Silkie thread!

[subhanalah]

Silkie help ...Im pretty new to silkies. Have 6   every day  lightly   splashed  Silkies  and  then  bought eggs from across the country.Now have  4 really nice babies  from the eggs.I want to take good care of them..

They are in a little run   now plenty of  room but it has no grass at all. I just dug out   a few clumps of grass  and dropped in  which  they are crazily pecking at .Now i wonder did i do the right thing.?. Can some grass or weeds  hut them ?I  dont use any chemicals on my grass  ever. It just comes up with whatever weeds are in it.I live in the country so no neighbors to add chemicals. nearby..Ive also dropped in picked grass weeds  and bush leaves for them before
. They are i think 6 to 8 weeks old now

Another question
 One  egg hatch that said partridge on it. It hatched out   with brown  and black strips and sort of silver background  pretty....but  suprisingly to me chick  has turned black with a little white around its eyes
Will it  have   some other color come out later or stay  all black.? 

do you have bedding down for them or are they on packed dirt? You want to make sure they have chick grit with the grass and weeds. Can you put their run over some grass? They love scratching around in it and eating it and whatever bugs they can find.

 

[subhanalah]

Do you guys feed your silkies crumble their whole life or layer pellets? Mine are 9 months and I still have them on crumble because I felt like layer is too bigs. Out of my 5 I have 3 roosters and 2 hens both of which are laying

I was wondering about the same thing.   Are layer pellets too big for them?

I've read silkies should not have pellets because they can choke. My Silkie rooster has gotten into pellets with no I'll affect. I want feedback too because crumble is so wasteful

When they are young they can choke on most anything. I had one choke on a feather.
I feed mine a mix of free range ( scratch ) and a 22% protein micro- pellet. This is their staple diet, they do of course get table scraps and a weekly treat.

I feed mine Nutrena Feather Fixer and mix some 5-grain scratch.  I tried 11 grain scratch, put they pick and choose, waste a lot..The Feather Fixer has small pellets.   I haven't noticed any feather difference in the Feather Fixer.  I use it to put weight on them, and the "mite technology" seems to work.  I've seen less mites with it.  I haven't tried other Nutrena variations, but they might have the smaller pellets like Feather Fixer does.

I need to feed my Silkie layer pellets because she's living with a Black sex link, Brown sex link and a Australorp.  Do I have to get micro pellets?

I feed my entire flock micro pellets. Just be mindful that if you keep Roos , you want to keep the calcium levels below 2%.

I feed all of my flock the lay mash when they are old enough.  Crumbles for the babies, no problems yet.  A good chick starter.   They have done just fine for years now on this. 
And like said..they can choke on anything, you just never know..just this morning I'm out watching them in the grow out pen, and one is just trying it's hardest to smash something into the ground to make it .. swallable..if that's a word ..  lol..   well, it was something, but that something had a feather on it.  I got it's attention by talking to it...don't eat that feather!!   My raised voice did the trick to distract it. 

I recommend everyone take a look at the benefits of fermenting feed.
It increases immunity and resistance to parasites, helps gut flora and fauna, increases the ability of the body to absorb nutrients as well as increasing the bio-availability of nutrients while decreasing anti-nutrients.

From a more economical standpoint, it reduces feed waste and reduces feed consumption with more nutrients being absorbed with less feed.

From a practicality standpoint, as long as you mix it dry enough, even one day old chick's can eat it, whether you buy pellets or crumbles, it all breaks down in the fermented feed, so it doesn't matter which you get. Even the fines in the food get used.

http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

 

[Fancychooklady]

I recommend everyone take a look at the benefits of fermenting feed.
It increases immunity and resistance to parasites, helps gut flora and fauna, increases the ability of the body to absorb nutrients as well as increasing the bio-availability of nutrients while decreasing anti-nutrients.

From a more economical standpoint, it reduces feed waste and reduces feed consumption with more nutrients being absorbed with less feed.

From a practicality standpoint, as long as you mix it dry enough, even one day old chick's can eat it, whether you buy pellets or crumbles, it all breaks down in the fermented feed, so it doesn't matter which you get. Even the fines in the food get used.

http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

I feed mine barley sprouts in the winter.

 

[aheyen]

Just got 5 Silkie chicks for kids 4-h projects.

any info would be great.

 

[abkoldewyn]

I recommend everyone take a look at the benefits of fermenting feed.
It increases immunity and resistance to parasites, helps gut flora and fauna, increases the ability of the body to absorb nutrients as well as increasing the bio-availability of nutrients while decreasing anti-nutrients.

From a more economical standpoint, it reduces feed waste and reduces feed consumption with more nutrients being absorbed with less feed.

From a practicality standpoint, as long as you mix it dry enough, even one day old chick's can eat it, whether you buy pellets or crumbles, it all breaks down in the fermented feed, so it doesn't matter which you get. Even the fines in the food get used.

http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/
Thanks for the info. I'm really interested in trying this.

 

[Roxannemc]

do you have bedding down for them or are they on packed dirt? You want to make sure they have chick grit with the grass and weeds. Can you put their run over some grass? They love scratching around in it and eating it and whatever bugs they can find.Tthy have a open coop 2x4 x2 with newspaper right now as i need to buy straw.(they just went out this week ) and need to make the coop more secure ad a window etc.. .then there is a large dog cage comes out the side and a small 4 foot run comes off the front of the coop but need the chicken wire cut off the bottom i guess. so they can get to the ground fully (but they can in the dog cage a wire floor).

Even with dirt available they need grit? I have some but it seems big fore their size.
I can move the whole set up Sort of make shift right now
Thing is the grass is all in the pure sun no shade and far from the door and window where i can watch them. The weather can get to the coop if i move to grass areas too .

Its under 2 small trees right now by my pathway so shaded well and protected. and 10 feet fro m the door and window but i know they need grass WAS hoping some would grow nearby but hasnt happened
Thanks for the tips.

By the way here is my chick started out striped partridge 7 weeks old now and thought was black but blue?White by eyes is gone too.

 

[cc-robinson]

Oh wow...looks blue. I am so new to silkies! I got a partridge too that looks like it feathering darker too. What is fermentation feeding??? I need a manual! Such a beautiful chick!!

 

[Fancychooklady]

Even with dirt available they need grit? I have some but it seems big fore their size. I can move the whole set up Sort of make shift right now Thing is the grass is all in the pure sun no shade and far from the door and window where i can watch them. The weather can get to the coop if i move to grass areas too . Its under 2 small trees right now by my pathway so shaded well and protected. and 10 feet fro m the door and window but i know they need grass WAS hoping some would grow nearby but hasnt happened Thanks for the tips. By the way here is my chick started out striped partridge 7 weeks old now and thought was black but blue?White by eyes is gone too.

Try putting some shade cloth on top or a tarp. They don't really need grit while their diet consists mostly of crumble. Once they are out on the ground they pick up their own grit.

 

[subhanalah]

It really depends on your dirt. My dirt doesn't have hard, coarse small pieces of rocks for them to eat, so I have a bag of chick starter I give some on top of their food, they eat what they want and don't eat what they don't want.

Could you cover them with a tarp while you get everything situated? Does it rain a lot there? I hesitate to use straw because of the mold issues it has when it gets wet and muddy.
Some people use pine pellets for horse stalls in their muddy walkways/run areas. Other people put down pine shavings. I am currently filling in the worst places in my yard (dog trails) with spent bedding from my brooders.

 

[KittyChicks]

Anyone within an hour or so of Binghamton new york have buff silkies for sale? Or know of a place where I could get just 1 buff silkie chick?