Silkie thread!

[countrygirl5]

And this is the reaction of the big ladies when they came out of the woods from diggin up worms... LOL!


Sue and Lucille are like What the??!!









Andy is afraid of everything.



Emily did a quick drive by...

Oh My Goodness!! That is too funny.

I love Sue and Lucille and Emily's reactions! Aren't chickens so fun and full of personality?!?!

 

[countrygirl5]

Ok, this may be a dumb question, but what is a porcelain silkie? I'm new to the world of silkies.

 

[atrueb00]

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!

These pics are so cute! Love your coop design too, that door is adorable.

 

[atrueb00]

I finally got porcelain chicks. they are beautiful. I have some a little older but these are my recent ones. They where 2 days late but every egg hatched that I put in the incubator. Unfortunately the hens are broody now so I can't sell any eggs but here they are. There are 2 that look buff and the other 3 appear extremely light lavender. The others I have are the same color. There are 2 silver sebright chicks in these pics.

A bowl full of sleeping beauties

I think I just had a cuteness overload from these pics!! Love the little top knots you have too!

 

[atrueb00]

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.

I also use a microfiber cloth to get the crest feathers so I don't get water in their eyes/beak/nostrils. If they have some food/dirt in their crest, I use a nail brush and softly try to get it out, always going from root to tip. Works well for me so far.

 

[Iluvmysilkies]

this poofy squirmy thing I believe is a pullet.

@kabhyper1

What type of partridge would she be considered? I think I have a lil one getting this same coloring and ive been wondering what in the world she is.

 

[subhanalah]

What type of partridge would she be considered? I think I have a lil one getting this same coloring and ive been wondering what in the world she is. 

oh, I have no idea lol. I hatched her from @kabhyper1's eggs.

 

[TinyBirds]

I culled my little silkie.. he has been getting worse to tye point where he cpuld even move his head up to eat and drink and all he did was flail and seize over and over so i deoced it was best to cull him and stop the suffering

Sorry I'm just reading the thread updates now. You did the right thing! Sorry for your loss :-(

 

[SilkieSilkie]

These pics are so cute! Love your coop design too, that door is adorable.

Thanks for all the comments. This is my first attempt at a coop so it will have to do for now. Since the death of the 5th silkie baby chick, I don't take them out of the coop anymore. I placed them in a round 3 feet container with wood shredding before 8pm everynight and leave the heatlamp on it til morning. The container sits inside my garage until I wake up in the morning and hand put them into the coop for the rest of the day. The coop's is estimated around 5'x5' if i remembered correctly, I couldn't think of a way to make a door so I used one of my miniature cabinet glass door that I have laying around and somehow made it to work with the coop as a door. I didn't plan on measurements when I attempted to build the coop. My Silkie are doing Awesome!

I plan to make another coop three to four time as long/wide but not tall that will stay a foot or two to the left of that first coop. The first coop is not bolted down or anything, it just sits on grass. It can easily be moved by two people.

I'm waiting for the grass to grow a bit more before I start building my 2nd larger coop. Just moved into the house about a month ago, the backyard and front yard grass is completely dead. It's starting to bounce back but slowly.

I am looking forward to getting more Silkie as well, it's going to be a fun journey!

 

[TinyBirds]

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!

Very cute coop! When I was new to chickens I let the babies out on the ground too and lost a lot to predators (once they get the taste of just 1, they will be back to try again for more - chicken tastes great as we know too!) I now keep the babies in a brooder until they're about 6 weeks old and then they go into a tractor about the same size/design as yours. When they are full grown you could probably let them out in the yard sometimes but I would still advise supervision. Once I left a full grown silkie next to the back porch and came in to wash my hands and by the time I got back outside the hawk was flying off with my favorite silkie :-(

edited to add: I think your coop size is just fine all the way until age 4 months or so, then I would let them out sometimes for play time. Or you can always add onto the run area later too.
Also, I would close the inner door that leads to the sleeping area (or add a door if there isn't one) since raccoons will come under the edges of the run and get in there to eat them at night.