Silkie thread!

[Fancychooklady]

I have a lavender roo that someone said might have coronation markings. I didn't know what that was at the time. _Pam The photos made it look like he has cream in his color- but its more white.

Never heard it referred to as anything but ' lavender gene ' , but he's a handsome fellow Pam. Mine will just be mutts. King George just got into a part of the yard where he's not supposed to be. This is KG and his girls.

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Quote: I do intend to, my Bredas just aren't laying yet. I actually house my young Bredas in my Silkie pen because of the Silkie's docile nature.

But I can't say they mix really well, since my Bredas are young still.

 

[Sylvester017]

I too have ' garden chickens ' and they are confined to a small area. I have a GLW living in harmony with my white silkie. Your situation was unfortunate , but not always the way it will be for others. I'm sure there are others that co habitate their breeds , my friend is in suburbia and it is her dream to have one of each.

Yeah - you hear people being able to do mixes but I found that since my Silkies are the older hens now, they rule the roost and I like that the little hens are not getting picked on anymore. I guess the breeder or strain you get your LF from makes a big difference too. I like it when breeders get selective about culling nasty temperaments to keep the more amiable birds in their breeding programs.

I still am not convinced GLW or SLW or any W is a safe breed for us. I've gotten 50/50 feedback on their temperaments and my egg seller friend won't have them so that was good enough for me. There are other more docile smaller fowl to choose from. That's a nice thing about choosing chickens - so many breeds! I wanted a BLRW when they first were gaining popularity but were hard to get at the time so went with the Marans which was a mistake. Who knows? If I were able to get a BLRW and not the Marans I might've had a different experience. Just have to keep the gentle under 5-lb birds together so there's no sudden bully surprises. I think if the opportunity is there a heavy LF will take advantage just because they can. Flock politics is best left to the girls but not when there's harm done. Tilly's Nest website had to re-home her gorgeous SLW because it was stressing the small flock of 4 other hens and one was a little Black Silkie. It was hard to part with her but the SLW was given almost 6 months to straighten out but her mean behavior was contagious with the other hens.

OurFlyBabies.com keeps an Ameraucana flock amongst their other breeds because the APA Ameraucanas (equivalent tailed Auracana in Australia & U.K.) will accept an orphaned chick or injured bird into their flock kindly. That was good enough for me and my egg seller friend so we each got one. Not interested in flock politics, kind to flockmates, sweet and talkative to humans, kooky gentle personalities, active foragers, prolific layers of pretty blue eggs, chase cats out of the yard, fly well but don't go over the fence, and they have the cutest muffy cheeks. Their only drawback is they are not broody if that is what you need in a flock. I've never had an Easter Egger but since they are a mixed bird closely related to the Ameraucanas are probably just as nice a bird.

Owners are free to choose the breeds they want. I just like to post my experiences to make others aware of the other side of the coin in case they're surprised by unexpected consequences from the mixed flock. For the most part chickens know how to settle flock politics but it takes a little human savvy also before putting all the breeds together and having a backup plan to re-home or isolate problem birds. It seems like serious Silkie breeders don't mix them with LF. They might have other LF for personal use but usually don't mix them with the gentler Silkies. Amber Waves Silkies concentrates on Silkies only. They have a goat breeding also but no other chicken breeds as the Silkies are all-consuming especially with different colors to breed.

I LUV all the feedback on these thread pages. I still have to read about 3,000 more pages LOL!

 

[Sylvester017]

I do intend to, my Bredas just aren't laying yet. I actually house my young Bredas in my Silkie pen because of the Silkie's docile nature.

But I can't say they mix really well, since my Bredas are young still.

I'm excited to find out what color egg your Bredas will lay. Supposed to be white and most owners say white but have heard of some reporting off-white or cream. Will you let us know what the Bredas lay? I was hoping to get Breda until reports started popping up about different egg colors. Still, in the long run, the temperament of a lightweight LF with rose (or NOT) comb is more important housed with Silkies than color or size of egg. Breda pullets are way smaller than the cockerels so should be a good gentle mix at 4 lbs next to the Silkies.

I'm not ready for any new pullets in 2014 so by the time you get a breeding program going I'll be ready for a Breda. I was looking into the darling Crevecoeur as they are extremely rare also but not sure I want to deal with more crested birds. Just getting lazy in my old age - Smiles

 

[chick rookie]

I have a small backyard so I space the lean-to's about 20 feet apart and I'm working on a 3rd. Nothing fancy - just two cinderblocks under each end to hold up a plank of board and a brick on each end on top of the plank so it doesn't blow away in the wind. Chickens aren't fussy but I know they like the lean-to's which are either along the fence or against a building - they like the security of buildings and fence walls for some reason which is where my old Rose Bush was (against a fence). I'm nursing some dwarf trees like Pomegranate and Lemon trees in pots to put out in the yard - no avocado or soft fruit trees because I don't want mice, rats or squirrels. I don't want to plant my dwarfs in-ground because we are constantly changing the landscape and the dwarf containers are easily moved around. The containers harbor spiders and insects so the chickens love to check them out every day. Right now one Silkie likes to sit in the shadow of a tall Rosemary bush container close to the bedroom wall.

We added a cheap Walmart pop-up canopy for shade (buried each leg about 1-foot into the ground to anchor) and when it rains the dust-bath area stays dry. Besides shade for the birds the canopy is used over a 4x4 foot raised garden bed with dirt and a little sand but mostly dirt that stays dry and they sift through on a rainy day. My Silkies - one stays in the coop when it's pouring but one likes to splash through the puddles with the big girls and looks like a drowned rat by end of day. She has enough sense to fluff herself dry towards dusk and then she's nice and fluffy clean next morning. All 4 chickens love to sleep in the nestboxes rather than the open coop floor or the perch. It's daily straw cleaning but if they're happy, we're happy The main thing is we know they are secure in the coop. A couple stray large dogs broke into the yard and tried to get at the chickens in the coop when we first got them. Thank goodness it was a secure coop but we have since realized that double gating is a good secure way to keep out negligent neighbor's animals. Your dog idea is excellent. Two working or guard dogs is best because they work in tandem to circle predators. Even two Chiquaquas will circle enemies although they aren't intimidating enough but think they are LOL! Wish I had the space of land you have - I miss my folks' farm.

Have been drawing since I posted last, would a scrap piece of plywood ( painted ) with one end buried a couple inches in the ground and the front help up by 2 legs work or would it be enough of a gap that a bird of pray could get in after them?? Was thinking if I do it that way it could run water off and give another place to get out of the rain, and out of the sun although they will get plenty of shade from the big coop and 3 pine trees as the sun moves. Rosemary, does that have to go in in the winter?
I have GP's, 2 of them and they are very serious about intruders of the 4 legged type. They helped a neighboring farmer with a Coyote problem he WAS having. Now he is looking for 2 of his own. lol
We only have 2 acres. Which we are running out of room fast. We are looking for someplace bigger. It would be great to NOT have to feed hay year round to the horses and goats.

 

[BuckNBark Farm]

Never heard it referred to as anything but ' lavender gene ' , but he's a handsome fellow Pam. Mine will just be mutts. King George just got into a part of the yard where he's not supposed to be. This is KG and his girls.

At the same time that I read this, a statement on Jeprody was that the discoverer of Uranus wanted to name it Kind George. Also, I was looking up a song today, and the artist was "Sylvester", and I"Sylvester" is on the forum today. lol

 

[Sylvester017]

Just wanted to brag on my little black Silkie (with her two flock mates). In her first week of laying, she gave us FIVE eggs!! Yay Autumn!!

My Silkies are great little layers and 5 to 6 eggs per week has been normal with my girls and at 1.25 oz each. HOWEVER, be prepared for the tremendous downturn when a Silkie pullet goes broody. You won't see eggs for 1-3 months again! Still, while they are laying, they are little dynamos - It's all those babies they think they're going to brood!

 

[Sylvester017]

we put our rabbit in the playpen with our silkie and my serama roo this sat.. and the rabbit attacked them..hes normally so friendly.. has anyone else had this happen.. I thought he would just chill..he kept charging the serama roo and biting my silkie. I had to remove him

This is what I'm talking about when mixing different sized breeds together. The little ones can get hurt. Some people are lucky not to have an incident and others of us are not. I don't mix my Silkies with any LF heavier than 5-lb and docile because one of my 2-lb Silkies was attacked by a 7-lb Marans and they were together for 6 months before the Marans decided to turn on the flock. I don't interfere with flock politics but a 2-lb bantam doesn't have a chance against a 7-lb LF. We re-homed the trouble maker and don't have any heavy LF in the flock mix.

 

[subhanalah]

This is what I'm talking about when mixing different sized breeds together. The little ones can get hurt. Some people are lucky not to have an incident and others of us are not. I don't mix my Silkies with any LF heavier than 5-lb and docile because one of my 2-lb Silkies was attacked by a 7-lb Marans and they were together for 6 months before the Marans decided to turn on the flock. I don't interfere with flock politics but a 2-lb bantam doesn't have a chance against a 7-lb LF. We re-homed the trouble maker and don't have any heavy LF in the flock mix.

this post is about a rabbit charging the chickens, not a larger breed of chicken.

 

[Sylvester017]

this post is about a rabbit charging the chickens, not a larger breed of chicken.

Yes, I was aware of that but the same principles still apply of mixing different breeds of animals in different sizes. The bigger ones will bully simply because they CAN because they're BIGGER. Some people have all the luck in the world mixing and raising cats with parakeets but there's always a number that don't have that kind of luck. Same idea with bunnies and chickens. Thx for the comment - Smiles