of cockerels then will lead to tumors in the pullets. She thinks it is Lymphoid Leukosis which is what lead to her having to cull her entire flock she said it could have come from the breeders flock through the eggs to the chicks, and my chicks could infect my entire flock. I've been very careful about washing my hands from the main flock to the chicks, but I'm much less careful going from the chicks to my main flock she said I need to cull the two worst chicks. We have a state lab here, I think they do necropsies, I'm going to check their site tonight to be sure. I'm trying not to panic because mayne it's something else, but what if it is??? And what if I've infected my entire flock outside!?! Ugh

I need answers before freaking, not that there would ever be a good time for this, but with all the insane work stress, this is really not a good time.