Silkie thread!

[JONNIEGIRL]

My 2 silkies (one black and one white) went outside and into the coop on Wednesday with her 6 sisters (assorted hens) that are all 8 weeks old. OMG they ran around and
had so much fun. We have two full grown one year old Plymouth hens that seem to care less about the little ones. Needless to say we spend a lot of time during the day
out there with them on and off. They all go right into the coop at night. The two big ones fly up to the perches and the babies nestle down in a corner together. Everyone
is eating and seem happy. They all look like hens to me, but being my first time I guess time will tell. The silkies are the STARS of the group for sure.

 

[themadchicken]

I have a question for you all. When i bought this rooster it was splash colored but as he has gotten old he has a lot a red leaking through. I have a white hen and a splash hen but i i have chicks hatch out partridge, splash, porcelain, and blue. Here is a picture of him. Would this be considered a Calico splash because of the red and his off springs colors?

 

[subhanalah]

I have a question for you all. When i bought this rooster it was splash colored but as he has gotten old he has a lot a red leaking through. I have a white hen and a splash hen but i i have chicks hatch out partridge, splash, porcelain, and blue. Here is a picture of him. Would this be considered a Calico splash because of the red and his off springs colors?

whenever you have a lot of recessive genes mixed together, you get a lot of heterozygous offspring, which means they carry but don't show the trait. This generally gives a "wild type" appearance which is what shows dominant when there is not a homozygous (offspring has both copies) gene present to cover up that gene sequence (partridge chicks)

 

[All4JnG]

Took a video this morning for a few chicken friends to make a better rooster guess. Silkies are so hard to sex! Plus this rooster is a shy one, didn't hear him this morning  even woke up early to try and see him. Watch all 4 silkies be roosters that would be just my luck. Lol 
Guess the rooster!:

 

[ChickenLover200]

hello! I have 4 Silkie hens can I join in this thread? my silkies aren't really show quality just sorta pets thanks

 

[Suzierd]

On the advice of my vet re Silkies I've been doing the fermented feed for 6 months because we had layer pellets that the Silkies loved but couldn't break down so they kept looking for smaller broken pieces.  We started moistening the pellets (not soaking but just moistening) overnight in the fridge with added brewers yeast, cooked brown rice, a little dash of turmeric, chia seeds, quinoa seeds, crushed pumpkin seeds (no shell), and rolled oats and all the chickens go for the moistened feed.  However we noticed them eating less of the feed.  Guess that's where the absorbtion of nutrients comes into place to require eating less of it.  So the wild birds don't eat it all up we remove the bowl after the morning feeding. 

The hens eat the bulk of it in the morning and we set out a little at dusk for their evening foraging - during the day we supplement with whole wheat, Greek yogurt, meat or seafood because the protein content on our current organic feed is less because of no-soy/no gmo formulation.  Someone in our area makes a non-cooked organic feed with a better protein ratio we plan to look into for next purchase. A total of one cup of moistened feed daily for 4 hens equals 1/4 cup consumed roughly per chicken each day - doesn't seem like much but they also forage the yard all day for bugs and greens.  It's been less waste that we may go with a smaller bag of organic feed next time around to keep it rotationally fresher.

Are you fermenting or just getting moist in frig over night? When you ferment it will have to sit for days being stired and when it starts to bubble and has a yeasty smell its ready. It can have a white looking film on it but don't feed anything that molds. Prevent mold by stirring a few times a day making sure you scrabble the sides good.

 

[Suzierd]

Think my 7 week old silkie baby was jumped on by a large roo.He seems hurt but i cant find any damage.
Got out of the run...Found it standing head buried in his feather.sPut it back in the run its just standing there.still. not moving.Can i do anything to help it?

The stance your describing sounds like coccidiosis, I would run some corid thru her. You don't always she blood in the stool, is her stool look normal?

 

[cc-robinson]

This is probably a stupid question... I have not had silkies before now. Do they lay eggs as much as the other chickens? Do you eat their eggs or just for hatching? ?

 

[All4JnG]

This is probably a stupid question... I have not had silkies before now. Do they lay eggs as much as the other chickens? Do you eat their eggs or just for hatching? ?

They hatch eggs not as many as a larger layer but I think the average is 3 eggs a week. Mine have yet to lay but any day now and yes you can eat them. They are just smaller.

 

[katzbantams]

So, here you have two saying..yep, pointy end down...Good Luck with your hatch!

This link will be a good reference.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

Thank you everyone fo the help! really hoping I get a good hatch rate! Any ideas about the breeds! I assuming Easter eggers, silkies, some rhode island reds or maybe a seabright or porcelain d'uccle or I have no idea! I will love anything that comes out!