Silkie thread!

[Sylvester017]

hi, could someone please tell me what makes up a show quality silkie? I know the 5 toes, then I am getting blurry on the rest, just wanted some opinions.... mine are only 5 days old so not like i'll be showing anytime too soon anyhow.

The American Silkie Bantam Club lists the SOP on the website if that helps you any. As far as show judging I guess that's all subjective from judge to judge. Smiles

 

[Sylvester017]

Gonna be getting two Silkie chicks to add to my 2 EE's, 2 Brahmas, and 3 Leghorn chicks I got yesterday. I am very excited!

I LUV it when owners get at least 2 of each breed when starting a flock. Same breeds like to forage together. Leghorns are a bit more independent during foraging but will all come together at noon Siesta time. My only concern would be the two heavy LF Brahmas around the 2-lb Silkies. No matter how gentle tempered a LF is they can still be tempted to bully smaller gentler bantams. Leghorns are so independent they usually mind their own business - at least that's been our experience with them around Silkies. We had to re-home a 7-lb Marans who decided to claw our POL 2-lb Silkie. A 2-lb bantam is outsized in a fair fight with heavy breeds. Something we learned the hard way. Now we introduce nothing larger than gentle tempered LF weighing 5-lb and under. We have an APA Ameraucana and a Buff Leghorn with our 2 Silkies and since the Silkies are older hens, they rule the flock. The two LF submit to the Silkies. I've heard Brahmas are gentle giants but I think I would've chosen the bantam variety w/ the Silkie mix. Ameraucanas and EEs are usually good in gentle flocks - spooky kooky and skittish, they usually aren't interested in flock politics.

 

[daphneysmamma]

My Brahma is gentle she is like a big pushover compared to my other largefowl. My wyandottes are not friendly to new flockmates at all.. and the barred rocks just tend to go with whatever.. its still so interesting to me the different personalities in the flock. Ppl think I'm crazy when I try to explain how each one has its own unique ways. Good luck on your flock.. I love the variety myself. I have however learned its a good idea to have a seperate pen even just a little tractor in case u have to seperate someone.

 

[Nevaschickens]

I LUV it when owners get at least 2 of each breed when starting a flock. Same breeds like to forage together. Leghorns are a bit more independent during foraging but will all come together at noon Siesta time. My only concern would be the two heavy LF Brahmas around the 2-lb Silkies. No matter how gentle tempered a LF is they can still be tempted to bully smaller gentler bantams. Leghorns are so independent they usually mind their own business - at least that's been our experience with them around Silkies. We had to re-home a 7-lb Marans who decided to claw our POL 2-lb Silkie. A 2-lb bantam is outsized in a fair fight with heavy breeds. Something we learned the hard way. Now we introduce nothing larger than gentle tempered LF weighing 5-lb and under. We have an APA Ameraucana and a Buff Leghorn with our 2 Silkies and since the Silkies are older hens, they rule the flock. The two LF submit to the Silkies. I've heard Brahmas are gentle giants but I think I would've chosen the bantam variety w/ the Silkie mix. Ameraucanas and EEs are usually good in gentle flocks - spooky kooky and skittish, they usually aren't interested in flock politics.

I also have 3 10 month BO's and a 10 month Silkie/Polsih mix. Shes about 2 pounds and the BO's love her. If anything bad does go wrong we have some people who only like LF so we would give them to that family. I am very excited to be adding to my flock!

 

[Nevaschickens]

My Brahma is gentle she is like a big pushover compared to my other largefowl. My wyandottes are not friendly to new flockmates at all.. and the barred rocks just tend to go with whatever.. its still so interesting to me the different personalities in the flock. Ppl think I'm crazy when I try to explain how each one has its own unique ways. Good luck on your flock.. I love the variety myself. I have however learned its a good idea to have a seperate pen even just a little tractor in case u have to seperate someone.

Thankfully we do just in case! Hopefully all goes well. I'm hoping for the best. We have 3 BO's and a Silkie/Polish mix who is about 2 pounds while the others are about 6 pounds. They get along just great.

 

[chickee]

I will check to see if she has a website. She's on FB, and she doesn't post a lot of pics of her beauties. I'll find out

I went and looked on FB since I had already joined the Silkie group. I was unable to find a website for her, but did get to see some more pictures of her Silkies. Very nice!

 

[omas biddies]

Thanks for the LAUGH

 

[Sylvester017]

Thankfully we do just in case! Hopefully all goes well. I'm hoping for the best. We have 3 BO's and a Silkie/Polish mix who is about 2 pounds while the others are about 6 pounds. They get along just great.

We tried separating our bully hens from the flock but they are crafty about getting out, slipping out, they want to be leader and separating is not always handy. They don't like isolation from the main flock if they can still hear or see them. Plus they want their original coop nestbox to still lay their eggs and get very agitated if isolated from their original dwelling. We just re-homed when we had a problem and thankfully the hens were good layers it was no problem to re-home. They were perfectly fine personalities and then one day went berserk and we had to take one Silkie to the vet. Thankfully we watch our flock all day from the sliding door and can see if something starts happening right away. That's why we keep the flock gentle tempered and all under 5-lb just to be safe now.

We were told Marans were such wonderful birds and accepted a pullet into the flock. She was ok for about 6 months and then decided to attack the Leghorn alpha and then a POL 6-month Silkie with biting, clawing, holding her down and terrorizing her with screams - it wasn't just rooish behavior but an all-out attack. No more 7-lb Marans today! I only go with super-gentle temperaments and under 5-lb birds as long as I have Silkies in the mix. My friend has an unpleasant BO in her flock but thinks her nastiness only arises during broody periods. She is often a pushy BO but usually not mean. She's re-homed a large BCM and BR because of aggression. Her two Cuckoo Marans are unpleasant nipping and chasing gentler EEs and Ameraucans and Leghorns around the pen but she sells eggs so she keeps them. She had bantam Silkies with her original LF chicks but the LF grew rapidly and the Silkies kept hiding all day under low shelter to keep safe. Bantams are an industrious hardy breed but this unequal environment was not a good situation for bantams to live in stress 24/7. Everyone's situation and choices are different. But my experience has heightened my awareness of the temperament difference and size difference of LF vs bantams in a flock mix.

One chicken is not like all other chickens. Can't just lump a bunch of chickens together without researching their compatibility. There are different temperaments to consider, diet requirements, weight discrepancies between breeds, and even a rogue individual within a normally gentle breed can occur beyond ordinary normal pecking order politics. Just my 2 cents worth of experience but everyone has to decide for themselves.

 

[omas biddies]

They are beautiful

 

[Urchin]

I doubt I'll be logging in again. I feel like my posts in this forum get ignored, so I'll be looking for greener pastures. I know I'm not on here much, don't have show-quality silkies, and am not one of the "popular" silkie owners, but I feel like I'm invading some kind of clique whenever I post here. In fact, I feel invisible a lot of the time. I want to be somewhere where I can talk about silkies, show off my chicks like others do and get opinions on them (I get no comments, other "popular" people get tons), and get questions answered. I apologize for trying to be in your exclusive club. Had I known you had to be an accepted member of that special silkie club to be acknowledged here, I would have never joined. Good luck with your flocks.