Silkie thread!

[Sylvester017]

I LOVE watching Silkie's grow up.

SALUTE THE FLUFFY BUTTS! LUV 'EM

 

[Sylvester017]

Sorry, too much reading from the very beginning of this thread. But who says there's no LF/standard size silkie in the USA

Here is my pair I got yesterday from my local egg ranch place in comparison with a bantam hen and two standard size Lf roos. They have everything a regular silkie has, tuft/crest minus the beard , multiple toes, blue/black skin(dark skin), blue/white ear lobs, pea comb/ walnut or what ever kind of combs they usually have, hookless/barbless featherings, and feather legs and feet, though their shapes/stances might not be correct, but I don't care about that

.

I think I read somewhere, someone mention that meat silkies are hybrids? So, i 'm not sure if these LF are pure or not, but the local egg ranch has been selling these LF silkie for over 3 decades.

pullet with mature beardless and tuftlesss bantam hen


same pair from above pic


cockerel with light brahma roo


The same pullet from the first picture with an EE roo

I thought only the U.K. and Australia did the full LF Silkies beardless usually. Wonder how the fellow in the USA had them for decades? Interesting. Can you imagine how beautiful a bearded LF would look? Drool.

 

[sonderah]

My new Silkie (pullet??) for my newfound Sizzle project. Can anyone tell me if 1 managed I do it right and pick a female?? PLZ!!! The guy said he didn't know how to tell them apart, so I read a bit and guessed. He said they are 5-7 months.

 

[Sylvester017]

I'm guessing he was close to six years old. He was such a good old man. Wiser than a hawk too.

They do get wiser with age. Everyone thinks of Silkies as dainty little fluff-butts with docile brains but they are a VERY aware little bunch. Of course I'm talking about the over 2-year-olds as pullets and cockerels aren't quite as well seasoned. I miss my boy too. I was told he was a pullet but had to re-home him when he started to crow and mount his sister. He was the most curious little leader and always "alert" even as a cockerel. My pullets used to run from the camera but he'd poke his curious face right into the lens. It was hard to get a full body shot of him as he'd always run up to the camera. Maybe he liked admiring himself in the reflection - ha!

 

[Sylvester017]

My new Silkie (pullet??) for my newfound Sizzle project. Can anyone tell me if 1 managed I do it right and pick a female?? PLZ!!! The guy said he didn't know how to tell them apart, so I read a bit and guessed. He said they are 5-7 months.

I don't see any hard feathers sticking out of the crest or tail and the comb is small so maybe you did good - a real cutie! I hope it's a girl for you.

 

[heirloomorps]

The 2 month olds. Man this hatch has me baffled on sex. All of my whites so far before these little ones have hatched female. I could tell pretty early with them. These are going to make me wait. lol

I think 3, 4 and 5 are boys. The other two... not sure.

 

[sonderah]

Thanks! Me too! Lol

 

[kabhyper1]

I think 3, 4 and 5 are boys. The other two... not sure.

Thanks. I think I am going to have to wait and see. Two of the whites from my October hatch I swore were boys. They looked just like these two. Now at almost six months, they are the girliest silkies ever. It just goes to show silkies are a mystery. Whenever I set them down to take pictures they contort themselves and stand up tall. All but maybe two of my hens do that. I wish I could get good pics of natural stances. They don't ever do what you want them to.

I do think that this might be a little fella, looking closer at my pix I see a little bump at the top of the comb. They all act like girls. I did hear a little bitty horrible attempt at a crow one day, but couldn't tell who it was, so one of them is a boy.

 

[bluenkimchi]

I thought only the U.K. and Australia did the full LF Silkies beardless usually. Wonder how the fellow in the USA had them for decades? Interesting. Can you imagine how beautiful a bearded LF would look? Drool.

I've seen these LF meat silkie in my part of town at 2 different poultry places. As of origins, I have no clue. I've seen these types at LA's china town(So Ca) before too, when they still were allowed to keep live birds at the factory. I think the farmers would have had to special order them as chicks from some place that produce silkies for the Asian meat market.

I think in a few generations of selective cross breeding with the bantam fluffy fur balls, one can make a LF full beard silkie bird too.

 

[Sylvester017]

Well maybe I wont do Rosemary, just looking for something to bring in the bugs for the kids ( but cant stand spiders) as we are not going to be free ranging this year. First time ever. but getting too many different pens with different breeds, today I am researching Cochin's ( LF ) and figuring out space and housing to keep them healthy and happy. The Cochin's are DH's ideal. He wasn't all that cracked up about my chickens, but he spoils me and if I really want he gives, so when I got a free Cochin Roo last fall he fell in-love hard!!!! He walks around with DH and DH will just talk to him and hold and pet on him, sometimes I have to remind him we have work to do... lol
Then we had an illness that came with some other free chickens and it wiped out our whole flock ( no more free chickens on this place it broke both our hearts to have to cull the ones that weren't sick yet. But vet said they were carriers so had to go too.
Now our ground is safe again and we are starting all over, Some old breeds some new breeds, like the Silkies and the Cochins, I also have Wyadottes that are new to us and welsummers, Blk. Jersy Giants, Lt. Brahmas, and ISA Browns and my favorite of the layers " EE's "
We had to gut the laying coop so we have to rebuild basically. but the chicks won't be going out till first of April so we got time.
I'm glad we don't have all those fires, we have some flooding sometimes but not here. We have some lakes on the place that int supposed to be here sometimes but that's it. We have friends that is still fighting with FEMA over the last flood. and they just want to move and start over.
but in gen. we aren't hit with all that thank God.
I still have to get my RIR and Red Sex-links, and a few Leghorns, to get my flock back up to par, my customers call and e-mail me every week wanting to know when I will be back up and running again, they don't understand that chicks don't lay eggs... lol
I guess I need to shut up and stop bugging you, it's just nice to be able to hold a conversation with someone that aint rude or judgmental, or that tells me my EE's are Mutts and why would I want a mutt????? blah blah blah...... So thank you for all the help and Awesome ideals.
Hope all you poultry adventurers are grand.
If I can ever help you with something feel free.........

Isn't it heartbreaking to lose animals? And you lost the WHOLE flock - I'd be devastated. I lost only 2 pullets last year and DH and I still get tears about it. It happens and you know it happens but it still is so unexpected. I've never lost an adult yet but I know someday it will happen as we all have to return to our Maker someday. I love all the breeds you've chosen.

Cochins, Wyandottes, Brahmas, and Jersey Giants - are the ones I've never had but the Jerseys and Croad Langshans have always fascinated me - especially the black feathers which I love along with buff color breeds too.

FEMA or govt in general - can't depend on govt to meet our needs with all that bureaucracy to go through - Ron Howard's movie "Bitter Harvest" case in point about govt's slowness to ban PBB in the livestock feed of milking cows.

I got interested in APA Ameraucanas after I saw how sweet my friend's bird was. She also has 3 EEs and she loves those 4 girls in her 15-hen laying flock. Eventually I will have an EE for the sage/mint egg but I really wanted a blue egg so paid the $$ to a breeder to ship me a guaranteed blue egg layer. My friend's local breeder source mixes all her APA Ameraucanas and EEs in one breeding pen as she uses them just for eggs and not to sell chicks because she's turned her breeding attention to Coronation Sussex. The spent EE hens and roos are used for meat afterwards. The breeder had help with her separated breeds while her daughters were in high school but now they are off to college and the breeder can't handle the projects anymore - so, she concentrates on just one breed now and supplies hatching eggs for school projects. She had nearly 100 birds and is probably down to about 20 now. It's a lot of work to care for livestock and poultry - people don't realize the commitment it entails.

Yeah, some people can sound judgmental or rude on the threads but I think it's because of their writing style - I don't think they want to come out sounding rude but sometimes the words just don't fit right on the page plus some people's sensitivity can easily be triggered. Or some people just like to sound important. I used to be a research writer and my flaw on the threads is getting too "wordy." When I say I've eliminated a particular breed in my flock it's because it didn't work for me and I explain why - it's not that I totally don't like the breed - it just didn't work for my particular flock. I would love Brahmas, Giants, and Langshans but I know it would never work in my little backyard of limited 5 allowed and always need to be mindful of my 2 bantams. Guess we all make the world go round LOL.

Yes, thank you for your understanding nature. I love reading the multiplicity of breed threads on BYC as it really helps us see if we're going in a general good direction with our choices. Nothing is just one way or just a single correct way to do things. I like the cons expressed as well as the pros in people's experiences. We ultimately gotta do what we can afford and what works best for us and our animals - like should we keep chicks in the basement to save them from the elements or similar opinions. I say whatever saves the precious animal's life is what you gotta do. It's never for long term anyway but just an emergency measure - yet some people can't figure out why you'd keep chickens in the house (no different than keeping dogs or cats IMHO). But everybody's different. At first I was overwhelmed by the tons of information on the internet and people's opinions but over time I've weeded out what I can use and store other info for possible later applications and some I've totally discarded because it just doesn't fit my situation.

PM me anytime you have a thought to share if it just happens to be something other than Silkie related - I'm interested in all breeds. I'm not a particular fan of game breeds but still study them just for the info - Smiles