Silkie thread!

[Sylvester017]

Those are some beautiful birds! My friend has silkies, and she absolutely loves them, even if they don't lay very often!

Except for the 2 or 3x/yr my 5-yr-old Silkie goes broody or molts, she gives me 4 eggs/week - better than my 2-yr-old Ameraucana who only gave me 3 eggs total for all of last year - LOL! I got Silkies as pets and have been pleasantly surprised at both their production and egg-size. At first a broody hen bothered me but now I'm accustomed to it and let the little Muppets brood over an empty nest making sure they get out of the nestbox a couple times daily to eat/drink/dust-bathe/exercise before they run back to their empty nest again. After 2 or 3 weeks of brooding an empty nest, they return to the flock refreshed and rejuvenated and I don't have any new chicks to bother with. Of course, if you need a broody or foster momma to hatch eggs these little sweeties love the job.

 

[jhopp6]

Help please Silkie experts. What color is this little dolly? Blue? Silver partridge? Dad is a black Silkie from paint breeding, Mom was a buff frizzled Silkie cross (I think). Thoughts please

 

[jhopp6]

 

[Fancychooklady]

Help please Silkie experts. What color is this little dolly? Blue? Silver partridge? Dad is a black Silkie from paint breeding, Mom was a buff frizzled Silkie cross (I think). Thoughts please

Silver partridge.

 

[jhopp6]

Thank you, I thought so. She looks like the pics I've seen.

 

[sweetbeak]

Hi all, I had two silkies hatch today and the mother is white with a few black specks through her and I have two silkie roosters, one is pure white and the other black. One of the babies is grey which I assume is the cross of black and white however the other is bright yellow. How could this be possible? I'm very excited to see how it grows up but just intrigued about how a bright yellow silkie hatched from those parents?
Thoughts anyone?

Paul from down under in Australia

 

[QueenMisha]

Oh I see,I would only use the yeast on a weekly basis and the tuna is ok a teaspoon at a time , but only for the bird with wryneck . I give all of my birds a weekly treat of generic sardines in oil mixed with cooked pasta and raw egg. But all treats should be kept to a minimum.
Feeding constant high levels of protein or calcium will eventually lead to health problems such as viscerial gout and organ damage.
The finisher and game bird growers are purposely designed for table birds that are required to grow hard and fast and live a very short life. Once a bird reaches 20 weeks of age it no longer requires the protein that rapid growing chicks do and it is best to find a feed that falls into the 15-17 % range.

Thanks for the advice. I'll do what I can to pick those up from the store after work tomorrow.

I understand the notion of overfeeding protein but I've never actually seen any real world damage to birds from feeding a high level of protein. Calcium, certainly, but not protein. I know of breeders who had fed in such a way for many years on with no issues. I have seen none to be sure. I would likely have them on an 18% mix if I could find a wheat-based one, if only for the cheaper cost, but even then my bantam pen doubles as a grow out pen, so I frequently have young turkeys and guineas living there anyways - and they do require a high level of protein even as adults.

 

[QueenMisha]

My Cuckoo cock Lincoln. He's been inside the past several months recovering from a truly nasty eye infection which occurred after a fight with another rooster; took a lot of work and Baytril to get him back into shape. He's blind in the one eye now but still handsome as ever. He'll be my main breeder male this season in the Cuckoo line I'm starting, the female offspring of which I'll use to produce sexlinked Silkies. In combination with a line of Buff and Partridge (and crosses thereof) cocks.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Hi all, I had two silkies hatch today and the mother is white with a few black specks through her and I have two silkie roosters, one is pure white and the other black. One of the babies is grey which I assume is the cross of black and white however the other is bright yellow. How could this be possible? I'm very excited to see how it grows up but just intrigued about how a bright yellow silkie hatched from those parents?
Thoughts anyone?

Paul from down under in Australia

Your hen sounds like a splash or paint and crossing white with any colour is unpredictable . Yellow chick will grow out to be white.

 

[sweetbeak]

Your hen sounds like a splash or paint and crossing white with any colour is unpredictable . Yellow chick will grow out to be white.

Interesting as I've had white silkie bantams born white and obviously turned out white. This little one is almost iridescent yellow.