Silkie thread!

[drumstick diva]

Salt and Pepper hatchery silkies probably have the "broodiness" bred out of them. Hatcheries don't want broodies sitting around, they want eggs for their massive incubators and and /or eggs to sell. While broodies are sitting on their eggs , they stop laying eggs until they have finished with their chicks. Some broodies start up all over again.

 

[tjo804]

Well my little black pullet had a se back. She has developed wry neck. I started her on vitamin

I did some research on this and I think this article is worth a look for you.
http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2014/07/WryNeck-NaturalTreatment.html
Good luck with your pullet

 

[Adorkable]

Salt and Pepper hatchery silkies probably have the "broodiness" bred out of them. Hatcheries don't want broodies sitting around, they want eggs for their massive incubators and and /or eggs to sell. While broodies are sitting on their eggs , they stop laying eggs until they have finished with their chicks. Some broodies start up all over again.

I had a couple of hatchery silkies and they both went broody. I hatched some girls from them and they all went broody too (at the same time)!

 

[drumstick diva]

are you getting better silkie 'type' from them and your roo?

 

[saltandpepper2]

Salt and Pepper   hatchery silkies probably  have the "broodiness" bred out of them.  Hatcheries don't want broodies sitting around,  they want eggs  for their massive incubators and  and /or eggs to sell.   While broodies are sitting on their eggs ,  they stop laying eggs  until they have finished with their chicks.  Some broodies start up all over again. 

While this may be true to an extent, I know for a fact, that since silkies are bred for ornamental purposes, hatcheries don't focus on egg production nearly as much, leaving the chance for the broodiness instinct to stay intact. I know of many people that have hatchery silkies that still go broody all the time.

 

[Rowsdower]

While this may be true to an extent, I know for a fact, that since silkies are bred for ornamental purposes, hatcheries don't focus on egg production nearly as much, leaving the chance for the broodiness instinct to stay intact. I know of many people that have hatchery silkies that still go broody all the time.

I have one hatchery Silkie and many others that I sourced from breeders. My hatchery Silkie is the broodiest of the bunch and she's a much better mother than the others (I suspect this is because she doesn't have all of the additional plumage).

 

[MumsyIII]

Most of mine are hatchery. One, my favorite one, I got from someone local. She has a nice crest, and a beard WHICH I LOVE, but she still doesn't hold a candle to @Mumsyll's

I started out with hatchery silkies nearly three decades ago. I adored those silkies and they were great broody hens too. I went to poultry show for the first time back then and saw what show quality silkies were supposed to look like and they didn't look anything like my "silkies". I found the best local breeder I could within fifty miles of where I lived. They were the then president of the local Feather Fanciers club. Their hatchery was called 'Chicks R Us'. The most beautiful poultry set I've ever seen. Then and since. It was there I bought my first silkie day old chicks. My daughter won best in show at her first outing with one of those chicks. I raise a lot of silkies but I don't show. I just believe in breeding the best to the best of what I have. If you keep doing that year after year, your flock will get better and better. The real secret to breeding typy silkies is knowing the current SOP and don't breed every single silkie you own in one big pen. Select select select.

It's just a beloved hobby for me. I was totally happy with my hatchery silkies way back then. They are still such sweet chickens. Hatchery or otherwise.

 

[saltandpepper2]

I started out with hatchery silkies nearly three decades ago. I adored those silkies and they were great broody hens too. I went to poultry show for the first time back then and saw what show quality silkies were supposed to look like and they didn't look anything like my "silkies". I found the best local breeder I could within fifty miles of where I lived. They were the then president of the local Feather Fanciers club. Their hatchery was called 'Chicks R Us'. The most beautiful poultry set I've ever seen. Then and since. It was there I bought my first silkie day old chicks. My daughter won best in show at her first outing with one of those chicks. I raise a lot of silkies but I don't show. I just believe in breeding the best to the best of what I have. If you keep doing that year after year, your flock will get better and better. The real secret to breeding typy silkies is knowing the current SOP and don't breed every single silkie you own in one big pen. Select select select.

It's just a beloved hobby for me. I was totally happy with my hatchery silkies way back then. They are still such sweet chickens. Hatchery or otherwise.

I'm planning to start breeding faverolles next year, and will be starting out with hatchery stock... simply because I can't find anyone in North GA that has an faverolles at all! I plan on doing what you said, and just breeding the best of what I've got until they slowly get better.

 

[Adorkable]

are you getting better silkie 'type' from them and your roo?

I've seen big improvements in crests, and leg/foot feathering. As far as type... well it's hard to tell since I haven't really kept any of them past 4 months old. I've only kept one pullet, and I will probably be re-homing her soon. The mommas are kind of crazy, but the babies have been very sweet and great pets. Even the cockerels. One cockerel (out of 18 hatched) had a nice type, but was lacking in crest and had only 4 toes on each leg even though all possible parents had good toes. I think if I really wanted to I could get a decent type out of them, but it would take a bit of time. Also because the girls are white the babies colors are all over the place! It doesn't bother me too much since the colors are pretty neat and they are just pets, but I have some bbs eggs coming soon so I will probably be putting more time and effort into them.

 

[MumsyIII]

MumsyIII I dare say you are the Goddess of Silkie breeding they are simply wonderful!

I wanted to thank you for your advice on Baby Bear! She has not been on her side like she was dieing for almost 12 hours now and I believe it is because I listened to you and didn't advice her to death with this cure and that.
Her she is with her pals.


I have been staying up worring this year has been crazy and I have been stuck in a whose dieing now funk. Thanks for setting me straight sometimes Safety mixed with wait and see is the best medicine.
Thanks jo

Hah! This post made my day. Sometimes I rush through the thread and miss things. I will tell my husband tonight that I am a goddess of chickens and he will laugh hard. Laughter is good.

I am just doing what I love in my small corner of the world. Very few ever see my chickens or garden except what I share on social media sites like this. Kind words go far with me. I do thank you for yours.

So happy to hear your hurt chick is recovering. Sometimes the very best medicine is just heat, quiet, and wait. Chickens are fragile at chick stage but can be very resilient if given the chance. Sometimes over doing it can kill. They are already traumatized. Over handling and or medicating can send a chick into shock and a faster death. I know this from three decades of experience. Some just can't be saved no matter what. It is the nature of raising livestock.
There have been years I just wondered what the heck I was doing and there were many losses. Now I have a system of husbandry that works very well and the losses are minimal. Out of ninety silkie chicks hatched this year, I loss two for unknown reason. I've been choosing my breeders every year from stock that never ever saw a sick day in their life. That is how you start breeding for disease resistance. No sick bird that recovered is ever entered into the breeding pens. Ever. After decades of following this plan, my flock are the healthiest they've ever been. I haven't bought a bird or a hatching egg in three years. I want to buy a great quality Black trio next year but they will have to be held in quarantine for a month.



This chick cracks me up. Friends with Pudgy Splash. This little Blue looks like he's listening for worms like Robins do.