Silkie thread!

All the baby silky & standard chicks went out to Free Range this afternoon. They LOVED it! Didn't want to go back into the Coup This is their 3rd night in the Silky Coup w/my Black hen Lilly. Lilly was acting like she wanted to go broody so I gave a few of the chicks to her to see what she'd do. Couple hours later gave her more and so on until she had all 13. She didn't act like a loving MOMMA, but she didn't reject them either. I kept a close watch on her to see how things were going. Kept the chicks nice & warm Fri night & Sat night. Today when I put them all out in the grass, her Momma proctective instincts kicked in. She wouldn't let ANYONE get close to the chicks w/out attacking them (except for the other 2 Silky hens). Again tonight all 13 are staying warm under Lilly. Lilly before free Ranging All 13 (I think)
Awesome to see! I would be scared to death to let little ones like that out, hawks would get them here or ground squirrels or fox. They are just adorable.
 
Also, I just bought a breeding pair of splash silkies, yay!, and the lady gave me a dozen splash eggs to hatch. I have them in my incubator, but id really rather my silkie mom to hatch these herself since she hatches better than I do lol. But she hatched her babies a few weeks ago and is still taking care of them. Could I take the babies and put them in the brooder, and put some dummy eggs back in the nest to see if she will go broody again? Or would that work? Thanks everyone
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Awesome to see! I would be scared to death to let little ones like that out, hawks would get them here or ground squirrels or fox. They are just adorable.

Actually, the majority of the first hour they were out, I was right there down on the ground w/in a foot of them. Talking to one & all.The turkeys & roosters are really good about alerts for danger. We also have the hawks, fox, neighbors dogs etc (never thought of ground squirrels). So I seldom leave the flock unguarded when they are free ranging. The chicks werre out for 3 hours. We have 2 acres they can roam & the flock all mostly stay together.
 
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I live in a small town (less than 600 population and the town is only a square mile in size), so I carry them with me when I go places, like the store or to the restaurant and I sit outside with them for a bit and let them explore and meet people (they love people). They are on leashes, not tethered.

Oh that's cool. I thought you had them hobbled to each other. I saw a clip on a guy that hobbles his game Roos. Seems a bit cruel to me. But I guess it keeps them from fighting.
I bet your the talk of the town, " what about that guy that takes his furry chickens for a walk"
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I'm pretty sure now that I have a hen and a roo, so I may be hatching Silkies after they start breeding and laying (I special ordered them from the feed store; they were hatched on May 7th, I picked them up May 8th). Then again, I also have a Cochin roo that might try to mate with the hen...
To me, these both look like girls. Non bearded hens have larger combs and wattles. I don't see any streamers either.
 
Actually, the majority of the first hour they were out, I was right there down on the ground w/in a foot of them. Talking to one & all.The turkeys & roosters are really good about alerts for danger. We also have the hawks, fox, neighbors dogs etc (never thought of ground squirrels). So I seldom leave the flock unguarded when they are free ranging. The chicks werre out for 3 hours. We have 2 acres they can roam & the flock all mostly stay together.


I bet that was fun! Good to hear you watch them close they are so adorable.
 

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