Silkie thread!

[Cynthia12]

We're brooding 4 buff orpingtons to put in with our silkies and I chose the breed because they're supposed to be docile and friendly. So far in the brooder that rep seems to be holding up.

BO's are a very calm breed. They can go broody pretty often too. Have had them either way..once in a while, or, often.
Your silkies and BO's should get along pretty good.

 

[John Simpson]

The run is 63" by 27"
The house is 48" by 63"

 

[cgmaster]

I am currently gathering eggs from my buff silkie who is paired with my black silkie to give to my great grandpa to hatch in his incubator for me. My question is Since she is the only silkie i have who is laying and she lays almost every day, how many eggs should i be able to get before they start to loose fertility?

 

[JayDubYa]

I have been a silkie mom for a week and a half. I have six of them and think they are adorable. I actually managed a couple of pics during afternoon supervised play. They range in age from two weeks to four. . .


--this is Lemon. I would call it Chiffon, but my luck it would be a roo, and what kind of name is Chiffon for a rooster?

No name yet. . .

This is Vier -- or Fee-fee, if it turn out to be a pullet...

--This is Em - (Money Honey (the product of a bad incubation and two sets of shipped eggs or the few that made it though the USPS), not yet named, and Clem (and Vier making a cameo appearance).


I love BYC, it is a great place to learn and compare and just to see the beauty that chickens are...

JW

 

[Sylvester017]

We were talking about chicken shoes for Silkies, etc. On Etsy.com I found Party Fowl in the Midwest USA who makes Neoprene shoes in many solid color choices for chickens and ducks in all sizes - not cheap as the shoe I was looking at was $9.00 each foot. Anyway for you chickie breeders you might look into it rather than spending hours trying to make them yourself. I sure could've used a pair last year when my OCD Silkie scratched in the nestbox so hard she pulled another toenail bleeding. There's a chart to determine the size to order - Smiles

 

[Fancychooklady]

I am currently gathering eggs from my buff silkie who is paired with my black silkie to give to my great grandpa to hatch in his incubator for me. My question is Since she is the only silkie i have who is laying and she lays almost every day, how many eggs should i be able to get before they start to loose fertility?

I don't sell eggs any older than 10 days. But being as they are for your own personal use I'd collect the even dozen. Remember to store them pointy end down in an egg carton at room temp, and don't wash them.

 

[Fancychooklady]

We were talking about chicken shoes for Silkies, etc. On Etsy.com I found Party Fowl in the Midwest USA who makes Neoprene shoes in many solid color choices for chickens and ducks in all sizes - not cheap as the shoe I was looking at was $9.00 each foot. Anyway for you chickie breeders you might look into it rather than spending hours trying to make them yourself. I sure could've used a pair last year when my OCD Silkie scratched in the nestbox so hard she pulled another toenail bleeding. There's a chart to determine the size to order - Smiles

Interesting . Here's the link.

https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/PartyFowl

 

[Sylvester017]

I most certainly do.

Love your photography!

 

[Fancychooklady]

Thanks.

 

[Sylvester017]

We're brooding 4 buff orpingtons to put in with our silkies and I chose the breed because they're supposed to be docile and friendly. So far in the brooder that rep seems to be holding up.

LF and Silkies are usually friendly and sweet as pullets. My egg seller friend says her LF begin getting nasty at about 2-3 years old.

I had to give away two LF who were sweet around our Silkies until about aged 2 for the Marans and aged 3 for the White Leghorn. They started going ballistic on the Silkies and I won't have that. The Marans was a dud as far as eggs or temperament but hated to give up my good layer White Leg. The White Leg was so sweet her first 3 years leading the flock and then she got progressively aggressive even toward her best friend Partridge Silkie - they were pullets together since the first month we had them. Gave her a chance to settle down w/isolation and in-house time-out but the flock dynamic wasn't changing so off she went to my friend before her nasty behavior became contagious or dangerous.

My friend had trouble with her BCM, BR, and Buff Orp getting aggressive at about the same age but she doesn't have bantams to worry about. I guess the old clucks figure they earned the right to be crotchety but I don't mix over 5-lb LF with my Silkies any more. Too little space in the yard for them to forage separately and a 2.5-lb Silkie doesn't have a fighting chance against a 6 or 7-lb bully.

I have a sweet but klutzy 5.5-lb APA Ameraucana who accidentally knocked a Silkie off the nestbox ledge and had to take the Silkie to the vet. I didn't realize Ameraucanas could get so large - she's not heavy but very tall and if she was aggressive I'd have re-homed her by now. However she has continued being sweet and submissive to the two alpha Silkies and has no interest in flock politics so we keep her. OurFlyBabies.com says they always keep Ameraucanas because they are very willing to accept orphaned chicks or injured birds into their flock. Not too many breeds are that friendly.

For as many people that say LF can mix with Silkies there will be just as many that say it's not wise. Again I think the older the LF become (no particular breed - just LF in general) the more aggressively bold they get toward smaller sized chickens just because they can. Tilly's Nest website said she had an adult Wyandotte and adult Black Silkie she introduced to her existing flock and for 6 months the Wyandotte kept picking on the other 4 hens so that the behavior was getting contagious. She reluctantly had to re-home the Wyandotte to stop the warring in the flock.

Everyone does what's best for them. Just wanted to share the other side of the coin as to what could occur.