Silkie thread!

[andreacroyle]

I have a goose and ducks that free range with my chickens. They get along fine except when the water fowel want to go under the tree the Silkies hang under. You've never seen anything as funny as a flock of full grown ducks and a goose running from a puffed up Silkie roo.

yes. my silkie will chase the muscovies and geese. they are terrified of him.

 

[kabhyper1]

Here are all of my kiddos that aren't brooding or molting. That leaves only 9 lol!
Casper

Pepper

Falcor

Cloud

Aurora

Sugar

Seven

Lily

Honey

 

[kabhyper1]

My littles. They are 4 weeks and 2 weeks old.

 

[Sylvester017]

yes. my silkie will chase the muscovies and geese. they are terrified of him.

I'm glad to hear others have Silkies that can be aggressive. I have a little 2.4-lb hen that thinks she's Macho Man but if she were ever to challenge the wrong hen she'd have her butt served on a platter. Yet I have another little hen that is as sweet and dainty as a lady. Talk about individual personalities within a breed!

 

[themadchicken]

Quote: Sorry to hear about your bantams. What is your coop set up like? If your geese is roosting with your chickens that could be your problem. Geese and ducks produce lots of moisture in their poop and moisture is a killer during winter. I'm not saying your doing something wrong i just hate hearing about chickens freezing to death and want to help. I have bantam ameraucana that is raising chicks right know and i know it has been getting below freezing inside her coop because the water is froze every morning. I did put a cookie tin heater in tonight to keep the water from freezing. I have had bantams for a few years and the only time i lost some was because they got wet. My Silkies seem to do just fine in the winter. I even had one molt in late December through January.She would come out and sun bath then go back in and lay in a nest box as soon as it started to get later in the day. Here she is 12/24 and 25 deg during the day. She lost most of these feathers before she was done.

 

[jaymeellis06]

My chicks from Ideal poultry are 6 weeks old now.

 

[Suzierd]

My chicks from Ideal poultry are 6 weeks old now.

Cute! I also ove the chicken in your avatar!

 

[jaymeellis06]

Cute! I also ove the chicken in your avatar!

Thank you, he is a handsome boy.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Whew, just had a super close call in my Silkie coop.
My family and I were sitting down for a late breakfast, and for whatever reason (probably my guineas and turkey hens hauling you know what to their coop- those hens never go anywhere in a hurry), I just happened to look outside. The first thing I noticed was my Tom outside the Silkie fence flogging the crap out of it. Right in front of him, I saw something white and a bunch of black rolling around in the leaves right next to the fence. It was a huge hawk! And both my Silkie and Sizzle rooster were giving it what for! I ran outside in a t-shirt and my sock feet (in the snow) in a pretty big hurry. I grabbed my bird herding stick and got through the gate as quick as I could manage. The hawk flew off before I got there, but I intended on giving him a good whack if I could've. Luckily the only things lost were my socks and some of my roosters feathers. My Silkies freshly molted crest isn't looking so fresh anymore and my Sizzles tail isn't nearly as impressive as it was prior. My socks are in the trash since they were soaking wet and covered in chicken poop (the only actual casualty- the things we do for our birds!). I'm pretty proud of my boys, they didn't have any injuries and they kept their girls safe. I'm sure if my Tom could've flown his fat butt over the fence, that hawk would've received a good stomping (he thinks the Silkies belong to him). Another saving grace is probably the fact that my Silkies coop and run is connected to the bottom of my turkey and guinea coop and run. I lost a hen down at the bottom of the run about this same time last year, so we split the Silkies of a piece of it for a little extra protection. I have to walk all the way down the turkey run to get to the Silkie coop, and its normally a pain in the behind, but today I'm thankful for it. They're divided by a 6 foot fence, so I'm guessing Mr. Hawk couldn't swoop in and hit them at speed. Everyone's decided today isn't a good day to roam around outside, and they're all huddled in their coops. I don't blame them.
Fun times :/

 

[Lisa2222]

Loving all the silkie pics! @howfunkyisurchicken I lost a white silkie this summer to a hawk, so sad but it got me in the mood to hatch these baies below. I'm glad you were lucky enough to have goten to yours first. Does anyone know where to post for a crooked beak, one of my babies has a mis-aligned beak (not pictured) These babies are 4 weeks.
)