Silkie thread!

[Colie <3]

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I've got a roll of shade cloth on standby from lowes it says 75% on it so I hope it'll cut it. It's soo dry here it feels like an oven just miserable being outside sometimes. Thanks for the advice!

 

[ultasol]

We get 110 here in the summer for at least a week. I provide indoor coop space, good air circulation, plenty of water, and someplace moist to lay. Mine have done well in the heat.

 

[Colie <3]

What do you use for the "somewhere moist to lay on" part? We usually stay 100 or higher for 2-3 months in the summer.

 

[destiny_56085]

God I'm jealous Colie.... I want heat!!!! Its finally up in the 20's (might hit 30 by mid-day). 1-2" of snow by morning and another 6-12" predicted for tues/wed. Possibly more for on friday. Send some of that warmth up here.... Its been one of the snowiest winters on record ever and we have nowhere to pile any more of that white crap.

I'm lucky that our barn is one of those old brick type dairy barns. It stays about 20 degrees cooler in there during the summer. That shadecloth works fairly well. I have friends that use it on their dog kennels and it keeps from turning them into ovens.

 

[ultasol]

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Yes, they are a crested breed. Basic upkeep is not as difficult as some people make it out to be. I use ivermectin in rotation with other low-impact chemicals as needed, which is only a few times a year. I find them as healthy as other birds.

 

[ultasol]

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I didn't think so.

I dbout im going to find perfect buff silkies, because there is on 'perfect' animal out there. So i would probably want to breed them, but I don't want to have a lot of pens to keep pairs/trios/quads, can i still help improve the breed/variety and not be over my head with chickens?

Well then you probably don't want to work with buff silkies. The very standard written for them is set up for failure. If you want the nice dark skin required on a silkie, you have to breed for the black tailed/partridge based buffs. You are going to encounter alot of smut in the tails and wing primaries in a quest to get the dark skin. If you want the nice clear golden/wheaten based buffs, you encounter problems with too light of down color and going back to red or light greyish skin color again. To get good buffs for the show ring, you have to raise alot. Be prepared to send alot to pet homes. Its nothing more than a fine balancing act to try and get a bird with dark enough skin and very little smut in the coloration. Those birds aren't always going to breed true either. Hatch 100 chicks and you might end up with 5 truly good enough to show. This is just looking at coloration...take into consideration conformation and you might have 1 decent one. Buffs also change color with molts too. A chick that starts out clear may have alot of black by the time its 10 months. Some of your darker ones will molt out clearer. They are frustrating! I've played with them so many times over the years and sold out/given up many times.

Amen! I've got some decent ones,.. and it's a struggle no matter how good the initial stock is. Although, the problems in black males is almost as bad... but not quite

 

[Colie <3]

Omgoodness I hate the cold! I went back home to Kentucky in January and it was 0 degrees I thought I was going to keel over! I'm definitely become accustomed to the southern states over the past years. Very thankful to be here at the moment. **here's me sending warm weather your way, whoosh whoosh!**

 

[Teresaann24]

Colie <3 :

Omgoodness I hate the cold! I went back home to Kentucky in January and it was 0 degrees I thought I was going to keel over! I'm definitely become accustomed to the southern states over the past years. Very thankful to be here at the moment. **here's me sending warm weather your way, whoosh whoosh!**

Kentucky weather sucks...LOL It was 60 here the other day now its back in the 20's-30's​

 

[ultasol]

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Anytime you feel like moving over to WA I can act as tour guide for the SE portion of the state

we've even got casinos here....

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I am so disgusted!!!! Yesterday we have 50's all day and pouring rain, so the birds couldn't come out and I wake up this morning and its 25 and snowing!!! I thought spring was comming.

At least its only going to be around 2 or less inches. And its supposed to warm up and be in the 40's all week so hopefully it will melt.