Silkie thread!

[littlecritters]

Well, I have a death to report.

Of course, it's the one named silkie I have. My famed Macho. He cheated death once but not twice. I think it was another head injury from chasing hens, he had no mark on him and there was no blood. I'm going to miss him, but I'm not absolutely devastated for breeding. I've sort of fallen 'out of love' with him over the past few weeks. I've started to like my other roo more. He has a better crest, beard, comb, and much better foot feathering. He also is much more successful mating with the hens and I believe the chicks I have are all his based on their crests. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to miss my proud, chesty, 'heart boy' a lot. I'll miss his hen-chasing antics and tinny, squeaky crow. I'll miss the way he would suddenly freeze and strike a pose with his chest puffed out as much as possible. I buried him beneath our old mulberry bush (that is large enough to be a tree) and it was very sad having to bury all that beautiful fluff go beneath the soil. Here's to quite possibly the proudest silkie on earth. Bye my big sweet boy

I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm going to miss seeing Macho. :-(

 

[littlecritters]

I agree. Mine are fine on the days I leave them shut up in the coop, but they are always super excited when I open the pop door and let them out into their run (which is most days, really bad weather is the only thing that prevents them from going out and that's bc I don't want to walk through it to open the door).

On a sadder note, there was a brush fire at my house today :/ We didn't loose anything, thank goodness, but it came DANGEROUSLY close to my coop. If I had chosen to stay later at work it would have been an absolute disaster. The fire department came and put it out and I've been checking it every half hour to make sure it stays out since I'm super paranoid about it now. I have no idea how it started either. Our back hill was fine when I left for work this morning and up in flames when I returned. There's also a huge wood pile back there from a bad windstorm we had a few months ago!
It could have been SO much worse, but it still scared the dickens out of me!!!

I am so glad that you didn't lose any chickens or property. And I'm relieved that you were not hurt either.

yikes! i hate fire, and my boyfriend is reckless with it.


quick question... i dont have cayenne for my ff, can i use chipotle chili powder? all it is is chipotle chilis.

I don't think it would be a good substitute. In humans, cayenne affecst our metabolisms and is a healthy supplement to take. I don't believe chilis have the same health effect. But, I'm not sure why cayenne is added to FF as it speeds up the burning of calories and assists in weight loss for humans.

 

[littlecritters]

Haven't visited the silkie thread for a good long while! Here are some pictures of my two white pullets I will be showing this month, although they look a lot more mature now (pics about a month old). I produced these two late last fall. And then my lone splash hen...will be showing her too but will probably sell her. I have an incubator full of silkie eggs and three broodies on more, hopefully I will have more eggs to share before too long! These two haven't started laying yet...

Wow! Your whites are like sparking cotton balls and that splash is gorgeous!

 

[missnu01]

A few months ago I got a silkie cockerel off Craigslist in hopes of making silkie mixes, but then these last few days I've been thinking of putting him in Craigslist again because my big rooster won't let the silkie get near "his hens" but we have some mixed banties that the big roo lets an equally barnyard mixed bantam rooster have, so still yet the poor silkie gets closed out..anyway we were going to eat he barnyard mix, but he seems to be an awesome rooster, which is why I figured I would rehome the silkie, but looking through this makes me want to pen him up with the banties and make me some half fuzz babies! Other roosters be darned!

 

[PaintedFeathers]

Does anyone know what kind of shampoo silkies can use?

Here is my thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/752452/grooming-silkies-for-show/20#post_10830117

A few months ago I got a silkie cockerel off Craigslist in hopes of making silkie mixes, but then these last few days I've been thinking of putting him in Craigslist again because my big rooster won't let the silkie get near "his hens" but we have some mixed banties that the big roo lets an equally barnyard mixed bantam rooster have, so still yet the poor silkie gets closed out..anyway we were going to eat he barnyard mix, but he seems to be an awesome rooster, which is why I figured I would rehome the silkie, but looking through this makes me want to pen him up with the banties and make me some half fuzz babies! Other roosters be darned!

Just remember, the first generation will be normal feathered, you will have to breed the offspring to each other or back to dad to make silkied feathers

 

[Sanna]

Like someone else said, most of the work is done waaay before the actual show!lol. The day before you will want to give them a bath and try to keep their feet clean.... The actual day of the show you will simply do some last minute grooming, then place them in the cage with your show number

then you simply hang out with friends, look at the birds for sale, look at the other show birds etc. and of course watch nervously as the judges judge your birds! Haha.

I would recommend giving your bird a bath a few days before the show. I think, this way, they'll have enough time to preen and bring those natural oils back which makes the feathers look shinier, if I remember right.

Last year, when I took two of my Silkies to a fair and gave them a bath the night before, their fluff looked pretty flat..

Or, maybe I just didn't know what I was doing at the time! lol

Does anyone know what kind of shampoo silkies can use?

Anything mild, like baby shampoo. I've also used Dawn dish liquid. Apparently it cuts through the wax on the feathers. For a white bird, use one of those blue shampoos for white hair.

 

[Polla Chickie]

Blue shampoo? Do u know the brand by any chance?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: not just a gnome duck, he's G Gnome Duck I generally look at avatars, too.

 

[Sanna]

Blue shampoo? Do u know the brand by any chance?

There are a bunch of different brands. I've used the whitening shampoos for horses because I live on a farm and I mostly work with horses. And we have a tack store on the premises so it's really easy to get that stuff.

You can also find the whitening shampoos at hair salons and other hair product stores. I don't know if you could find something like that at like a WalMart or Target, in the shampoo section? Never thought to look. When I worked for a show barn, we used to use this hair product for people. It was a shampoo for grey hair, for people that really wanted to brighten that grey/white color of their hair. I can't remember the name it to save my life, but it was a purple bottle.

That stuff worked better than most horse products I had tried.
And, they also make these whitening shampoos for dogs. So a pet store would probably sell something like that also.

 

[Polla Chickie]

Is any Shampoo for humans is safe for chickens?