Silkie thread!

[The Hustons]

Just a quick question to my silky friends. Last night I swapped out 2 of my silkie roos.I have 4, with my silky hen. Scarlett has always been with her rooster Rhett, but I would like to mate her with my other silky rooster Sparks (who is a blue silky, Scarlett is white). Sparks is a bit younger than Scarlett and so far all Scarlett does is chase Sparks around their pen. They did ok last night in their sleeping house, but as soon as I let them out the chase was on, and all poor Sparks does is run and try to hide. Does anyone know how long this will go on and if Scarlett will ever let Sparks mate with her.I would like to see what color chicks I can get with this pairing. Also Rhett is in with the other 3 silkies and seems to be getting along fine. What should I do? By the way Sparks is even bigger than Scarlett, it's kind of cute watching the big one run from the little one, but I really just want them to get along and make me some babies.

Very good question !! Interested to learn the answer to this one! I can't give any input from experience because I'm new to silkies but I've heard that some hens can have preferences about which roosters they mate w/ .some stay w/ same one & others will go back & forth between different ones . Perhaps time will help??

 

[The Hustons]

I have a rooster hen ratio question. My oldest are only 16 weeks so I'm trying get an idea of what I may need to do in the future or how quickly that may need to happen. What is the best # of hens to have to one rooster...is it different for silkies or does it depend on the individual rooster?

 

[MrOrpington16]

TYTT (too young to tell)

What do you think about their quality?

 

[mmrmm]

I have a question about one of my silkies that is roughly 3 months old. He/she is gorgeous but she seems to have a hard time finding treats outside of the feeder. He/she does have quite a bit of fluff around the eyes but I just don't know if that is the reason or not. When we throw out mealworms, he/she pecks the ground like crazy but never gets one in her beak. We always place a lot of extras in the feeder hoping she will be able to enjoy at least of few of them. I have trimmed the fluff so I could see the eyes but it didn't seem to help. It's like very poor beak/eye coordination. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[TiaRC]

I have a question about one of my silkies that is roughly 3 months old. He/she is gorgeous but she seems to have a hard time finding treats outside of the feeder. He/she does have quite a bit of fluff around the eyes but I just don't know if that is the reason or not. When we throw out mealworms, he/she pecks the ground like crazy but never gets one in her beak. We always place a lot of extras in the feeder hoping she will be able to enjoy at least of few of them. I have trimmed the fluff so I could see the eyes but it didn't seem to help. It's like very poor beak/eye coordination. Any thoughts or suggestions?

When trimming the fluff did you trim from the sides? If so he or she can only see to the left and right now straight ahead. You have to trim fluff from the from of the face so you can see their eggs.

 

[VladikC]

Why are silkie pullets so hard to find???

 

[mmrmm]

When trimming the fluff did you trim from the sides? If so he or she can only see to the left and right now straight ahead. You have to trim fluff from the from of the face so you can see their eggs.

I followed the shape of the eye but maybe I didn't cut enough in front. I feel so sorry for the little thing trying so hard and getting nothing.

 

[chickiebaby1]

Type is essentially shape: different breeds are shaped differently. A red comb is a disqualification (DQ) in a silkie. The bird in question's comb is not so red as to likely be DQed, but most breeders would prefer that it be darker, and in choosing which birds to keep, that might be a deciding factor.

Fm, not FM. That is the symbol for the fibromelanosis gene. It is the gene that causes black skin, meat, bones, organs, etc.

By extra toe, do you mean he has 6? or the proper 5? Most breeds of chickens have 4 toes per foot. Silkies are suposed to have 5 per foot. Silkies with anything other than the correct 5 are DQed.

Eggsactly.

When you guys are talking about showing, are you talking about fairs and such or big shows somewhere? I went to several fairs in the last few weeks just to look at the chickens and I have to say some were very disappointing.

Most of the silkies I did get to see seemed very young, like no more than a few months. There was one fair where a white crested polish hen was actually bald.

I just couldn't imagine letting my kids show such poor quality, but I am still learning about what does make a good quality bird. I want to start breeding, but I want my birds to be good quality, maybe not show quality but at least good. I am going to our State fair (Indiana) next week and I am hoping to get some eggs or breeding pairs that have won some ribbons, so that I can know it is good quality.

 

[Sylviaanne]

Personally, I think his comb is acceptable, and is unlikely to be DQed. But that is based upon what I see on my computer, and I don't know how accurately the colour is reperesented.

Unlikely that the hatchery has access to birds from show breeders. Hatcheries purchase eggs or chicks, none of whose quality can be distinguished. Breeders of good quality birds can sell eggs or chicks at much higher prices than hatcheries would pay.

From what I see here and what ends up in the photos I take, lots of time what I see and what ends up showing in the photos are very different so where would I find someone local who could tell me if his comb is a DQ or SQ?

 

[Sylviaanne]

Just a quick question to my silky friends. Last night I swapped out 2 of my silkie roos.I have 4, with my silky hen. Scarlett has always been with her rooster Rhett, but I would like to mate her with my other silky rooster Sparks (who is a blue silky, Scarlett is white). Sparks is a bit younger than Scarlett and so far all Scarlett does is chase Sparks around their pen. They did ok last night in their sleeping house, but as soon as I let them out the chase was on, and all poor Sparks does is run and try to hide. Does anyone know how long this will go on and if Scarlett will ever let Sparks mate with her.I would like to see what color chicks I can get with this pairing.

Also Rhett is in with the other 3 silkies and seems to be getting along fine. What should I do? By the way Sparks is even bigger than Scarlett, it's kind of cute watching the big one run from the little one, but I really just want them to get along and make me some babies.

Maybe what you needed to do was like introducing a new bird to your flock. Partition one of them off but right next to each other so they could get used to each other. But I did read something similar to what you did, just putting them in together and they said that the two might never get along together now. I'd separate them but next to each other and just watch to see if it appears they will ever be able to be in the same pen together.