Silkie thread!

[TAMMACLEAN]

I do not post often in here; but I lurk every day I just want to share a picture I took today of my broody Tina. Now while she may not be the perfect Silkie with her single comb and one toe too few and I am probably guilty of extreme bias, I do believe she is a beautiful broody sitting on her 5 eggs .....

She looks super sweet!

 

[Fancychooklady]

I do not post often in here; but I lurk every day I just want to share a picture I took today of my broody Tina. Now while she may not be the perfect Silkie with her single comb and one toe too few and I am probably guilty of extreme bias, I do believe she is a beautiful broody sitting on her 5 eggs .....

Despite her imperfections she is adorable.

 

[dstinett]

My Silkie hen free ranges with my mixed flock of bantams and does very well. Only prob is she thinks she is top dog. The Australorp feels differently

 

[kada6305]

I wouldn't mind letting the silkies free range with other bantams. But free ranging with hens and roosters 4-6lbs? Our rooster is about 7 lbs or so and I'm worried about him trying to breed the silkies.

 

[chicken pickin]

I am thinking of getting a few silkies. I am worried about letting them free range with our other hens. Mostly I am worries about our Sussex rooster breeding them and hurting them? But my plan is to make a coop that is 6X6 and attached run that is 15X8. will that be suitable? How many silkies could I house in together with those dimensions.

For me personally I prefer to keep my Silkies separate from my other flocks. They all share the same large chicken yard and can see each other but are divided by a fence. On occasion the Spitzhauben girls jump the fence and hang out with them and also the a few of the other young ones but they don't bother the Silkies.

I however do not trust my large fowl chickens around the Silkies and the roosters seem to LOVE them. I had one Cream Legbar rooster that kept jumping the fence repeatedly to get to one specific Silkie hen, it was just to much and I felt it was potentially dangerous for her. I did end up removing that male from my flocks completely.

 

[dstinett]

My Silkie hen free ranges with my mixed flock of bantams and does very well. Only prob is she thinks she is top dog. The Australorp feels differently

I should gave mentioned my rooster is frizzled bantam Cochin. He is a gentle lover and would never harm his princesses

 

[kada6305]

For me personally I prefer to keep my Silkies separate from my other flocks. They all share the same large chicken yard and can see each other but are divided by a fence. On occasion the Spitzhauben girls jump the fence and hang out with them and also the a few of the other young ones but they don't bother the Silkies.

I however do not trust my large fowl chickens around the Silkies and the roosters seem to LOVE them. I had one Cream Legbar rooster that kept jumping the fence repeatedly to get to one specific Silkie hen, it was just to much and I felt it was potentially dangerous for her. I did end up removing that male from my flocks completely.

I think I will just alternate the days they get to free range but they each will have a large run. I am throwing around 2 ideas for the silkies run. We are either doing a 15x8 or 50x20 divided in half down the middle and will alternate which side the have access to so they dont turn it into a desert so fast.

 

[lightchick]

We have never used pesticide lice/mite powders or treatments on our birds. From the start we used liquid spray OMRI approved organic Poultry Protector per label instructions on both chickens and coop crevices/cracks where parasites hide. We followed instructions per the label and then treat again once every month during hot weather and maybe once every two months during cooler winter months or on a broody hen (lice love the warmth). We've been lice/mite free for 3 years. It's safe to use on ants in the nestbox without having dusty insecticide powders kicking up in the nestbox bedding. Chickens are prone to respiratory ailments so keeping irritating dusts and powders down will be good for your chickens and you. We were shipped two juvenile birds 9 to 12 weeks old loaded with lice and Poultry Protector cleared them right up during quarantine. There are many ways to treat for lice/mites and this happens to work for us organically and to keep dangerous or dusty pesticides away from chickens, coop, and us.

I've tried Poultry Protector on my pigeons and it didn't work. Is there something else that's natural?

 

[carolsmith7878]

S

I do not post often in here; but I lurk every day I just want to share a picture I took today of my broody Tina. Now while she may not be the perfect Silkie with her single comb and one toe too few and I am probably guilty of extreme bias, I do believe she is a beautiful broody sitting on her 5 eggs .....

I agree. What a sweet beauty.

 

[Sylvester017]

Well having grown up in beef country, being in and around the industry my entire life.
The fact is,
Every beef packaged in commercial plants must be able to be tracked to its origins.
The origins of the major outbreaks of mad cow were known and dealt with. More than one bogus documentary has been made on the beef industry. (PETA has funded more than one)

I'm not a big supporter of huge conglomerate owned agriculture, but false information does not help anyone.
Your original post made it sound like ALL beef is processed in one plant..I realize that's not what you posted, but it reads that way.

If your concerned with mad cow and e.coli you don't have to quit eating beef. Naturally raised and locally processed and tested beef is available almost everywhere.

No reason not to have a great steak!!

Yes, I'm glad you re-read my post to understand what I was saying. I also understand that quality Angus has never had an incidence of Mad Cow but we have not eaten beef in so many years that it doesn't even look or smell appetizing to us any more. Kind of like going to Africa or South America and suddenly being fed monkey meat or roasted tarantula - you have an aversion if it's not something you're used to.

There are a lot of flaws in legislature regarding agriculture favouring large conglomerates like Dupont, Monsanto, even Sunkist, etc. Just don't trust govt to look out for the little guy even though the little guy's $$$ is all they want. Follow the $$$ to find the sins.

We all have to make our own choices and growing our own without pesticides/hormones/antibiotics is the best way even if only on a small backyard scale. 100% safe is a dream but we can shoot for it as closely as we are able. It wasn't a sudden decision for us but a long ongoing process of weeding out potentially harmful groceries from our food budget. For a lot of years we used to get our Thanksgiving turkeys from a private backyard breeder who slaughtered and dressed his own birds. Currently there is someone nearby who will butcher and dress our own fowl but my DH won't eat our birds - not even the mean ones - he finds new homes for them instead

. At least he doesn't have a problem eating our home eggs and has actually assumed the entire care of our little flock

.

Thank you for your input.