Silkie thread!

[Caitlin_VT]

Well how drafty is your coop? My silkies do terrible in cold weather while my uncles large fowl are fine!

Mine do fine, probably better than my LF. And they live in an open-air coop aka 1/2 of my horse's 3-sided run in. Still got eggs through the winter and a few went broody!

 

[Caitlin_VT]

Some of my "kids"! Collecting eggs to set first hatch of the season tomorrow! So excited to have some little chicks again

 

[judy mclean]

How does a hen know when to not turn her eggs

 

[mom of silkies]

That's a good question... how would they know? I guess their instinct is so strong that it's automatic.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I've seen quite a few of my hens still turning their eggs when they're supposed to be on lockdown. I've also had a bunch that still get up on those last 3 days too, to poo, eat, drink and dust bathe. Their chicks still hatched fine, so I just figure they know what they're doing

 

[ChickenLady2014]

Thank so much everyone on your imput on my Silkie mixes. I like the fact that my suspicions on some of their sexes are right in line with yours. The bluish one is the only one that acts roo-ish so far.

 

[judy mclean]

That's a good question... how would they know? I guess their instinct is so strong that it's automatic.

I was telling my daughter to keep the noise down hen has her baby my daughter was like mom I know but it's not like she just gave birth lol but it's almost the same I think

 

[Annalog]

Arrowroot, our first Silkie to hatch and wean chicks appears to have gone broody again. She did not budge from the floor nest even after I moved it into the open. However, after I moved her out to put her in the other floor nest that I had cleaned and put into the location where she had been, she panicked at the clean floor and went out into the pen. I suspect that now that I am completely out of the coop she will settle down. If she still seems broody tomorrow, I will consider giving her some fertile eggs.

Arrowroot, is definitely broody again so I gave her 5 eggs to hatch. 3 are from BC's flock and 2 are from the old flock (5 hens who will be 5 years old in May). I am not sure which of the old hens are laying but one egg is brown (either Thyme or Cumin) and one egg is green (either Clove or Cinnamon as I doubt that Ginger can get up into the nest). Since the old flock free ranges with both BC's flock and Timmy's flock, either rooster could be the sire for those two eggs. These eggs should hatch May 7th. Hopefully at least a couple will hatch as I am not sure how well the eggs from the older hens will do. I should have marked them but I didn't.

Arrowroot was 7 months old when she went broody the first time and she is now broody again at 10 months old. She seems in good condition and did not appear to lose much weight, if any, when she was broody the first time. She had laid a few eggs after weaning the chicks but that was just for a week or so.

 

[ASilkieNest]

Really bummed right now. Have been looking for over a year for some nice show quality silkies and finally found an amazing deal. 20 bucks for two high quality silkie hens. I don't think the person knew what they had on they're hands. The add was up for only 24 hours and when we called they had already sold them. Very upsetting.

 

[flockofbantams]

Really bummed right now. Have been looking for over a year for some nice show quality silkies and finally found an amazing deal. 20 bucks for two high quality silkie hens. I don't think the person knew what they had on they're hands. The add was up for only 24 hours and when we called they had already sold them. Very upsetting.

I'm sorry