Silkie thread!

[spatulagirl]

OK, my DH just went and put her out of her misery. She was doing the death gulps and was suffering. My 3 year old is sad; that was her chickie.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hi Silkie breeders and enthusiasts I could use a bit of help with my first chickens...
I have two partridge silkies that were hatched Oct. 17, 2011...making them 25 weeks old. they are very close in size and weight and way of moving around and standing. One is bearded and the other not. I cannot detect any difference between their crests. They came in a "pullet only" order from My Pet Chicken with 4 EEs and a couple of Welsummers and all get along with each other just fine and all roost shoulder to shoulder on the top roost at night. ( I'm thinking they don't know what Silkies are and aren't supposed to be able to do.)
One of the EEs started laying three weeks ago and I believe her increased noise and stimulation has encouraged the rest of the flock to mature faster. I'm noticing everyone's combs and wattles growing and coloring up.
The non bearded Silkie is WAY MORE vocal than the other although I wouldn't call her noise a crowing but almost daily she starts her loud calling and goes on for almost a minute. She doesn't exhibit any other behaviors that you'd expect from a rooster protecting his harem, at least non I've observed.
I am concerned I have a rooster...I live in the city and roos aren't allowed.
I need to know about what age I'd expect to see mating behavior. None of the other hens have any indication they have been mounted with broken back feathers or scratches.
Sounds a bit paranoid I guess but they have stolen my heart and I wouldn't want to have to re-home any of them.
Thanks for any help you can give.
NC ChickenKate

My silkie pullets didn't start laying until they were about 7 months old. I only have 2 hatchery silkies and they both ended up being boys. They didn't crow until about 6 months old. It was about the same for my nice cockerel that I bought off a breeder -- he started crowing right about 6-7 months. In my hatchery cockerels-- their comb really grew! They aren't too big, but they are noticeable. If you have any comb development, you might have a cockerel. All my pullets have little tiny pea sized combs.

 

[Hawkeye95]

OK, my DH just went and put her out of her misery. She was doing the death gulps and was suffering. My 3 year old is sad; that was her chickie.

So sorry.

 

[<3 N.C Chicken Chick <3]

Thanks debbi, and Teresaann24

 

[peepblessed]

We're back from the show!

Okay, so we did fine! My oldest did Showmanship for the first time ever. The leader did a couple of practice run thru's with him (on the side) before it was his turn. The poultry leader there was super nice! I totally loved her! And a couple of other parents helped him and pointed out some tips with showmanship before it was his turn. Anyway, after it was all said and done, he did great, but he forgot to take his bird out of the cage HEAD FIRST-- so he got disqualified. The judge told the leader that he was hands down the best one there and if hadn't been for that, he'd have won first place for his age. Not that he had all the holding and stuff down, he's 8yrs old and it was his first time-- but he was so impressed with his knowledge of the silkies and the parts on the body-- he named all the wing feathers, and body feathers (hackle, saddle, crest, primary, secondary, etc, etc...) Anyway, the judge thought he was going to trip my son up and asked him who brought silkies over to the "new world" and my boy responded back quickly, Marco Polo in the 13th Century! LOL Proud, I am. (Yoda's voice) We've been doing chicken flash cards for a while now to practice for it.

Our silkies did well, too. He said our cockerel only had a couple of faults and they were minor. Despite his comb being the perfect shade of mulberry-- his wattles were a bit too red under the beard. (why is that??? I noticed that when I was bathing him) He also said that his crest is a bit irregular, but it's not that big of a deal-- just would like more of a rounder shape to it. Our pullet did the best! She won first place in her breed and then she made it to the next round. It was down to 4 birds for best of class (bantam) and then it was down to two-- mine and this beautiful black bantam cochin and they won it. The judge came back and told my son he'd have won grand champion but that our pullet's crest just needed to be a tiny bit bigger-- he said, not by much. He said maybe after her first molt, it might be there. (maybe not--since I've never heard that before-- but he was patting my son on the back and telling him we had some of the best birds there) A LF Buff Orpington won Reserve. I think that was the BIGGEST BO I've ever seen!! LOL

Sooooo awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Give your son a big hi-five from me!!! Can't wait for pictures!!!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Okay, I got some of our show pictures uploaded. I'll try to keep it down to just a few, I'd love to post everything! LOL


This is before the show and the 4-H building we had our little show in:

 

[peepblessed]

Okay, I got some of our show pictures uploaded. I'll try to keep it down to just a few, I'd love to post everything! LOL


This is before the show and the 4-H building we had our little show in:

Oh wow! Awesome birds! and you son is so handsome!!

 

[peepblessed]

OK, my DH just went and put her out of her misery. She was doing the death gulps and was suffering. My 3 year old is sad; that was her chickie.

Every chick owner knows the heartbreak..... So very sorry.

 

[stoopid]

Hawkeye and son, great job! And nice birds, too!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Thank you Peepblessed and Stoopid!! Pictures really do a better job of telling the story than I can!