Silkie thread!

[Jharper]

@Jharper
Nope. She has no problems at all. She's a hearty eater!

Wow. My big crested ones usually have trouble finding their food. Lol!

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

Has anyone ever bought silkies from MPC? if so how did they turn out quality wise?

I don't know what MPC is, but I bought day old Silkies from a hatchery and fertile eggs from a breeder. The hatchery included 3 extra chicks in case a few died. Out of 18 eggs from the breeder 3 hatched, only one of those lived past the first week. All 18 hatchery chicks survived. Now that they are nearly grown you cannot tell the difference between breeder or hatchery. The cost was equal and I got 18 to 1 so hatchery was better in my experience.

 

[tlcarnes2176]

I am new to silkies! I have a pair of beautiful white silkies and I want to try and hatch some eggs for myself. I just don't know when they should start laying. They are 18 weeks old. The only eggs I have hatched were EE's. They turned out great, but they were laying at 21 weeks old. I just thought I'd ask for an age range to look forward to, because I want to separate them from my other birds. Thanks for any advice or suggestions.

 

[RockerHen]

I am new to silkies! I have a pair of beautiful white silkies and I want to try and hatch some eggs for myself. I just don't know when they should start laying. They are 18 weeks old. The only eggs I have hatched were EE's. They turned out great, but they were laying at 21 weeks old. I just thought I'd ask for an age range to look forward to, because I want to separate them from my other birds. Thanks for any advice or suggestions.

Mine didn't start until they were 8 months old. Some take even longer. Silkies are generally a slow maturing breed, but there are exceptions, as with everything. Occasionally you'll have earlier layers as well. It just depends on the bird

 

[drumstick diva]

MPC doesn't raise/hatch their own birds they get them from another big hatchery. You could do the same and cut out the middle man.

My friend got the most beautiful silkies from Sundown Waterfowl in Germantown, NY. I don't believe she advertises on the Buy,sell,trade forum here anymore. She got them at 4 or 5 mos. old and they were sexed. Before she had hatchery silkies and UGH, they didn't even look like pure silkies and had hard feathers etc ,poor crests, etc.

. I used to show and breed dogs, if I were starting over, I would only buy from a breeder. Of course there are good and bad breeders too, you have to do your homework.

 

[Urchin]

Ella is still mothering the heck out of her four week-old chicks and I wonder since she's alone now with just the chicks how long she's going to keep mothering them. They're slow to feather and I'm just starting to see feather growth on them. It looks like they're going to be blues. That doesn't help identify the dad much, who could be one of three blues, a buff (if a buff/blue mating would give you blue chicks), or a splash. I'm leaning towards White Flame (the splash) or Jazz (a blue) being the father because they're the more dominant roosters and have shown an interest in mating for a lot longer. The other two blues just started realizing they liked hens this month and the bluff shows absolutely no interest. In fact, we just confirmed him crowing this week. All the roosters are now six to eight months old. The mother is Professor Fluffles (blue), who was the only silkie hen laying eggs at the time.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with Ella now that Thunderhead's gone. I don't know if she's exactly coop material. She's awfully timid and by now very used to be an indoor chicken. I'm hoping both her chicks are female because then we'll just keep them together. If one chick's a rooster, they're all going to have to go temporarily into the coop so I'm not just integrating the rooster by himself. If both chicks are roosters, I guess Ella will have to learn to live in the coop. I don't want to keep her with just a rooster for company. He'll be constantly all over her. I wish Thunderhead would have lived. Then we wouldn't have housing problems to consider.

 

[bantambury]

Awww...such a sweet story!

thank you! im just hoping my 7 silkies hatching on NYD will just be safe.

Aunt Bea wasn't having any of their foolishness and broke it up.

this is TOO cute!

 

[chickee]

I was so pleased today with my 8 week old Silkie chicks! I took the partition out between them and my 4 week old golden cuckoo Marans chicks and they excepted them with no trouble! They acted like they were just part of the group

I was so relieved! Usually the older chicks pick on the younger ones. I am impressed with my Silkies! They are my first ones and I am loving them!

 

[bantambury]

I was so pleased today with my 8 week old Silkie chicks! I took the partition out between them and my 4 week old golden cuckoo Marans chicks and they excepted them with no trouble! They acted like they were just part of the group

I was so relieved! Usually the older chicks pick on the younger ones. I am impressed with my Silkies! They are my first ones and I am loving them!

thts great to hear!

im hoping the introduction of my silkies will go well in my flock......





does anyone have a link that could help with chick introductions within a flock?


here are the chickens in my flock.....if you all could, could you tell me if any of them would be too aggressive? they are all bantam sized too.

~ Splash Silkie Hen

~ White Silkie Rooster

~ Americana OE mix Hen

~ Americana mix Hen

~ Japanese Bantam Rooster



if any of you guys could help it would be AWESOME!

 

[CherokeeFlats]

I just set 12 Silkie eggs that I had shipped in from PeepBlessed in CA. I am so excited to see how this turns out. Will keep everyone posted.