Silkie thread!

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So, It would be wrong to put the one I called a calico with the partridges that have the 4 pullets in the pic? Should I put that one up front in the pen with her parents to breed back?
 
I had posted here a while back wanting a couple of older hens just for broody's. I found a couple of young hens with faults from a breeder locally and they're a hoot. I got 2 so they would be company for each other since I know how cliquish breeds can be. They were twice the size of my Serama's and my lil rooster freaked over them, scared to death! I finally had to take them "out" of his pen, lol. The poor girls were totally confused but quickly settled in with my 4 Maran hens and pair of standard Cochins where they happily reside now. They're young but had started laying before I got them, they're about a year old. They haven't settled in long enough to lay for me but I don't care if they do or don't. They can be as broody anytime they want but above all, they're just as cute and sweet as I remembered them years ago when I had a couple as pets.

I have a couple of questions. I have a lower area for them to roost on but was wondering about the best set up for a couple of nest boxes for them. The nest boxes for the Maran hens seems to be too high for them. How far off the ground should they be for these girls? Do they prefer an open top/regular type of nest box a little lower to the ground or would they prefer something on the ground inside their building that is more secluded like a kennel box with straw? If they don't start laying again, should I give them a couple of marked eggs to encourage broodiness? I'm not trying to "make" them go broody but I do want them to be comfortable and happy so they'll do what comes natural.

I won't be hatching any of mine but a friend has some young SIlkies and has said she is getting really weak chicks and losing some. She asked me if this was normal for Silkies. I have never raised any so I thought I'd ask here and pass the information on.

Thanks
Cathy
 
Quote:
Silkies are as varied in the nest requirements as there are Silkies. Where one wants a covered nest, another wants to lay in an open corner. All nests for Silkies are best sitting on the floor. Actually I think the only reason raised nest boxes exist is so we don't have to bend over to pick them up because my two egg layers are just as happy having their nests on the floor.

Your girls probably will not go broody until after they've gone back to egg laying. The moving has probably caused a bit of delay. Once the egg laying process has started you will know that the hormones are beginning to kick in that will cause broodiness. Most of the time any way.

If your friend is having mortality issues it is probably coming from the breeding flock. It could be disease or nutrition issues. Although Lavenders do have some known problems. I haven't found it to be any more difficult to hatch Silkies and have them grow out than any of the other breeds I have here.
 
OK, I hatched a bunch of babies over the winter and ended up with over half of my flock being roos!!!! So, now they are getting older and not getting along as well as they did so I will have to get rid of a lot of them. I want to be sure to find them good homes but how do you decide who to keep and who to get rid of and how do I know what to charge for them???
Thanks for any advice you can give and let me know if anyone is interested and I can post some pics! They are all silkies but I do have a silkie/leghorn mix boy too that might need a new home.

EmVickery: I hatched out a boy that looks very similiar to the one you called a calico but I have no idea what color to call mine either! But he is very pretty!
 
Had a larger hatch yesterday. Still have more in the incubator I have to bring out to the brooder. The ones with black on their backs are buffs I marked with a sharpie to keep the lines seperate.
7443_chick_005.jpg
 
Quote:
We had hatched out all winter so we could take our pick of the best of the colors we wanted and sell the rest. I ended up in Indiana for 2 months so DH let the hens hatch out while I was gone since he's not available to tend to the bators. When I got home I started the bators back up and took the eggs away from the broodies and finished the job. We took what chicks we had and all the juvies we did't choose to keep which was many and went to a local swap and sold them all in an hour. I had probably 30 or more from chicks to juveniles. I don't know exactly how many. I never counted them. I kept all the sizzles because I can't tell the sex till they either crow or lay an egg.
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I kept a blue silkie cockerel to breed with the sizzles. I have assorted colors of the sizzles. 2 blue, 1 black, 2 white adult hens, and 1 I have no idea what the color would be but it's pretty. It hatched on Christmas. Maybe a grey but the feathers are laced. IDK
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I charged $5 each for the 4 and 5 onth olds, $3 for the 2 month olds and $1 for the chicks. Some of them had a good start on getting their wing feathers. I was pricing them with the intention of going homw without any birds. WELL.......a young boy set up next to us and after we sold out we went looking around and that boy had that roo. DH is such an enabler that we stood there and discussed how pretty he is and which pullets he may go good with etc. So we came home with a silkie after all.
 

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