Silkie thread!

[peepblessed]

Yeah, I was just going to hatch out a couple so I could get a couple of pullets. Well I have 10 at the moment, and I know when the time comes I am going to find it hard to part with any of them! They are just soo cute?

Peep- I saw your post about your babies going outside at 6 weeks. Where are you located? I am wondering about doing that here in WA state. The days are fine but the nights can get down to 55-60 degrees. I could supplement with a ceramic bulb of lower wattage if necessary. Thoughts? They are so small! I worry. Lol!

I reduce the size of the lightblub in the house every week. At 4 - 5 weeks I put them out during the day. At 6 weeks they can go out in any temp as long as they have a dry, draft free place. Some times I give them a low watt light for another week but that's really for my benefit. I live in the mountains and it gets down in the low teens here in the winter.

 

[aoxa]

I think that most of the folks who post this kind of stuff are rank beginners who bought a pair or so of chickens and immediately started selling eggs, chicks, etc.  Very few exhibitors (of any breed) will sell eggs or chicks--they know that for every drop dead gorgeous bird they hatch, they will also hatch a bunch of ones who may be nice, or may not, but are not potential show champions.  And they usually do not want to risk letting those very few stellar examples go.

Maybe ask the moderators to post a sticky thread on terminology in the BST section, or even make it part of the required reading to participate there?  It would help if you provide at least a start of the writeup.  Limit the terms to those commonly used in ads, and don't aim it as an attack, just as an informative set of data.  

This is EXACTLY what I was writing last night before my computer died on me.

My friend Jamie Carson breeds really good show silkies. He will not sell chicks that his show flock produces. He sells them at 6 months for $50 and up depending on quality.

He has a breeding flock of decent silkies, but not the ones that he would take to show, so he can sell chicks to the public due to high demand. He saves the best for himself. Which is what I would do as well. Most people are not looking for show birds. They want a flock of cute little silkies. If you want top quality, you will have to pay for it, and they will not be day old chicks.

 

[peepblessed]

Pretty! Looks like they are happy to be out eating the grass.

Okay, I finally drug out my mail scale. It read out at 2 lbs 15.8 oz for my rooster .... which means he is 47.8 ounces. The standard calls out 36 ounces for a cock. He is a whopping 11.8oz too heavy. Sigh. I indeed have a boy too large. Well that just bites. What are your thoughts on "runts"? LOL In all seriousness I have two chicks that aren't growing like the others and I suspect they are boys. They are VERY tiny... thinking that would make a better rooster?? Of course, depending on how they grow out and if they present with any faults. At this point in time, their feet are perfect (nice V with no webbing on the 4th and 5th)... but too early to look at wings and crest, leakage, etc... Have you had an experience with tiny runts that don't grow at the normal rate. Is that something to stay away from..? I have other cockerels growing out, but they are offspring to my "large" cock.

THIS is supposed to be the thread for those interested in showing and breeding to SOP. We just need more people interested in showing to stick around. But otherwise, there are several people here that are breeding to SOP, but yeah, not everyone is doing that. No reason to ditch the thread, because this is a great source of information for everyone. It would be nice if the ASBC had a more active board for those of us with questions regarding showing and breeding, but it doesn't. The only other place would be the ASBC FB group, and I have found I can get immediate answers to questions. This is a fantastic thread right here and if you are going to start showing your birds, then I hope you stick around to offer tips and advice you learn to others that are just starting out. This is my first year showing-- starting early this Spring, this summer, and now our next one will be in the Fall. That experience is invaluable to the thread here and others that are wanting to get started themselves in doing this. Sonoran and others offered their experience to me right here on this thread right before my first show, and I still have a lot to learn. This thread could offer more if we all stuck around and encouraged others to do the same and shared our experience.

Wow, your boy didn't look that big! Just shows how balanced he is. Well said final remarks. For the good of the silkie breed I wish the show people would stick around here. Everyone was a newbie once and most people start with pet quality and get interested in showing later. Who will help them make that transition? If it wasn't for some wonderful show people on here who personally helped me evaluate my birds, I would be sunk since I am too handicapped to even attend a show.

 

[KMHunter]

Quote: Oh good. Then I am going to start putting them all out in the run during the day and use a lower wattage ceramic bulb in the brooder at night for another week or so. Then I am going to kick all of their cutre little fuzzy behinds outside for good! It's getting warm enough here that I shouldn't worry too much.

Yeah, right.
I have never had anything so small and cute! It brings out my overprotective side. But I know I can't coddle them too much or they may not stay healthy. At least I have found that to be true of my LF chicks.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: My general thoughts have always been 95 the first week, 90 the second, and so on, down by 5 degrees each week. When that temperature meets ambient temperature, they can go outside without extra heat. BUT, I go more by how they act than an actual temperature setting. When they go outside depends on space in my house and on my porch. At this time of year I worry more about the babies outside getting too hot (and unable to regulate their temperature or insulate with a full set of feathers) than too cold. But I live in the low desert in Arizona--today is expected to be 106--as was yeasterday. FWIW, that is cooler than usual. 110-12 would be more common.

 

[GoldBarRanch]

Thanks for sharing! This is a picture of George when he was younger, he has matured very nicely. Though we did rehome him recently but have two barred babies growing out. I just noticed last night that the blue cuckoo's comb is starting to turn more mulberry compared to the black cuckoo!!

George

babies

Sadly my husbands dog go ahold of him last night and killed him

the dangers of free ranch on your propertys I WONT DO IT NOT ANY MORE !. Even though he wasnt in my breeding program anymore I NEVER WANTED HIM TO DIE! Hubbys penalty is to replace it with more silkies and instal the hot wire around the dogs kennel so it doesnt happen again.

 

[KMHunter]

Quote: My general thoughts have always been 95 the first week, 90 the second, and so on, down by 5 degrees each week. When that temperature meets ambient temperature, they can go outside without extra heat. BUT, I go more by how they act than an actual temperature setting. When they go outside depends on space in my house and on my porch. At this time of year I worry more about the babies outside getting too hot (and unable to regulate their temperature or insulate with a full set of feathers) than too cold. But I live in the low desert in Arizona--today is expected to be 106--as was yeasterday. FWIW, that is cooler than usual. 110-12 would be more common.
Wow! So glad I don't have to worry about those kind of temps here! It would be one more thing for me to worry about. Lol!
If the nights get really cool, I have two different wattage ceramic bulbs that I can add to the coop.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: That has its own problems--people purchasing from a known breeder/exhibitor expect that the birds they purchase come from the show flock, not an "extra" flock whose purpose is bird sales. When someone wants to purchase from me, my first question is always "tell me what you are looking for."

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:

While I agree that this thread is the place to discuss exhibiting and breeding silkies, there are a lot of folks who want to show off their cute babies or youngsters, or even their older birds. Or are newbies with a lot of questions. There are already more silkie threads here than there are for just about any other breed.

At times the club forum is active--it usually takes someone posting a thread that inspires comments, thoughts and answers. If you want a more active club forum, post some threads and comments there. I rarely start threads there, but I do comment on the ones whose titles interest me. One thing nice about the club forum is that the threads are far more specific.

This thread is very general--specific only in that it all relates to silkies. The really good thing about BYC, though is ALL the breeds and the threads that are not just silkie specific. I spend a lot more time reading other threads than I do the silkie threads--they are just too hard to keep up with.

There are a TON of facebook pages on silkies. Problem with facebook is that finding anything that was posted more than a day or two ago is almost impossible--unless it is a site with almost no posts...as far as I can see, most of the facebook stuff is predominantly social or immediate and transient needs queries.

 

[4hchickmama]

I was hoping one of you could direct me to where there was a discussion about split wing. I'm not sure if I should be concerned or not with my bird. Shes about 9-10 months and she just moulted, which could be what I am seeing, but she appears to possibly have a split wing on one side. Or maybe it is just growing in slow....or maybe I am just overreacting...lol. But if someone could direct me, I would appreciate it. I would love to read more about it.

Thanks!