Silkie thread!

[fawkestheman]

Yeah mostly molt in the fall around 1.5, 2 sometimes molting can last through the winter or start during the winter. Most of my flock is molting heavily now as well.

 

[kada6305]

Just some quick photos I got of my (hopefully) girls. 2 weeks old and names Anna and Elsa. Ana is the one with the stripe down her back. There are other breeds mixed in with the two silkies as well









Their crest is starting to "fluff" now

 

[flynntheduck]

Ahh that makes sense! What do the salmon faverolles look like? I love EEs too! I also have 2 silver-laced wyandottes and we were considering getting some polish but, silkies and EEs won over! Do you have hens outside too?

These babies are outside but yes i have 2 barred rock hens outside. They are separated from the younger crowd.

 

[fawkestheman]

Ah got it! Im getting rid of 2 out of my 3 roosters tonight and I'm pretty upset about it

 

[Heather7]

Here are my girls. They are getting so fluffy. But they aren't very tame. I hope that changes

 

[only1bgirl]

@heather7 Lots of handling and treats they'll come around. Mine are handled every day, they still chatter a bit about it but they do come up to me, especially if I have shelled sunflower seeds in hand. Cute birds!

 

[Heather7]

Thank you. My older ones out side follow me around like I am the pied piper. Lol. I guess i will just have to work them a bit more. I don't handle them daily but we did finally move them downstairs so they hear the sounds all the time. Thank you! They are super cute

 

[Sylvester017]

before hair cut ;
after hair cut

But how to hold her head? She keep moving non stop I want to cut more it's hard and I m so worry I may hurt her eye...

My bearded Silkies free-range the backyard and I've never trimmed their crests/beards/muffs ever. Somehow they see fine. Eventually their eye area pouf calms down and they see fine. Sometimes my Silkies nibble each other's faces gently and before you know it they have vision "tunnels" thru the poufs to see out of - LOL! Sometimes they pick up so much debris in their crests/beards/muffs from foraging that the fluff gets matted down so I actually have to wash them to fluff them up again! If one of my Silkies really wants to see what's around/above her, she'll tilt her head to see. They do quite well with those poufy crests/beards/muffs/feathered-feet. My young Silkies were very fluffy everywhere on their body but now that they are 3 and 4 years old they don't seem to have as much roundness - especially during moult - they've adapted well to manuevering their way around the yard and even give out barnyard alerts if they spot danger. Crests/beards/muffs haven't impeded their ability to see or get around. I have an APA Ameraucana (my avatar) whose buff-colored beard/muffs get black with mud from foraging on rainy days and miraculously by the next day her muff is all clean and buff-color again - amazes me how chickens can keep themselves so well-groomed without my help! But those butt-feather washes are something I make sure to do when necessary. Of all the places a chicken can reach on her body to groom, the vent seems the most difficult for her to reach or upkeep.

 

[fawkestheman]

Yeah my silkies don't seem to need their beards, crests but chickens can be different although in your pics they don't look too long

 

[SocraticArtist]

So I'm new to this whole Silkie thing lol... I've always had a lot of chickens but recently have gotten my hands on a a Silkie roo and hen. It's cold but I made a cage for them inside my house and a light with a timer for 12 hours so I would expect the conditions are okay for breeding. I just got my first egg today after having them for a few months. She's not laying on the egg. I want them to breed, my question is, I guess, 'when will they start mating now that the hen is laying'. They're roughly the same age, but I got them from two different farmers so I know they're not related. And I'm assuming that the roo should be deprecated once the chicks are hatched, but is he okay in the same pen while she's broody?