Silkie thread!

[LittleWhiteDove]

This is my lovely boy Owl. He is an absolutely sweet heart well his brother is the opposite. Owl like to breed all the hen well his brother couldn't care less.

 

[KarateHorse]

Ok thanks I sure hope she is a hen

 

[HoosierSilkie]

Hi all! I found out today that my local Rural King is getting a shipment of "feather-footed bantams" in tomorrow. I am going to get some and I am hoping for silkie pullets. Can anyone offer tips for finding pullets? I know to look for black skin, 5 toes, etc for Silkies, but my last bunch of 12 chicks ended up being 9 Roos! I sure don't want to go through that again!

Also, what other breeds could they be if described as feather-footed bantams? I'm not dead set on Silkies, they are just what I've had experience with before. Thanks!

 

[SilkiesInSuburb]

The worst injury I had w/ a Silkie was our little Black Silkie. She is our littlest and she is OCD. She constantly scratches to lay an egg, to forage, to eat, etc. She scratches so hard that in the nestbox a couple years ago she splintered the bottom of the box and tore toenails and the ends of a her two outer toes. I took her to the vet and he said after treating her to not worry -- the injury was on the outer toe of each foot and not as critical as losing a back or inside toe. For nestboxes we no longer use wood but hard plastic or plexiglass bottoms. She still scratches hard in dirt but hasn't incurred any new injuries since we switched out the nestboxes. Even w/ partially missing toes she runs across the yard just as fast as the other chickens -- she is a very hyper personality and very OCD.

A PIC SHOWING ONLY 2 TOES ON ONE FOOT



A PIC SHOWING ONLY 2 FULL TOES ON THE OTHER FOOT

That sounds painful! I've had a few chickens somehow chip huge bits off their claws, but they grow back fine, She is SOOOO cute!!!! And that second photo just cracks me up. Is she wet? Those bits of hay on her face... so silkie-like.

 

[SilkiesInSuburb]

silkie rooster that I've had since a chick. He is now about 6-7 months old and still not crowing. He hardly ever makes noise at all....
Just wondering if that's normal

Don't worry, that's perfectly fine and healthy! Let's hope he'll stay like that. My Thunder never uttered a crow until he came back from the fair-- even then, he only crowed a few times then stopped. And he can't really crow right now, considering he's...well...underground.

 

[SilkiesInSuburb]

that's good sorry about thunder

It's alright. He's in a better place...hopefully with a haircut, he never was good at navigating!

 

[emvickrey]

Ooo yes, pictures. I want to be able to breed. Need a .. ahem..quiet rooster!

I set eggs to check fertility I'll know soon if they are fertile. I haven't shipped in about a year. I hear the rates went up a few times.

 

[FishMtFarm]

Yey! I had an egg pip lastnight! It's time....

 

[kajira]

Hi all! I found out today that my local Rural King is getting a shipment of "feather-footed bantams" in tomorrow. I am going to get some and I am hoping for silkie pullets. Can anyone offer tips for finding pullets? I know to look for black skin, 5 toes, etc for Silkies, but my last bunch of 12 chicks ended up being 9 Roos! I sure don't want to go through that again!

Also, what other breeds could they be if described as feather-footed bantams? I'm not dead set on Silkies, they are just what I've had experience with before. Thanks!

Besides black skin and 5 toes, there's no real good way to sex them. Most places don't bother to sex them, most hatcheries either blood type them for gender, or are very good at guessing
Even the one place I ordered my silkie from online (that I didn't hatch) guaranteed another silkie chick if it was a boy by 30 weeks. They are hard enough to sex, they are only right about 80% of the time on silkies even the places that are good at it.

Right now in my batch I hatched, I know which one is a roo. And, none of the others are growing waddles, or acting "roo"like... so somehow, I think I might have gotten all hens. ^.^ But who knows if that will change.

For what it's worth. Cochins are awesome little chickens, too.

 

[HoosierSilkie]

Besides black skin and 5 toes, there's no real good way to sex them. Most places don't bother to sex them, most hatcheries either blood type them for gender, or are very good at guessing
Even the one place I ordered my silkie from online (that I didn't hatch) guaranteed another silkie chick if it was a boy by 30 weeks. They are hard enough to sex, they are only right about 80% of the time on silkies even the places that are good at it.

Right now in my batch I hatched, I know which one is a roo. And, none of the others are growing waddles, or acting "roo"like... so somehow, I think I might have gotten all hens. ^.^  But who knows if that will change.

For what it's worth. Cochins are awesome little chickens, too.

Thanks! I didn't really think there was a good way to sex them, but that's okay! I just picked up my 8 new babies. The manager at RK told me not to feed/water them for 5-6 hours since they just came from the post office this morning. Is this true? It just seems really strange to me to withhold after they've already been in transit for a day!