Silkie thread!

[Iluvmysilkies]

Your partridge Silkie looks like mine!

I love all these partridge babies! I love how unique each one's color is, and wondering how they are going to turn out as adults. I have just one partridge that I adore, and her color still has me guessing. I wonder what she's going to look like This pic was maybe 2wks ago. She's alot fluffier now, and has a grey tail/feet but then this light tan-ish brown colored body, and then the normal partridge markings in her wings.

 

[Annalog]

Does anyone have pictures of 4 week old bantam silkie chicks? Thanks in advance!

I know other pictures were posted but mine turned 4 weeks old today and I also have some New Hampshire and a Barred Rock pullets that are the same age for comparison. I received all of them as a shipment of day old chicks from Ideal Poultry. These photos were taken today.

The other chicks are much larger and have less down than the Silkies. A couple of the NH chicks are even starting to develop wattles. Not so for the Silkies.

 

[abkoldewyn]

I love her! That giant vault makes her look like she's wearing a top hat!

 

[Sylvester017]

I know other pictures were posted but mine turned 4 weeks old today and I also have some New Hampshire and a Barred Rock pullets that are the same age for comparison. I received all of them as a shipment of day old chicks from Ideal Poultry. These photos were taken today.


The other chicks are much larger and have less down than the Silkies. A couple of the NH chicks are even starting to develop wattles. Not so for the Silkies.

Loved our NHR and BR but I'm not sure I'd mix LF with bantams. Did Ideal Poultry require a minimum order from you or could you order just the quantity and breed you wanted?

 

[Iluvmysilkies]

I love her! That giant vault makes her look like she's wearing a top hat!

Haha I agree I just loved that huge vault. It looks so huge on her lol. She's starting to get pin feathers in it now, and her chest is alot more full now. They grow so fast. She's has the sweetest personality of all of mine

 

[Annalog]

Loved our NHR and BR but I'm not sure I'd mix LF with bantams.  Did Ideal Poultry require a minimum order from you or could you order just the quantity and breed you wanted?

I split an order of 25 (quarter box) with another person. She got 11 bantam chicks (4 varieties) while I kept 14 (8 NHR pullets, 2 BR pullets, and 4 white Silkies). The website for Ideal Poultry lists additional charges for small orders and for breed/type orders of less than a quarter box. If less than 25 are ordered, they reserve the right to include extra male chicks for warmth (whatever varieties they have extras of). On the BYC thread for Ideal Poultry, I have seen these referred to as "packing peanuts" and read that rarely one or two turn out to be pullets. On my order, Ideal charged me for the small order but did not charge for the multiple varieties. I lost one BR chick to coccidosis (my fault) but all the other chicks are doing great.

I ordered the Silkies because none of my older hens (NHR, BR, and EE) will go broody. Last year I had a local farmer hatch some of my hen's eggs. I am hoping that at least one of the Silkie chicks will grow up to be a good broody. I ordered 4 to increase that chance and also to have enough in case I needed to separate the bantams from the pullets they are growing up with. Our main coop is split into two coop sections and an entry area used for storage, brooder, and isolation as necessary. We have two separate pens attached to the coop and 4 additional pen with small coops inside the pens. We are setting up a fifth large pen with a small coop inside that should be ready by the time the chicks outgrow the brooder. Those extra pens currently have bachelor roosters, mostly from the hatch last year.

 

[K Epp]

I know the reasoning for not mixing LF and bantam, but want to share my experience.

I brood everything together. LF, bantam, ducks and turkeys. Of course the ducks after about 2 weeks are so messy and big they get seperated until they go out side. I have several brooders and they are seperated by size of the bird rather than breed. When its time to go out side all go to the bantam coop. As the LF, turkey, and duck out grow the bantam they move to the barn. Now there is exceptions to that. I have a 3 month old duck who thinks she is a Silkie and has 4 5 month old Silkie siblings. At this point she is twice their size, but don't tell her that. They sleep in one big pile on the floor. I also have 6 week old turkeys in with older silkies.
Now as adults they stay separated and go their separate ways when free ranging. The exception to this is Aunt Bea a EE. She thinks she is a Seabright. When I tried to move her she flipped out and did not understand why I was putting her in with the giant birds. As soon as I opened the barn she would run to the bantam coop and try to get in. For a week I would find her asleep up against the outside wall of the coop run and Sally Seabright would be up against the inside. Both were stressed and loosing weight so I let her back in and all was well. She doesn't pick on any of the bantam, but then again she thinks she is a Seabright. LOL.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I know the reasoning for not mixing LF and bantam, but want to share my experience.

I brood everything together. LF, bantam, ducks and turkeys. Of course the ducks after about 2 weeks are so messy and big they get seperated until they go out side. I have several brooders and they are seperated by size of the bird rather than breed. When its time to go out side all go to the bantam coop. As the LF, turkey, and duck out grow the bantam they move to the barn. Now there is exceptions to that. I have a 3 month old duck who thinks she is a Silkie and has 4 5 month old Silkie siblings. At this point she is twice their size, but don't tell her that. They sleep in one big pile on the floor. I also have 6 week old turkeys in with older silkies.
Now as adults they stay separated and go their separate ways when free ranging. The exception to this is Aunt Bea a EE. She thinks she is a Seabright. When I tried to move her she flipped out and did not understand why I was putting her in with the giant birds. As soon as I opened the barn she would run to the bantam coop and try to get in. For a week I would find her asleep up against the outside wall of the coop run and Sally Seabright would be up against the inside. Both were stressed and loosing weight so I let her back in and all was well. She doesn't pick on any of the bantam, but then again she thinks she is a Seabright. LOL.

Lol. We chicken people must be mad. I have a blue laced red Wyandotte that thinks she is Silkie and a Silkie that thinks she is a gold laced Wyandotte . I tried to put the Silkie in with her own kind but she was dreadfully unhappy. As soon as I let her back in the Wyandotte pen she tweaked one of the Wyandotte hens in the rear end just to remind her who was boss. When she's a Silkie she is timid but when she is a Wyandotte she is big and brave.

 

[workinnanie]

I love this time of year! It is so much fun to see all of your adorable baby pictures! I have one to add. Notice our cat in the screen porch behind the chick. I just snapped a quick picture & didn't notice the cat till I enlarged the picture on my computer!

 

[lightchick]

Can you guys help?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-my-7-week-old-partridge-silkie#post_13679301