Silkie thread!

[subhanalah]

Hahaha, reminds me of my little dog, but she's more soft-spoken. The silkies are dinosaurs! Lol.

 

[aatx]

It is not wise to mix roosters of large fowl and bantam, however hens usually manage just fine. My silkie ladies are quite tenacious and discourage negative attention from the other hens by simply pecking them if they invade the silkies personal space.

Thanks. Not planning on having any roos at this time. My co-worker has some silver-laced cochins. It sounds like personality wise they would be good matches, but again, aren't the best egg layers.

I wonder how adding some easter eggers into the mix would be. I was told heritage breeds were best, and they aren't one, but the seem to be okay and eggs and good on temperment.

 

[sonderah]

Thanks.  Not planning on having any roos at this time.  My co-worker has some silver-laced cochins.  It sounds like personality wise they would be good matches, but again, aren't the best egg layers.

I wonder how adding some easter eggers into the mix would be.  I was told heritage breeds were best, and they aren't one, but the seem to be okay and eggs and good on temperment.

Buff Orpington lay nice size eggs and lay them a lot. They r also very good natured. They r the only bird I've ever had that has never injured a newcomer, after a period of seeing but not touching of course. They seem to care less. With no roosters, I believe they would do well with silkies.

 

[austinbndr28]

It is not wise to mix roosters of large fowl and bantam, however hens usually manage just fine. My silkie ladies are quite tenacious and discourage negative attention from the other hens by simply pecking them if they invade the silkies personal space.

I have a large fowl and bantam rooster together in a pen and they do just fine never had problems with them fighting since the 2 years they have been together. I think that it is probably different with every bird though. I don't know which one is dominant though because they both let each other breed with the hens, usually the dominant rooster would run up to a lower ranked rooster breeding a hen and knock him off.

 

[subhanalah]

I have a large fowl and bantam rooster together in a pen and they do just fine never had problems with them fighting since the 2 years they have been together. I think that it is probably different with every bird though. I don't know which one is dominant though because they both let each other breed with the hens, usually the dominant rooster would run up to a lower ranked rooster breeding a hen and knock him off.

perhaps they see each other as "brothers" or some other sort of "two heads are better than one" relationship, where they both feel the need for another male to help fulfill all of the manly roles for the flock. The see each other as equals, they share the power and the responsibilities. And maybe they are both just that type of rooster, not really the biggest boss in town, but teamwork.

 

[Sylvester017]

you are a fountain of Information, Thanks, I have been reading all kinds of stuff and didn't find the info you just told me.


This is my Ameraucana/EE I put it that way cause the store had them listed as Ameraucanas, but we all know they don't get purebred chicks from a hatchery. I wish!! As you can see here her legs are yellow, but now that she is older they are Slate Grey. Will try and get pic's latter today, no reason just cause I think it is strange. never knew a chicks legs to change color before, and she has started feathering out white as you can see, but now she has some pretty strange colors coming in with the white... I just hope she is a she. I have been told that most white EE's turn out to be Roo's. I hope not and I was really hoping for an all white hen too but oh well!!!
Something else I have noticed, the hatchery information, most time don't match other info I find online. I was thinking about getting some chicks from a hatchery, till I started hearing all the terrible stories about lost and or missing chicks, dead chicks and the like... knock on wood I have never lost a chick before, and hope I never do. I really do think part of the reason is I let chicks and chickens be what they are, and lets face it they are not the cleanest birds in the world. Now I'm not saying that I let them sit in their own poo or anything like that, but all the brooder changes every day, the vit, and supplements, this and that.... they wouldn't be getting that in the wild or in the hen house if a broody was raising them, well they would be it would be all natural. So I give meal worms and crickets and anything I can, veg, fruit, all the stuff I would give to my hens and they would then feed to their chicks I give. I clan a brooder with 10 chicks 1x a week, 1 week it will be hay, the next pine shavings. I bring in dirt from outside and let them dust bath in it. I believe it brings the immune system up.
Don't know what got me on this subject???? Sorry I went way off target...
I sell eggs too ( well I did, and will again ) but I want to try the breeding thing and see what that gets me to, just as a hobby, I don't plan on getting rich with it, but hey wouldn't that be nice.... my biggest thing right now is having a nice colorful egg basket, and NOT EATING THOSE NASTY STORE EGGS anymore!! YUK!!!

My old customers keep calling and e-mailing wanting eggs, they are waiting on me they say... well gonna be a wait!!
Don't know if I could kill my own birds for food, I did it when they got sick but that's just cause treatments were slim to none to work, and if it did they would still be carriers, but that was to keep them from suffering, and I don't think my egg people would like it much if they found out about it.
DH keeps talking about doing that but I just don't see him doing it either, he hated helping me cull.
I have 2 Silkie Roo's right now am looking for some hens, but don't want chicks cause they may turn out to be Roo's, so I want grown but young hen's. I have a partridge and a buff. they are 10 weeks old yesterday and crowing already!!! My ISA Browns are only 6 weeks old and as big as the Silkies. so they are going to be small, didn't realize they were so tiny. lol

The hatchery EEs in feed stores can be nice birds. The hatcheries will sex day-old chicks for feed stores so pretty certain you are getting the right sex. It's usually bantams that aren't sexed because it's too dangerous to sex them.
Again, lucky if you have slate legs on your EEs. That's a good thing. I love the beautiful color variations on EEs. I hope yours turns out to be a girl - it looks Buff but you can't tell at this age - a real cutie because I personally love Buff colors. There ARE all-white EE pullets but its a rarity. I never heard about only roos being white as I have seen photos of the snow white EE pullets - just rarely. But if yours turns out not a girl, chick season will be in full swing for a few months to get another if you need to. Chick leg colors (and feathering) can change as they age. My Dominique chick was all black with a small white dot on her head and white solid underbelly and dark patches on her shanks. As she feathered out she lost the solid black and she developed the striped black and white Dom feather pattern and her legs lost the black patching down her legs turning yellowy. Chicks change a lot.
You're right - hatcheries or feed stores keep labeling EEs as Ameraucanas. My feed store is aware of that and informs his customers but some feed stores don't care or some employees don't know the difference. In U.K and Australia they call their Ameraucanas with tails as "Araucana."
I still love the EEs because they are related to the actual Ameraucanas - just don't meet SOP. I like the surprise of what color egg the EEs will lay. My APA Ameraucana definitely lays blue or she wouldn't be "Ameraucana." But with EEs you can get pink, mint, sage, blue-green, stone, cream, brown, even white plus there's all the gorgeous plumage patterns. With those egg color variants in the egg basket you can have just a 1/2 dozen EEs and have 6 different egg colors. My friend has 1 Amer and 3 EEs and gets 1 blue, 2 different shades of green, and 1 pink tan. She sells eggs too and EEs and Amers are great LG-XL layers with sweet dispositions usually. Her customers are willing to wait for her eggs for their golden yolks. They will order 3 and 4 dozen at a time because they know they are on a "waiting list." I read once that eating greens helps the hen form the Omega-3 golden color in the yolk. Dunno if that's true but my free-range girls really have very golden yolks - even my friends and family notice.
Silkie breeders are everywhere. Threre's got to be a breeder near you where you can pickup pet quality juvenile pullets that sell cheaper than show quality simply because these breeders have a surplus of Silkies that don't meet SOP but are still good birds either for breeding or to use as broodies. All bantams at feed stores are "straight run" and not sexed but an older juvenile from a breeder should be more easily sexed. You may have to wait for one from a breeder because Silkies, or any chicken, you have to wait until they lay and hatch clutches and wait for the breeder to separate out the pet quality from show stock. I waited 6 months to get my Ameraucanas from a breeder - pet quality because the legs were not slate grey enough for show but does lay the XL Blue eggs and otherwise a gorgeous puffy cheeked cutie.
Silkies are known to be a larger sized bantam. A decent weight for Silkie pullets is in the 2-lb range. My Black weighs 2.2 lb average with the Partridge weighing slightly heavier but not by much. She feels just a bit heavier but size-wise they stand identically the same. The Partridge doesn't have the vaulted skull that the Black has so therefore the Black always has a fuller bonnet around her face. Being free-range they are always picking up debris and spider webs in their "hair" and sometimes we have to clean off their fluff. I like Silkies over other bantams because they don't have combs to frostbite in winter and are hardy in our So Calif heat in spite of all that fluff. We keep a mister going in the backyard if the temps go over 85 degrees and the chickens like to forage under the fine misting spray. Not a bad size egg 1.25 oz for a bantam. They dust-bathe a lot but we still treat them with Organic Poultry Protector 1 or 2x a month because wild birds can continually bring lice into the yard. That's why I worm twice a year also because of the wild bird population - Mourning Doves, Sparrows, Finches, Phoebes, Mocking Birds, Blackbirds, Crows, Hawks, etc. Uninformed people blame chickens for disease but it's the wild birds that carry and spread disease around because they are free-flying everywhere whereas poultry stays generally in a parameter. If disease spreads it's either by man moving birds from location to location or the free-flying wild bird populations flitting around the countryside spreading their "germs" from yard to yard.

 

[aatx]

Buff Orpington lay nice size eggs and lay them a lot. They r also very good natured. They r the only bird I've ever had that has never injured a newcomer, after a period of seeing but not touching of course. They seem to care less. With no roosters, I believe they would do well with silkies.

Thanks. I expect I'll need alternates unless I really want to travel.

 

[austinbndr28]

perhaps they see each other as "brothers" or some other sort of "two heads are better than one" relationship, where they both feel the need for another male to help fulfill all of the manly roles for the flock. The see each other as equals, they share the power and the responsibilities. And maybe they are both just that type of rooster, not really the biggest boss in town, but teamwork.

It's only those 2 that get along. If another rooster walks by their pen they will go to fight between the fence or if a rooster flies in they will attack him. I guess they are best friends.lol
The big one is a cochin X wyandotte mix
Here's a pic of them in the wet poultry photo contest

 

[Sylvester017]

my black ones

OK - I LOVE the Black ones! I LOVE Partridge too. Those are some tiny chicks in that big hand LOL

 

[Sylvester017]

It's only those 2 that get along. If another rooster walks by their pen they will go to fight between the fence or if a rooster flies in they will attack him. I guess they are best friends.lol
The big one is a cochin X wyandotte mix
Here's a pic of them in the wet poultry photo contest

There is nothing sadder looking than a drowned Silkie but they sure fluff up nicely afterwards!