Silkie thread!

[Basel]

Tail growth is not a sex indicator in silkies. Crests (poofs) develope at different rates on different chicks. Silkies roosters that grow up together generally get along great. There are really no early sex indicators in silkies except that some males develop an early comb. Any red in the comb is usually a sign of a roo.

Thank you, peepblessed. I appreciate your comments and experience. I've read that silkie roosters are generally nice little guys! Problem is I can't have them in my town.

The worst case scenario would be that I have all or mostly boys, because I would be worried replacing them with more silkies later and trying to introduce them to my little flock-- since it also has a few large birds too. I wouldn't want the new silkie chicks to get picked on by the older gals. Right now, everyone is in the brooder together!

I'll watch for red combs!

 

[skyl3r]

Boy, I'm stumped. Could be splash or maybe a white with a silver gene. I have seen photos on here of whites with a silver cast and I forget what it's attributed to. Hopefully someone else can help. I is amazing how ting that little chick still is!

I HOPE YALL AREN'T SICK OF ME YET! I feel like I have posted 1000 pics of my chicks!

Ok, I "thought" we were told that the whitish silkie was a white silkie from her show chicken. The little silkie was supposed to be a "blue/buff splash" project. BUT, everyone has said it was a partridge from day 1, and it really did look like a partridge at birth. Then, when it didn't grow, we haven't had much bird to work with. So I tool some photos outside today. Now, Einstein, the whitish one even has a grey streak on its back. Here are a few photos from this afternoon in the back yard. Please forgive the mess (we are getting a sprinkler system installed, there are trenches everywhere). These 2 were hatched together and are 7 weeks.

Einstein & Scrambled (hatched at the same time) my oddly colored bunch!, @ 7 weeks. Someone said they thought scrambled would be a dwarf. I am not sure what that means in chicken terms. Just tiny? I just keep calling it a runt.




Einstein, I think I see the blue in this pic?



Einsteins crazy poof, with the streaks of grayish, @ 7 weeks



Again, with the comb, @ 7 weeks

 

[sager:)silkies]

not getting annoyed love the pics

 

[peepblessed]

I HOPE YALL AREN'T SICK OF ME YET! I feel like I have posted 1000 pics of my chicks!

Ok, I "thought" we were told that the whitish silkie was a white silkie from her show chicken. The little silkie was supposed to be a "blue/buff splash" project. BUT, everyone has said it was a partridge from day 1, and it really did look like a partridge at birth. Then, when it didn't grow, we haven't had much bird to work with. So I tool some photos outside today. Now, Einstein, the whitish one even has a grey streak on its back. Here are a few photos from this afternoon in the back yard. Please forgive the mess (we are getting a sprinkler system installed, there are trenches everywhere). These 2 were hatched together and are 7 weeks.

Einstein & Scrambled (hatched at the same time) my oddly colored bunch!, @ 7 weeks. Someone said they thought scrambled would be a dwarf. I am not sure what that means in chicken terms. Just tiny? I just keep calling it a runt.




Einstein, I think I see the blue in this pic?



Einsteins crazy poof, with the streaks of grayish, @ 7 weeks



Again, with the comb, @ 7 weeks

It is so amazing to see the two of them together. Is that little one growing at all? I think there's a good chance Einstein is a girl. Still can't help with the color. You may not know until the mature feathering comes in. It does look to be a quality chick and that little one is definitely a partridge.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

I HOPE YALL AREN'T SICK OF ME YET! I feel like I have posted 1000 pics of my chicks!

Ok, I "thought" we were told that the whitish silkie was a white silkie from her show chicken. The little silkie was supposed to be a "blue/buff splash" project. BUT, everyone has said it was a partridge from day 1, and it really did look like a partridge at birth. Then, when it didn't grow, we haven't had much bird to work with. So I tool some photos outside today. Now, Einstein, the whitish one even has a grey streak on its back. Here are a few photos from this afternoon in the back yard. Please forgive the mess (we are getting a sprinkler system installed, there are trenches everywhere). These 2 were hatched together and are 7 weeks.

Einstein & Scrambled (hatched at the same time) my oddly colored bunch!, @ 7 weeks. Someone said they thought scrambled would be a dwarf. I am not sure what that means in chicken terms. Just tiny? I just keep calling it a runt.




Einstein, I think I see the blue in this pic?



Einsteins crazy poof, with the streaks of grayish, @ 7 weeks



Again, with the comb, @ 7 weeks

Einstein is probably white - but what some call "Pearl" - which is a silver gened white - giving it that pearl or silver cast. It usually fades as they age and becomes a more brilliant white.

BUT i could be wrong!

 

[ThaiChick]

What does everyone use for nesting boxes for silkies?

 

[hokankai]

I use a plastic milk crate.

 

[Cynthia12]

We have a smaller coop, with smaller sized nest boxes in it. Hope to see these new ones lay in them this fall.

I just ordered some more Silkie eggs..from catdance, I think that's the name. Her birds look really nice. I think I will have my new bator in time for them. A cabinet bator..instead of these Styrofoam ones.

 

[SadieSue]

I believe my Silkie hatch is over. 9 Catdance eggs went into lock down and 6 hatched. One zipped all the way around, but didn't make it out. If I'd known maybe I would have tried to help it, but I have very little experience. Hope is fading for the last 2 still in the incubator - no pips. However - I do have 6 beautiful and sweet babies!

I promise I will get out the good camera later, but I didn't want to fuss with them too much tonight so just took some awful camera phone pics. I could use a little clarification on the colors. The chicks that hatched were from eggs marked Lavender, Porcelain, Black, Blue/Splash, and two were marked "PA". I thought Karen had told me that was Paint, but I'm not so sure now and I know nothing about genetics that might inform me as to what the "PA" chicks might turn out to be. Possibly Partridge?

Again - apologies for the bad photos - I also didn't have a chick wrangler to help me so...

Oh, one note - my little blue splash wouldn't sit still for a photo. I know this is my blue splash because I watched him/her work so hard to get free. Tonight when I put them in the brooder, I noticed it had membrane stuck to it's head. This baby fought hard to get out! So after several attempts to get this chick to sit still for a photo, I finally put him in my hand, where he promptly fell asleep. Ah Silkies... I had no idea. I think I'm a goner.

Any thoughts on the true colors? I tried hard to keep them straight as they were hatching, keeping notes, but once they dried it was hard to tell who was who!


Here's what I tried first - get them all together for comparison - what unsuccessful chaos that was!



Chick 1 is either Black or the mystery "PA"


Chick 2 is either Black or "PA"



Chick 3 is definitely "PA" - whatever that truly is!


My sleepy blue splash baby



Vaulted head Lavender


Porcelain baby

 

[SilverSilkie]

I have found it to be very unreliable. I have tried it.

I wrote : "Depends on the coloration, Partridges you can tell from day 1 !"

This is reliable on "pure" Partridges = eb/eb* (Silver & gold) it is'nt reliable on wheatons = eWh/eWh or eWh/eb.

* "pure" Partridges can't have other mutations as Co, Db, cha, B, choc, lav