Silkie thread!

[Sonoran Silkies]

Hawkeye95, I'm so sorry to hear about your little black silkie, best wishes with the rest of the hatch.

I had an interesting afternoon with my silkies. I decided to let them out to free range at the same time that the rest of my hens were out as kind of an introduction to each other. First when I went in I couldn't find my black hen, who is now named "Lovely"....looked high and low for her, I even got down on my hands and knees and looked under the now lowered hen house (and by the way they began using the now less steep ramp).....it's really only about 4-6 inches off the ground, I promise. I couldn't see her, I thought something had come in and gotten her, but there were no feathers anywhere.....seemed as though she had done a disappearing act. My husband and a friend were helping me look for her, when lo and behold she poked her head out from under the hen house.....She were hidin'!!! Wheew...

that was scary!! So anyway, I opened the gate, and had to shoo them out of the run because they refused to go out. Then since all the other hens had left the area to go scratching in the horse pens, I called them back to intoduce them to the Silkies.....Lovely decided that she is top dog....every hen that came near her and the other two silkies would get the stink eye, and if they came too close she ran at them, jumping up at them, flapping her wings, pecked at them, pulled feathers and all.....She was not putting up with anybody invading her space, then she saw other hens going into her run, oh my, huge grievence there, she went in and flogged every hen that wouldn't leave on their own. Pushy little thing.....and she's smaller than all the other hens, including the other Silkie hen and the Silkie rooster, Prune.....

So here's a question based on this information, if I join the two flocks (silkies and other hens), will Lovely likely establish dominance over the other flock of hens, who have no rooster? I have been planning on joining the two groups but was concerned that the silkies, since they are smaller and outnumbered, would get picked on unmercifully. What do all of y'all think?

Lovely will enjoy her reign as Head Hen. In my experience, silkies are more likely to take a dominant role than are larger breeds.

 

[Suzierd]

 I copied this quote from someone on here. Most whites are recessive. I always try to remember to write down the name of the person I save a quote from now but I failed this time.

"Breed two recessive whites together and you will always get recessive white

chicks. Breed a recessive white to any other colour and the recessive white

switch is turned OFF, and you can get just about anything."

 

Thank you Peepblessed

 

[SkinNFluff]

Very pretty!

Very pretty!!!!

thank you both.

I would love to free range some but I'm afraid my dogs would chase them plus we have a lot of hawks some are pretty darn big two.

having 3 border collies i know the feeling. but what i do is for at least an hour each day we lock the dogs up in the house and let the chicks out to run around and free range for a little while. then after that we put the chicks back in their run and let the dogs back out. i also stay out with the chicks to keep an eye on them anytime that they are out of their run.

 

[CountryFriedChicken]

This is for a friend since I dont personally have silkies but we have been discussing this - we are trying to get BLUES.

They are mostly blacks. the older rooster has white feathering on feet. 3 (or 4??) black hens, the younger rooster is a blueish black. and finally the white pullet with blue earlobes. Her sire is the older black rooster with white feathering on feet out of one of the black hens. The younger blueish black rooster is not related. I say blueish because he has blueish tint under the black feathering. He has red earlobes. The white silkie hatched out some of LF eggs so we are planning on putting her in a selective breeding pen with one rooster to try for blues when those chicks are six or seven weeks old. But which rooster should be used? her sire or the blueish black? I think we have a chance of all four colors (black, blue, white and splash) as she is WHITE, not a splash if she is crossed with the blueish black rooster and more of white/black with her sire with maybe a chance of blue (?).

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[peepblessed]

This is for a friend since I dont personally have silkies but we have been discussing this - we are trying to get BLUES.

They are mostly blacks. the older rooster has white feathering on feet. 3 (or 4??) black hens, the younger rooster is a blueish black. and finally the white pullet with blue earlobes. Her sire is the older black rooster with white feathering on feet out of one of the black hens. The younger blueish black rooster is not related. I say blueish because he has blueish tint under the black feathering. He has red earlobes. The white silkie hatched out some of LF eggs so we are planning on putting her in a selective breeding pen with one rooster to try for blues when those chicks are six or seven weeks old. But which rooster should be used? her sire or the blueish black? I think we have a chance of all four colors (black, blue, white and splash) as she is WHITE, not a splash if she is crossed with the blueish black rooster and more of white/black with her sire with maybe a chance of blue (?).

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

I read this a couple of times but I still may not have it right in my brain! White can be hiding any color. The roosters may really be dark blue and so might one or more of the hens so crossing them might produce a more obvious blue. On the surface I don't see the best solution except to buy an obviously blue hen.

 

[CountryFriedChicken]

I read this a couple of times but I still may not have it right in my brain! White can be hiding any color. The roosters may really be dark blue and so might one or more of the hens so crossing them might produce a more obvious blue. On the surface I don't see the best solution except to buy an obviously blue hen.

Thanks so much Peeps!!! I have banged my head against the keyboard thinking about those birds and they werent even mine! LOL She probably doesnt to buy another one, but we will see if a blue pullet will hatch (have some in incubator and some under brooders). I hope so! LOL

I know a couple of the hens are pure black, I suspect two other hens/pullet is blue... but it is so hard to say since they are dark but you can tell the slight difference if you study for a while.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Is she the mother of your splash chicks? If so, she is blue. Beautiful girl!!

YES! duh! LOL she must be Blue.

In which case, I won't be getting any black. That chick yesterday must have been a VERY dark blue, because it was solid black!

This is for a friend since I dont personally have silkies but we have been discussing this - we are trying to get BLUES.

They are mostly blacks. the older rooster has white feathering on feet. 3 (or 4??) black hens, the younger rooster is a blueish black. and finally the white pullet with blue earlobes. Her sire is the older black rooster with white feathering on feet out of one of the black hens. The younger blueish black rooster is not related. I say blueish because he has blueish tint under the black feathering. He has red earlobes. The white silkie hatched out some of LF eggs so we are planning on putting her in a selective breeding pen with one rooster to try for blues when those chicks are six or seven weeks old. But which rooster should be used? her sire or the blueish black? I think we have a chance of all four colors (black, blue, white and splash) as she is WHITE, not a splash if she is crossed with the blueish black rooster and more of white/black with her sire with maybe a chance of blue (?).

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Hu?!? LOL Yeah, I read this a couple of times... It doesn't sound like you have a rooster that is a solid color? Not sure how they got white feet. If your hen is black, you need a rooster that is a solid blue, black or a Splash. I wouldn't use white to get to blue. I also would not use any rooster that has red earlobes.

ETA-- okay, now I re-read and see your hen is WHITE. I was totally thrown by all the blue rooster talk. A white and a blue doesn't mean Blue. I suppose it's a shot in the dark and who knows what odds there are to it, since you don't know the white background...*maybe* you could get blue??? I guess try and see.

 

[peepblessed]

YES! duh! LOL she must be Blue.

In which case, I won't be getting any black. That chick yesterday must have been a VERY dark blue, because it was solid black!
Hu?!? LOL Yeah, I read this a couple of times... It doesn't sound like you have a rooster that is a solid color? Not sure how they got white feet. If your hen is black, you need a rooster that is a solid blue, black or a Splash. I wouldn't use white to get to blue. I also would not use any rooster that has red earlobes.

ETA-- okay, now I re-read and see your hen is WHITE. I was totally thrown by all the blue rooster talk. A white and a blue doesn't mean Blue. I suppose it's a shot in the dark and who knows what odds there are to it, since you don't know the white background...*maybe* you could get blue??? I guess try and see.

Those red earlobes may be waddles. I've never heard of a silkie with red ear lobes.

 

[peepblessed]

YES! duh! LOL she must be Blue.

In which case, I won't be getting any black. That chick yesterday must have been a VERY dark blue, because it was solid black!

When will you candle your new eggs? How long has it been? I just set a doz. BS from Catdance and have three BS from Northside Silkies hatching next week (she say's hopefully!).

 

[Hawkeye95]

Those red earlobes may be waddles. I've never heard of a silkie with red ear lobes.

I have two hatchery-quality roosters (white silkies) and they barely have any blue on their ear lobes. I'd never breed them, but I have wondered why they don't have blue earlobes since it is such a silkie trade mark.

When will you candle your new eggs? How long has it been? I just set a doz. BS from Catdance and have three BS from Northside Silkies hatching next week (she say's hopefully!).

I am going to candle those eggs as soon as this chick hatches! LOL Probably tonight. I sure hope I see some growth! They've been in for 4 days now. I should be able to see something in them!