Silkie thread!

[jsp28504]

Hey guys this is one of my four week old silkies it started of striped and is not mostly all blueish someone told me It would be a blue partridge but to me it looks blue is is how they are suppose to look at this age? And I think it may also have a naked neck gene?... Any help would be appreciated

It doesn't look like a SG to me... It's neck is naked in the wrong spots! Normally the ones I hatch look like they are wearing helmets, this one just has too much fluff on the back of it's head from what I can tell. Maybe it has some other sort of genetic defect that would cause a spars amount of feather on it's neck?

 

[Henny]

Do Silkies roost when going into the coop at night? Or do they tend to stay on the floor? How are they best kept safe at night?

 

[cubbysan]

I noticed that there's a lot of confusion with the sex of silkies,have you ever heard of the ring test?it is used all the time with expensive parrots. You tie a wedding ring to a string(like,6 in. It doesn't really matter) hold it in the air,tap the critter in question with the ring(still in midair) and hold the string very still. If it wiggles side to side,girl. In a circle,boy. I think that's how it works.test it first on a known girl or boy so you know it's working,the wiggle might be the other way around. I hope this was helpful!! Please tell me if it worked for you!

Funny thing is when I bought my last two ducklings at a couple days old, the farmer I bought them from did this. I just humored him while he said the two ducklings I bought were females as he used a hardware nut on a string. He knew I wanted girls. Well, sure enough they were girls. Statistically it was against my favor to get two girls, but it worked.

 

[PaintedFeathers]

It doesn't look like a SG to me... It's neck is naked in the wrong spots! Normally the ones I hatch look like they are wearing helmets, this one just has too much fluff on the back of it's head from what I can tell. Maybe it has some other sort of genetic defect that would cause a spars amount of feather on it's neck?

It looks like my friend's did, just a bad molt, the neck feathers are growing in much slower than the rest of the body. try giving it a bath and then they will fluff up better.

Do Silkies roost when going into the coop at night? Or do they tend to stay on the floor? How are they best kept safe at night?

Some do, but most don't. Keep them safe by predator proofing your coop.

 

[aoxa]

Do Silkies roost when going into the coop at night? Or do they tend to stay on the floor? How are they best kept safe at night?

What PaintedFeathers said.

Most do not. The few that do usually roost lower than standard chickens. I did have one rooster who would roost the highest up they could go. Seems the better they could see, the more likely they were to roost.

They should be as safe on the ground as they are on a roost. As long as your coop is predator safe, they should be fine - save for a few poops being dropped on them if they sleep UNDER the roost.

 

[PaintedFeathers]

I think if this egg doesn't hatch for some reason (looks good so far) I will order some catdance eggs =) I need black pullets for my project. We were countered again at $97,500 so we sent them back $95,000 so hopefully they accept this one and we are HOME FREE! Literally lol

 

[countrygirl74]

Do Silkies roost when going into the coop at night? Or do they tend to stay on the floor? How are they best kept safe at night?

I hear that most silkies do not roost as PaintedFeathers and Aoxa said... here is what mine do...
I have 2 silkie roos and 1 silkie hen in my regular flock. My silkie hen and my red roo always roost with all the standard chickens. My black roo, however prefers to sleep in a nesting box that's elevated. None of them have ever chosen to sleep on the floor. My hen sleeps on the lowest roost that is about 17" high and my red roo sleeps on the middle roost that is about 22".

 

[Henny]

Thank you all for your insight into the Silkie roosting behavior. It was very helpful.

 

[peepblessed]

I need some advice. This is my little Lulu (I am hoping she is indeed a she). She was hatched 01/01/13. She has one wing that droops, the other wing tucks up just nicely. Is this what is known as split wing? Or maybe she lost some wing feathers during shipping? Any advice? Thanks all!

I went out to my coop one day and found one of my pullets looking like this. She previously had perfect wings so I knew it was an injury. She did not act like it was painful at all. It slowly but steadily improved but still not perfect after 4 months. If it's not an injury, it is a serious fault.

Our azaleas are in full bloom, so I had to pose one of my girls against them

Just beautiful!!!

Look how cute these babies are. I never liked showgirls until I saw them in person. Look how cute.


These are from my own flock and love them already.

Very cute!!

Here's a silly question. The beautiful silkies I see in this forum, do you comb them? Or are they naturally fluffy like this?

And my silkie has some great cheek puffs, and her chest and but are filling out nicely, but there is no big puff on top of her head. Does that mean she is not going to have the big top notch? She is only 1.5 weeks old, is it still too early to tell? I really am hoping she is a big fluffer. I didn't get her from a breeder, so I am really crossing my fingers.

Mine don't start showing any serious head fluff until 8 - 10 weeks.

Here are updated pics of my fluffies.




Can you tell me what color this one is. Chick #1. Calico maybe?








This one has the pretties silkie feathering Chick #2 Partridge?



























The golden one in the bottom middle would not stay still enough for me to get a good picture of it. Chick #3 Color? It is a golden with blue under tones. These are my first Silkies and a learning experience. I have all my juveniles in a grow out coop together now with a 250 watt heat lamp for the cold days. right now everyone is getting along good. They have been together since I got them at 1 week. Sorry for so many double pics I don't know what went on and could not get them off. I have 5 silkies in total two blue and the 3 in question. How long until I can tell what gender they are? Some are developing a small comb looking rough place at the top of their beaks. Is this a sign of Roo? If so I n=may have 3 roos and 2 hens.

#1 in question looks like blue partridge

Wow can't keep up with you guys here.

So I am 99.9% sure Doc Holiday is a girl now at 17 weeks. We have another gender opposite name going on. I never change names.

I am not sure if I'm happy I was wrong yet or not. Most want their birds to turn out female, but I really wanted a son from Steve.

Oh well!
I'll post some pictures of her a bit later.



Henry our BMD is doing very well with the chickens. Only thing he's interested in is their food. He gets along very well with them and I am thrilled.



Here's a picture of our frizzled silkie Hope. As soon as the sun shines in the coop, she's dust bathing. She is unbearded, but is terribly cute

I absolutely love your puppy!!! Adorable photo of your frizzle.

I think if this egg doesn't hatch for some reason (looks good so far) I will order some catdance eggs =) I need black pullets for my project. We were countered again at $97,500 so we sent them back $95,000 so hopefully they accept this one and we are HOME FREE! Literally lol

 

[mar123]

Chicken coops should never get wet inside because of bacteria formation. Coops don`t need special ventilation as long as there some small 2 inches round holes around it, two or three are enough to keep fresh air in and the humidity out. I recommend you to remove the vent and cover it with a board of wood with small vertical holes on it.