Silkie thread!

[DanielE1990]

Yeah I noticed how friendly they are. I had some jump right into my hand out of the shipping box. ♡

But I cant keep them because I dont have the space. I tthought about eating the "packing peanuts" when they got that size but I can see thats not going to happen now lol so I think I need to find then a home asap so I dont get even more attached. Pluss the 40 agal tank is not big enough to keep them all in long. I have 16 total 9 silkies and 7 RIRs

 

[emvickrey]

I guess those chicks I would be my line. The roo came from Bobbi Porto. The hens came from him and a hen that also came from Bobbi Porto that somebody else hatched. She moved and I bought the pullets back. The chicks are from them so from what I understand that would be concidered my line. I will start selling eggs when the hens stop being broody. They will be sold on the 24 hr auction thread. I'm trying to avoid ebay.

 

[emvickrey]

OK so I just found this and HAD to share with you all. I thought it was EXTREEMELY funny.....funnier than it relly is. LOL

I hatched chicks 12/31/13 and 1/1/14. I had 3 silkies and 1 silkie cross. two of the silkies were female, and the other silkie and silkie cross were males. I never noticed this picture until just now:





the females are the two girls sitting in the back. they are the porcelain and partridge. the males are the tiny bantam silkie cross and the jumbo white sizzle. they looked like they were having some epic battle between each other or something......am I right?

I hatched a porcelain and partridge mix chick too. It was very light in color but had light stripes. Today is brooder cleaning day so please excuse the mess.
It does the hen squat when I touch it's back. I reckon it's a pullet. Another one to add to my sizzle pen. I can see it's gonna be a frizzled silkie




Here is another chick a little older that is probably from the same pair. I didn't mark the egg so I'm not sure but it's possible.

This one is broody raised. I love how it has the white at the tips.

 

[lightchick]

Yeah I noticed how friendly they are. I had some jump right into my hand out of the shipping box. ♡

But I cant keep them because I dont have the space. I tthought about eating the "packing peanuts" when they got that size but I can see thats not going to happen now lol so I think I need to find then a home asap so I dont get even more attached. Pluss the 40 agal tank is not big enough to keep them all in long. I have 16 total 9 silkies and 7 RIRs

I'm good with getting rid of my extras it's just that now I HAVE to find homes for them where they won't get eaten! Oh and I said earlier that there was 10 extras the hatchery sent, but I'm only raising 4 of them. Me and some friends ordered together and they ordered 5 Silkies, I order 1 Silkie and the 3 LF chicks.

 

[Sylvester017]

Here's my first ever Silkie. Sad that the 5th one is gone now. Not a good way to start this new hobby of mine. Here are some pictures of them as of today and the chicken coop I built for them.




Looking to learn alot from this forum!

Will this be a permanent coop or a temporary for the chicks? Will they free-range or be penned all the time? Can't tell the dimensions of your cute little coop but they are gonna want more room when full-grown. People think Silkies are bantams and don't need room but they do - they can't fly so can't really utilize the above spaces much so we figure space for our Silkies the same as LF. Put a perch in the pen - doesn't have to be permanent - a sturdy branch or a stand alone commercial bought one or make one out of scraps of lumber. Our Silkies love to perch on low things all around our yard. Go on BYC's post your chicken coop pictures here thread and get some fun information - there's over 350 pages of neat fun and informative reading - from Taj Mahal mansion coops to home-built or pre-fab coops and how people fixed them to be secure from predators. As soon as you get chickens in the yard the wildlife comes sniffing even when you thought your neighborhood had no predators.

In rainy weather or sunny weather we keep our coop mostly covered with a tarp to protect from moisture and sunray damage. You spend time and $$$ building a coop you want it to last a while. Put a paver stone walkway against the base of the coop to keep out digging critters. It saved our flock when big stray mutts broke into our yard to attack the coop - a Good Samaritan neighbor chased off the mutts. A paver stone walkway around the coop kept the mutts from digging under trying to tip the coop. If our coop had good hardwire like yours our cheap poultry wire wouldn't have been mangled by their teeth and claws. Another thing we did was set the coop base on top of a surrounding row of paver stoves so rain wouldn't river into the coop. Is there a people door to get into the dirt pen for cleanups - we're constantly raking up poopy dirt for our compost. A sealer protective coat on the plywood roof will pay off in the long run.

Enjoy your little fluff ball cuties!

 

[Sylvester017]

Still no email from ideal. I should be getting the chicks tomorrow based on when the order said it would ship when I placed it. I guess if they dont come I should send an email.

Did anyone here order from ideal and never get an email letting you know they shiped?

Whenever I'm expecting a shipment I constantly keep in contact with the breeder, the post office tracking number, my local post office, and my delivery mailman. You have to be paranoid because there are too many shippers involved that can drop the ball somewhere along the shipping lane.

 

[Sylvester017]

Bath time

I gotta ask how you washed the crest? I'm always afraid of getting water into our Silkies' eyes or nostrils so have been using wet warm washclothes for the crest/beard washes so there's no trickling water. Let me know - thanks.

 

[Sylvester017]

I got my chicks. Still no email which is odd but ohh well.
Here is some ( bad quality) pics.


So now two questions.
1.) Does the extra male chicks look like road island reds to you? They do to me.
2.) One of the buff silkies looks like it has quite a bit of dark color on its back. Is this normal?

Glad they arrived safely! They are adorable! Yes, I'd say that your extra roos do look like RIRs. My extra roos looked exactly like those. Oh and a warning! Those baby RIR roosters are VERY sweet and friendly. Mine are nicer then my SILKIE! So yeah, just thought I'd warn you. You'll get attached to them if you don't watch it! I'm still stuck with my 9 week old extra roos, but I'm pretty sure we are going to get rid of them today.

In addition to RIRs we found BRs and Dominiques outgoing curious human friendly chicks as well where other breeds would be indifferent or cower in a corner - BRs and Doms are very talkative and chirpy too when you converse with them.

 

[lightchick]

Can you tell me the sex of my Silkie? She's 9 weeks so I thought I'd try again.
Ok everyone! Here are her 9 week old pics!















Her personality is silly. She always pecks off a bit when she's trying to eat something and then when she can't get it she leaves. She is still always getting left behind by the others but not as much as before. I'm having problems with her not being as tame as I'd like. She runs away when I try to pick her up and I try giving her treats when I hold her, but like I said she pecks over to one side of the treat and then gives up. I saw her crouch down once when one of the RIR roos jumped at her. I think she's a girl, but what do you think? I also think "her" crest is looking more girlish.

 

[Sylvester017]

Can you tell me the sex of my Silkie? She's 9 weeks so I thought I'd try again.
Ok everyone! Here are her 9 week old pics!















Her personality is silly. She always pecks off a bit when she's trying to eat something and then when she can't get it she leaves. She is still always getting left behind by the others but not as much as before. I'm having problems with her not being as tame as I'd like. She runs away when I try to pick her up and I try giving her treats when I hold her, but like I said she pecks over to one side of the treat and then gives up. I saw her crouch down once when one of the RIR roos jumped at her. I think she's a girl, but what do you think? I also think "her" crest is looking more girlish.

9 weeks is still too young to tell. Silkies have little tongues and little beaks. We serve softer or moistened foods to our Silkies. They are funny to watch when eating Greek yogurt from a spoon. They lick their beaks a few times with their little tongues and then dive into the yogurt. Happens every time with yogurt. No wonder your Silkie runs away from you - you're the one that put her in the midst of LF RIRs. They are an aggressive breed and why is such a young Silkie around adult roos?