Silkie thread!

[bhj123]

I'll be sure to post pictures of them tomorrow.

 

[omas biddies]

GREAT,beautiful pictures. Thank you for sharing. On a

 

[omas biddies]

Can some of the feathers be trimmed

 

[Sylvester017]

After figuring out that my Cornish bantam was laying the buff 1.5+ oz eggs, my 5.5 month old Silkie started singing the egg song today and about 3 hours later (clearly she jumped the gun a tad) I found this! Pretty light brown, 1.07 oz first egg! Not even big enough to be a peewee! LOL

You don't want a huge first egg anyway. The color will fade to pale pink to almost cream with every lay - at least it did for our Black Silkie. The Partridge Silkie started laying off-white/cream and it never changed. Each first egg our two layed were 1.25 oz and only once did the Partridge surprise us w/ 1.5 oz a year later but only once thank goodness! Not humane for 2.2 lb birds to lay larger eggs.

 

[Sylvester017]

I'm very new to this breed and was wondering, from everyone's experience, just how broody is this breed? I'm planning on getting three tomorrow but don't know if they'll brood.
I really want them to brood when they mature because I have some show bird eggs I want to hatch later on.

You won't know what hit you when a Silkie starts to brood. With 3 of them they will follow each other as broodiness is contagious with these little gems. Sometimes they share brooding in one nest! Don't know how many eggs you need to set but I think 3 broodies will be plenty LOL. Just be sure to get them gently off the nest to go dust-bathe, poop, eat, drink, and forage far away from the nest so they don't get ill. They'll forage for a few minutes and then quickly return to the nest. They seem to know how long to take off the nest before returning. We give a Poly-Vi-Sol children's vitamin drop without iron 2x a week when they go broody just to be sure they get an all-round vitamin supplementation.

 

[Sylvester017]

Are the hatchery type as good of broodies as non-hatchery? Or is there even a difference?

I have one hatchery chick gifted to me and one breeder SQ pullet and both grew up broody nuts! They often follow each other into broodiness and often share a nest. They squabble and softly grumble as they move around in the nest with each other but very low-keyed -- no fighting, just broody grumbling.

 

[Sylvester017]

From everyone breeding Silkies on this thread it seems like everyone is mixing colors. In other words, I always thought breeding chickens was White to White, Black to Black, Partridge to Partridge, Buff to Buff, etc etc. and not Black over Partridge, or Red over White or whatever. For instance, an APA Ameraucana breeding can't have different colors parenting offspring but it seems like Silkie pairings are indiscriminate but still seem to produce a bevy of pure white, pure black, etc.

Can someone educate me?

 

[Sylvester017]

What colour is my Roo please? Is he classed as a Buff or Partridge? His chicks are chipmunk if that helps.










I know he has too much tail fluff but he is sweet to his girls and me.

He is what we in America would call a Heinz 57 - everything thrown in the bottle. A true Buff would be one-color Buff throughout. There are Buff Sussex with dual colors. Maybe he would classify closest to Partridge? Really gorgeous feathering that could with each generation get more Silkie feathered? Really pretty photography to capture those colors suebgbr.

 

[Sylvester017]

hi I'm heading to my first show on the 15th of this month I'm soooooo excited!!!! im taking my two 7 month old silkies scarlet and zoey. will ya'll critique them please?
I know I probably wont win anything but please still critique them.
heres scarlet



this is a slightly older picture her crest is now slightly bigger on both
this is zoey

zoey again
^older but shows her colors better^
her head

From the picture Scarlet looks like a Black or is she Blue? I personally adore the Black and Partridge so love both your Silkies! However, your Partridge looks more like a roo than a pullet but then I'm not accustomed to non-bearded types. The Partridge seems to have fuller feathering on the feet than the Black. My Black at 2 months had a fuller round bonnet than Scarlet at 7 months but I don't show so what do I know? But you know what? - judging is prejudicial so no telling what they will be looking for. Do your best to follow the SOP guidelines with your entries and the rest is up to the judges. GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN - it will be a learning occasion. Let us know what happens, how many entries there were, what colors were represented, what the judges said during inspection, etc.

 

[Fancychooklady]

What colour is my Roo please? Is he classed as a Buff or Partridge? His chicks are chipmunk if that helps. I know he has too much tail fluff but he is sweet to his girls and me.

He is a red partridge. The buff don't have a black base. Don't worry about the fluff that's just how they molt. This is my red partridge ' Jaffa '.