Silkie thread!

[Jennieschicks]

Hi! I have 6 chickens, one of which is a sweet black silkie who has gone awfully broody. I am concerned about her making it through a Pennsylvania winter while sleeping alone. Last winter she was fine, because the chickens all ended up sleeping in the nesting boxes. I recently added some new roosts in the coop and my 5 other chickens are sleeping there now after showing them where to go. The roost is about 18-20" off the ground. I thought If it was low enough my silkie would make her way up there. She wants no parts of the roost, but could that be because of the broodiness? Would a silkie hen ever learn to roost after over a year of sleeping in a pile?

I know it's a looong way till winter but I am thinking about this now. Do I need more silkies? Will she freeze to death this winter? Will she ever learn to roost after broodiness passes?

I was even considering purchasing some fertile eggs, as she so wants to be a momma! I would only do this if I didn't think she could learn to roost with the other girls. My husband is NOT fond of the breed, and would probably have a fit if he came home one day to MORE silkies!

I'd really appreciate any thoughts you silkie lovers have so I can help this sweet little one.

 

[PaintedFeathers]

Ok... need an opinion on the color of these Silkies. I purchased what I was told were Buff Silkie eggs, to me these look like Ginger Reds...

Thoughts?? I want to sell them because they IMO are not what a Buff Silkie should be genetically color wise. So I just want to be sure I am referring to them as the proper color when I place them.

Look buff to me, but dark smutty buff. The ones on the left look nice =) Are you keeping those?

 

[SilkieRose]

I think that is a BOY, streamers are coming in on the crest too.

DARN!!!!! LOL!!! That means I only have one (my avatar, Benina) that is MOST LIKELY a little lady!!! Oh no!! lol Well I guess I will change it from Charlie to CharlY!! LOL
****Is he show quality or is his comb a bit too much? He was hatched the 1st week of the year. I'm probably going to sell him to my friend because my buff non-bearded boy is just too handsome!!

 

[Abstrax]

No I am not keeping them. The parents they came from were a clear coloring of Buffs so I was very disappointed when half turned out almost as dark as ginger reds and the rest had color like the ones on the left. The lady told me that she only used pics of a few of her buffs from her pens after they were hatched after and then told me she breeds her "dark buffs" and "light buffs" together which was disappointing as when I purchased the eggs was expecting otherwise. Starting out with the color I am looking for better color genetics to work with for my show foundation. I am very selective and I suppose that comes with my dog showing/breeding background and have always been told to start with the best..

 

[PaintedFeathers]

No I am not keeping them. The parents they came from were a clear coloring of Buffs so I was very disappointed when half turned out almost as dark as ginger reds and the rest had color like the ones on the left. The lady told me that she only used pics of a few of her buffs from her pens after they were hatched after and then told me she breeds her "dark buffs" and "light buffs" together which was disappointing as when I purchased the eggs was expecting otherwise. Starting out with the color I am looking for better color genetics to work with for my show foundation. I am very selective and I suppose that comes with my dog showing/breeding background and have always been told to start with the best..

It's going to be very hard, even solid correct colored buffs will hatch wonky offspring. It's just one of those project colors that doesn't always breed true.

 

[aoxa]

It's going to be very hard, even solid correct colored buffs will hatch wonky offspring. It's just one of those project colors that doesn't always breed true.

Buff isn't a project colour, and should be solid.

Looks like the birds in question carry partridge. My boy Steve was coloured the same.

 

[Sanna]

My two newest flock members: BBS silkies.

One is 6 weeks, the other is 5 weeks. Unsure of gender, but keeping them nonetheless.
Their antics crack us up!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cute!

Baby silkie piles:

Love the babies!

3 of the 10 new silkie chicks I just picked up yesterday

And more cute babies! I'll have to take some pictures of my bunch one of these days while they're still in their cute&fluffy stage.

Whatchoo talkin bout Willis??

Hi! I have 6 chickens, one of which is a sweet black silkie who has gone awfully broody. I am concerned about her making it through a Pennsylvania winter while sleeping alone. Last winter she was fine, because the chickens all ended up sleeping in the nesting boxes. I recently added some new roosts in the coop and my 5 other chickens are sleeping there now after showing them where to go. The roost is about 18-20" off the ground. I thought If it was low enough my silkie would make her way up there. She wants no parts of the roost, but could that be because of the broodiness? Would a silkie hen ever learn to roost after over a year of sleeping in a pile?

I know it's a looong way till winter but I am thinking about this now. Do I need more silkies? Will she freeze to death this winter? Will she ever learn to roost after broodiness passes?

I was even considering purchasing some fertile eggs, as she so wants to be a momma! I would only do this if I didn't think she could learn to roost with the other girls. My husband is NOT fond of the breed, and would probably have a fit if he came home one day to MORE silkies!

I'd really appreciate any thoughts you silkie lovers have so I can help this sweet little one.

Silkies don't normally roost, they can't fly. I don't know that they could even get up on a roost that's 18-20" off the ground.
I have a little ladder looking thing in my coop. This is what it looks like, and as you can see, they like to get on this one to roost. They can also easily get up and down the ladder. Some of them never get up to roost, some do.



If you can make something for your silkie so she could easily get up with the other chickens, maybe she would try? I don't know. Or she might have no interest getting up that high.

If roosting doesn't work and you really can't have a second silkie to keep her company, give her a heat lamp in the winter time when it gets really cold. That's a pretty easy fix, I think.

 

[aoxa]

And more cute babies! I'll have to take some pictures of my bunch one of these days while they're still in their cute&fluffy stage.

What do you mean cute and fluffy STAGE?

They are silkies.

Isn't cute and fluffy the norm?

 

[beckyb1971]

these are the whites I got tuesday

 

[beckyb1971]

got these yesterday