Silkie thread!

[Tammylr]

Is the delay in laying a Silkie thing or a Size thing (? Bantam)

That's a great question! Can't wait to get the answer.

 

[ZoiChick]

Is the delay in laying a Silkie thing or a Size thing (? Bantam)

That's a great question! Can't wait to get the answer.

It's more likely to be a length of daylight hours thing.

 

[kada6305]

It's more likely to be a length of daylight hours thing.

My chicks get 12 hrs daylight....maybe they'll lay early??

 

[kristin07035]

So excited just set Silkie, Showgirl, Sizzle, Shizzle & marans/silkie mix eggs!
Now for the longest 3 weeks ever

 

[ZoiChick]

It's more likely to be a length of daylight hours thing.

My chicks get 12 hrs daylight....maybe they'll lay early??

I've heard 14 is the ideal. Mine are beginning to lay like it's Spring, but then we aren't having dark days and snowstorms. I bet it will be soon. Any day now. e

 

[BonRae67]

So excited just set Silkie, Showgirl, Sizzle, Shizzle & marans/silkie mix eggs!
Now for the longest 3 weeks ever

Good luck. I agree about the longest 3 weeks ever.

 

[Tammylr]

Week two update on chicks, they are growing so fast!
One-cuckoo, guess pullet

Two- paint, guess pullet

Three- splash, guess roo. Heavier and has a slicked back poof compared to suspected pullets.

Four- lavender with mottling, guess roo. Same look as three.

Five- lavender with mottling, guess pullet.

Six- lavender with mottling, guess pullet.

Thanks for any thoughts, the too I think are Roos are significantly heavier than the other four. The rest are so petite.

 

[Tammylr]

Week two update on chicks, they are growing so fast!
One-cuckoo, guess pullet

Two- paint, guess pullet

Three- splash, guess roo. Heavier and has a slicked back poof compared to suspected pullets.

Four- lavender with mottling, guess roo. Same look as three.

Five- lavender with mottling, guess pullet.

Six- lavender with mottling, guess pullet.

Thanks for any thoughts, the too I think are Roos are significantly heavier than the other four. The rest are so petite.

Five might just be a runty roo.............

 

[Sylvester017]

The people at the feed store are very friendly and would notify me if a new adolescent silkie came in the thing is I have added chickens to my flock that I have not hand raised myself and they changed the dynamic of my flock and it was not a good way. I plan to keep my Silkie flock mostly separate from my layer flock. I have 5 Ladies that are 5 years old. We purchased tsc pullets for our granddaughter I am sure I did not put in enough time with the younger pullets coupled with the fact that they are leghorns They are a panicky bunch and I don't really like them. I will keep them because my granddaughter loves they fact that she has her own ladies. She is so cute out in the coop when we collect eggs she always says "Thank you ladies for all your hard work!" She knows the brown eggs are from my Ladies and the White ones are from her ladies.

oops off on tangent any way I am not sure I want to take in more chickens that someone else had no use for. I am not sure if Silkies will develop skittish personalities or if they will usually be calm and friendly.

I do know that leghorns were not on my list of chickens i wanted to have in my flock.

I agree with you about the Leghorn chickens and about the practice of taking in other people's chickens not raised by yourself.

We had a couple Leghorns that by themselves were sweeties but in a mixed flock with gentle breeds they're quite aggressive. Mediterranean breeds (like Leghorns, Andalusians, etc) are not shrinking violets and are quite assertive and unafraid to stand up for themselves. They can also take advantage of non-combative gentles by pulling out the feathers of other birds, chewing off combs, chasing others from nests, dust-bathing, or food. Leghorns can even be aggressive to each other. We lucked out having one White Leg that was hand-raised by 4H home-schoolers so our Leg was socialized when we got her at 1 y/o. She was very gentle with our two Silkies, took treats from us, and was intelligent to never cross the 2-foot fence into the vegetable garden -- she was very trainable but not a cuddly sort. She would hop onto our lap or our arm to take treats on her own terms but never liked to be touched or petted. She'd follow us around the yard but bolted if we wanted to pet her (our Ameraucana does not bolt and let's us pet her). The true Leghorn nature finally emerged and at 3 y/o she became aggressive toward the backyard flock and had to be re-homed where she continues being a dominant hen. However we considered ourselves lucky to have had her wonderful eggs and pleasant nature for at least 3 yrs before she went bonkers on her flockmates. We ordered a couple Buff Leghorns as pullets hoping our experience with them would be better -- one was given as a gift to a friend and one we kept. However at 1 y/o she was even more aggressive than our White Leg ever was and also had to be re-homed. Our Silkies and Ameraucana were in jeopardy from having crests/beards/combs pulled or chewed. Silkies at 2-lbs don't have a fair pecking order chance against LF weighing 2 to 3x more.

We got our White Leg and Cuckoo Marans from a socialized environment and they were tame as far as chickens go but we didn't get them as chicks. The two fought with each other and the Marans full-out attacked a Silkie pullet. I no longer add combative assertive or dual-purpose LF to my backyard flock. I only add non-combative gentle breed youngsters which are usually the crested, bearded, muffed, and/or feather-footed breeds like Ameraucana, Aracauna, Breda, Cochin bantams, EEs, Faverolles bantams, Houdan, Polish, Sultan, etc. Some LF breeds are gentles like Brahma, Crevecoeur, Cochin LF, Faverolles LF, Jersey Giant, Sussex, etc but these breeds are very large breeds that I still would not mix into a gentles flock with breeds weighing 5-lbs and under. Even large gentle temperament LF can be tempted to bully smaller-sized breeds simply because they can -- it's a chicken thing.

All our chickens are pets and tame but the best chicken we have that is tame, outgoing, friendly, unafraid of us, and a general joy is a Silkie pullet we bought at 3 m/o and raised indoors in a chicken diaper for 3 months because she was too little to add to the flock. We had her separated in the yard during the day by a 2-foot rabbit fence so she could forage and be part of the main flock without being picked on. She loved coming into the house to go to her dog kennel to eat her feed and sleep in her nest and she'd tap her beak on the floor fan when she wanted a breeze ruffling through her fur. We bought her to be a companion to another Silkie but just because they were both Silkies didn't necessarily mean they would be best buddies. They will toodle around with each other and there is some breed companionship but we never knew two of the same breed could be so opposite. The older Silkie is sweet, quiet, non-political, and dainty. The newer Silkie is bossy, assertive (for a Silkie), and an extroverted comedienne.

Whenever we add to our flock now we only add gentle breeds and get them as pullets to quarantine and raise indoors in chicken diapers. This gives us the opportunity to socialize and tame the pullets prior to introduction to the main flock. Even with such socializing certain breeds are just not cut out to be "cuddly" birds. They will be less skittish, more willing to approach, but certain breeds remain cautious. I've had RIR, BR, NH, Maran, Leghorn, CA Grey, and these birds can be tamed but they are still assertive breeds and not normally cuddle-bugs. We found the crested, bearded, muffed, feather-legged breeds under 5-lbs are the best pets -- among them the Ameraucana and EEs being the best layers of the group. Silkies are great layers too if you don't mind smaller eggs or putting up with their broodiness. I guess broodiness is a bantam trait no matter what breed the bantam is - sigh!

 

[Sylvester017]

I've heard 14 is the ideal. Mine are beginning to lay like it's Spring, but then we aren't having dark days and snowstorms. I bet it will be soon. Any day now.

My girls didn't get the memo about Spring -- they've been laying since January!