Silkie thread!

[Cynthia12]

I hatched 12


Only one showgirl this time. See her in the background? If anyone can help with the colors I would be happy! I think 3 partridge, 3 grey or porcelain, and one white and one white showgirl. I gave 4 away

Since the 4 left, they dont come out much. None are very brave and stay in hiding most of the time.

Hard to tell quite yet..they are very cute. I love SG's. Looks like you have some blues though, possible splash..and a white. Those darks could be dark blue, or even a black. There are dark black, and lighter black. Look at the wings in a couple of more days..you will be able to tell better if any color is coming in.

 

[Cynthia12]

Above chick #1







Chick # 2
I know it is early but does anyone see any signs of Roo's??
Chick #2 might be just based on stance and feathering slower then Chick #1. they are 4 weeks old

Too early. I really have a hard time waiting. Sometimes you can see that there is a considerable amount of comb on those boys, sometimes not. I had a girl that really made me wonder for the longest time. I went more by her crest and tail feathering as she got older. Here she is. You can see a comb on her. Looks girly every other way.

 

[JONNIEGIRL]

Oh my gosh so darn cute. I can not wait for my silkies to get that big! I love the baby and all those wonderful feathers.
thanks for the share.

 

[Half Moon Ranch]

It's gonna be hard for you getting rid of your surplus Silkie roos becase the little boys are spunky and as sweet as can be.

One of our 3-year-old Silkie hens is trying to crow - it's the funniest thing - she's definitely a hen as she's been laying eggs for almost 3 years but she's our alpha and it's not unusual for alphas to mockmate other hens or try to crow - I'm just glad the LF submit to the Bantam and don't try to fight back!

We still miss our Partridge boy that went back to the breeder sold to us as a "pullet" - after that incident I only buy juveniles to be absolutely certain I have pullets. You'll have no choice but trade out your excess roos to get more pullets. It's not fair to her to be overmated by the sexy roos. I'm also on the concerned side of such big BOs around little Silkies when they all grow up. BOs are huge birds and though sweet around each other and humans can be tyrants to smaller birds when fully matured. Maybe you can negotiate a trade with someone - your BOs for either EEs or a couple APA Ameraucanas. The BOs will go broody and with broody Silkies you may see a dent in your egg output.

The EEs and Ameraucanas will give mostly XL eggs and aren't broodies and can keep you supplied w/eggs many times through winter when other breeds have stopped. Not to mention they are less pushy than other breeds. BOs can weigh up to 7-8 lbs where EEs and Ameraucanas usually don't top 5.5 lbs but still give large eggs, don't go broody, lay through winter, and are generally quite sweet-tempered in a flock - they are not heavy but stand very tall and statuesque. One note I'd like to mention is that BOs and EEs/Ameraucanas/Silkies have very fluffy butts and may need hygiene care/butt washes in warm water and baby shampoo to get the gunk off the vent feathers. There's always one of these girls at least once a month we've got to wash but they like the lukewarm hairdryer blowing on them - my DH helps keep them in a towel to keep from getting chilled as I blow-dry them. We take the towel away bit by bit as each area is dried. I love the baby shampoo as it works well to loosen the gunk that warm water alone doesn't do. Some people like Dawn but I prefer the baby shampoo on the off-chance it could splash into their eyes since chickens can suddenly flap for no reason.

I identify with your dilemma because I had to bite the bullet and re-home my Silkie boy, and a 7-lb bully Marans, and a sweet White Leghorn that went aggressive after her 3rd year. Not to mention two lost juvenile/chicks last year which were meant to replace my re-homed birds. A real heartache but I love the new flock temperament I have now - 2 alpha Silkies, 1 APA Blue Wheaten Ameraucana, and 1 Buff Leghorn (calmer than either White or Brown Legs).

My Buff Leghorn is currently going through a broody period. Leghorns are not broody. However to get a Buff Leghorn her background history has Phoenix, Buff Rock, Buff Minorca, and Buff Orp to breed for body type and the Buff color - so it is not unusual for Buff Legs to go broody. Buff Legs now breed true (Buff Leg male to Buff Leg female) but a I guess it's expected for the hens to go broody because of their cross-breeding. For now she is sweet tempered so hope she stays that way - she lays the prettiest pink eggs both inside and outside the shell the way the Ameraucana lays blue eggs both inside and outside the shell. Our Buff Leg is so easy to handle she's like a bowl of jello - any position we put her in she'll stay - or let us pet her - and of course will sit on our lap to get treats. What my favourite thing about her is that though she is a LF she submits to the alpha Silkies which is the MOST important thing in our flock. It is hilarious watching our alpha 2.5-lb Partridge Silkie chasing the Buff Leg or Ameraucana around the yard at a full Silkie run!

At 3-years-old our Partridge Silkie has fully matured and finally aggressive enough to be leader of the flock. I much prefer a Bantam as the alpha rather than a LF. We had our White Leg as alpha for 3 years but at that maturity she was too aggressive to the Bantams. I prefer the Bantams as the leaders since their diminutive size can't hurt the submissive LF.

Hope you get your flock figured out as it took us 3 years to finally get a flock we were happy with.

I think we may have a girl that's trying to crow as well.
Yesterday morning I took a little video catching their first moments out the door and thought this was pretty amusing.
The Splash makes his way to the center of the run and he'll be the first to crow.
What follows next is pretty funny in the next half-hearted, pseudo crow.
This happens twice and then the Splash gets the last word in.

 

[Iluvmysilkies]

Too early. I really have a hard time waiting. Sometimes you can see that there is a considerable amount of comb on those boys, sometimes not. I had a girl that really made me wonder for the longest time. I went more by her crest and tail feathering as she got older. Here she is. You can see a comb on her. Looks girly every other way.

And look at that same beautiful girl now!

 

[Debbiedoobs]

What are the wings looking like? Are they white, any color coming into them? That's where you will see the true color first. Spread the wing out, take a look. Maybe you can get a photo of the wing out for us?

Wish I could check her wings but I haven't got a clue which one she is now. I have another 4 white and with the buff looking white they all look the same.

 

[Sylvester017]

I think we may have a girl that's trying to crow as well.
Yesterday morning I took a little video catching their first moments out the door and thought this was pretty amusing.
The Splash makes his way to the center of the run and he'll be the first to crow.
What follows next is pretty funny in the next half-hearted, pseudo crow.
This happens twice and then the Splash gets the last word in.

I think those adorable crows are both from boys. Although females can crow it's usually not until they are alpha in the flock and there's no roo. Of course, there is always the exception that young pullets crow but I don't think so when there is a roo in the flock.

Maybe others have input on this as I've never had more than one Silkie roo 3 years ago and only this year my 3-year Partridge hen started her silly alpha crow. I've never had a pullet crow (under one year old). When we had an alpha White Leg she never crowed in the 3 years we had her before re-homing her.

Love the fluffy feet on your Silkies! My girls have worn down their toe feathers from all the free-ranging they do so not quite as fluffy any more but they are so happy scratching around the yard!

 

[Suzierd]

My rooster was quite full of himself today, so I snapped a few pictures and thought I'd share Swishing his streamers Sorry about the dirty booty, but holy butt fluff batman! His lovely beetle green feathers! Random chick pic, 8 weeks old.

What a beautiful boy! Is he a Black or Dark blue? Love the green in his feathers! That crest is adorable when he was a baby

 

[jessivogel]

Odd question. If I breed one of my silkies to a turken, will I get showgirls?

 

[Sylvester017]

Odd question. If I breed one of my silkies to a turken, will I get showgirls?

The first generation crossbreeding will not look very good. It will take several generations to get nice looking showgirls. The first generation looks mottly-feathered and actually quite unattractive. Sweet but unattractive. See if you can find a Show Girl thread or website to get better genetic counselling.