Silkie thread!

[Suzierd]

This is my first silkie hatched last year. My first purebred silkie ever. He is a big boy now & starting to crow! He is dirty but thought I would post his pic & see what you all thought. His name is Ozzie. He is kinda of a quirky little guy probably because he resides at the bottom of the pecking order! Thanks

Just beautiful!

 

[RockerHen]

Thanks

I feed all of my birds a high protein feed as it is so I don't think that would be a problem. I am hoping she learns how to use the feeder and waterer, I dipped her beak in the water but not sure how to teach her how to eat. I will probably move her to the outdoor pen once I feel she is big enough to not get picked on too bad. She is still pretty small and only her wing feathers have grown in so far. I don't think blackhead is a problem here, I've never heard of an outbreak.

A way a lot of people teach poults to eat/drink is to put chicks of around the same age in with them. The poult will see the chicks eating and drinking and follow their lead.
I love poults, even with their slowness, their tiny little fuzzy snood cracks me up

 

[PaintedFeathers]

The mother turkey might come back for it.

If she does I will put it back outside for her, but she and the rest of the brood are nowhere to be seen. She has at least 5 others so I don't know if she would bother for one.

 

[NOLA Chicks]

This is my first silkie hatched last year. My first purebred silkie ever. He is a big boy now & starting to crow! He is dirty but thought I would post his pic & see what you all thought. His name is Ozzie. He is kinda of a quirky little guy probably because he resides at the bottom of the pecking order! Thanks

Ozzie is real looker!

 

[bigboy70]

yeah the US doesn't have LF silkies, only bantams. If you don't want a bantam bird, you could try a cochin? They are just as sweet as silkies I have heard and just as fluffy but with normal feathers.

Then how come when I got to like Wilco they have the silkie bantams and others but there tag as just silkies

 

[PaintedFeathers]

Then how come when I got to like Wilco they have the silkie bantams and others but there tag as just silkies

huh? not quite understanding what you mean. Silkies will just be tagged as silkies here in the US because there are no large fowl. Unless a few people have imported them. But stores like that only sell hatchery chicks, so they will not look like regular fluffy silkies most of the time.

 

[PaintedFeathers]

mamma and babies came back to forage again, so I put the baby back out with them

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote:
It is my understanding there are two whites, a recessive and a dominant. Recessive is what most whites are bred from- and it requires two copies to be white. It will never "become" dominant white. Dominant White (from my research) is what Paint is based on - it does not require two copies and it covers almost completely with one copy - except for leakage. That's why you get black spots, those are "leakage". It is much less common. It is also why if you breed two Paints together for a long time you get white - it covers more and more. It may get rid of other hidden genes that cause the leakage, I am still not sure on why - but it does get whiter and whiter. That's why you have to go back to black to keep the spots.

If your Paint is from a Paint pen, then you will get the Blue Paints and Paints.

 

[peepblessed]

We have nine silkies. Two of them are almost 4 months old now, but they are not related. We've been thinking they are both boys. One of them has been crowing for a least a month now but the other is not crowing yet. It's comb is bigger than the other pullets but smaller than the cockerel of the same age that is crowing, and it's "fluff" is not as round as the other pullets. I've read that some lines mature most slowly than others. This one is hatched from eggs that came from Catdance.

What do you think - slow maturing cockerel or pullet?

His legginess and awkwardness is what indicates a boy.

I ordered hatching eggs from ebay. they're on day 8 now! yeah! they're so active in the shell it is so sweet. I hope they all make it to the end. Only one wasn't growing, the air sack was damaged. Hopefully all the other air sacks are going to hold up to the end, I heard that many times shipped eggs won't hold till the end if they weren't shipped right. So we'll see! so that is 7 I have growing. they are B/B/S. we're leaving for 6 days, so hopefully they'll all be fine when gone. whew!

Hope you have a really great hatch!

This is my first silkie hatched last year. My first purebred silkie ever. He is a big boy now & starting to crow! He is dirty but thought I would post his pic & see what you all thought. His name is Ozzie. He is kinda of a quirky little guy probably because he resides at the bottom of the pecking order! Thanks

There are many things that can't be evaluated from these photos but he's a pretty boy alright.

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote:
I think its because Silkies can both be purchased from a hatchery under "Silkies" and they are also listed in the Bantam section as Silkies... they are the same size bird and they come from the same bin at the Hatcheries when they are shipped. Feed stores and places like Wilco and Tractor Supply Company mark on the boxes what they are told from the Hatcheries. Just check out their "Rhode Island Reds", "Barred Rocks" and "Americaunas"... they are not accurate. At least the Silkies are actually still Silkies.. even if they are usually very poor quality (but still sweet birds). Overseas they have two sizes and some people have been talking about importing the larger ones - but they will not be available from anybody except a breeder.