Silkie thread!

[The Hustons]

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 .....

Totally agree! Such a cutie

 

[only1bgirl]

@themadchicken Thank you great article, going to wrap her legs now. These two chicks hatched 30 hours after the first two who are fine. My incubator had several heat spikes and one of these two had to be assisted.

 

[Sylvester017]

There is a relatively new product available in the US and UK . It is a sugar based insecticide called spinosad. It has been certified organic and while it was originally designed to be a ' premise spray ' new studies involve ingesting the product and topical use. Might be worth looking into.



http://www.parapro.com/documents/USDA_National_Organics_Board_Review.pdf

I did spinosad research last year but it didn't sound like a marketed insecticide yet so I'm glad to hear it is on the market now - thanks. I may use it to alternate treatments.

 

[Sylvester017]

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 love it when chicken owners realize Silkies should not be mixed with LF. I would not mix Silkies with any other breed over 5-lbs and must have gentle temperaments. The best breeds to get along with Silkies seem to be the under 5-lb crested/bearded/muffed/feather-footed fowl like Sultan, Polish, Araucana, EEs, Ameraucana, Breda, Cochins, Houdan, Faverolles, etc which are basically non-combative breeds as well. Crevies are crested but are larger and a bit more independent and wilder in nature so don't think they'd fit. The only other non-crested LF I would mix with Silkies is possibly Dominiques since those hens usually don't go past 5-lb and have a gentler nature than say a larger dual purpose BR or RIR. IMO no LF roo should ever have access to a 2-lb Silkie hen.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I love it when chicken owners realize Silkies should not be mixed with LF.  I would not mix Silkies with any other breed over 5-lbs and must have gentle temperaments.  The best breeds to get along with Silkies seem to be the under 5-lb crested/bearded/muffed/feather-footed fowl like Sultan, Polish, Araucana, EEs, Ameraucana, Breda, Cochins, Houdan, Faverolles, etc which are basically non-combative breeds as well.  Crevies are crested but are larger and a bit more independent and wilder in nature so don't think they'd fit.  The only other non-crested LF I would mix with Silkies is possibly Dominiques since those hens usually don't go past 5-lb and have a gentler nature than say a larger dual purpose BR or RIR.  IMO no LF roo should ever have access to a 2-lb Silkie hen.

SIL, I treat it on a case by case basis. I have one little silkie that think she is a Wyandotte. Everytime I put her in the silkie pen she ' flies the coop'.

 

[K Epp]

My Silkie free range the same time the LF flock mainly EE do, but they go in separate directions. Right now the Silkie have two separate coops, but have mixed well with other bantam breeds like d'Uccle and D'anver. Its funny how I can have several breeds in a coop and they separate by breed when free ranging.

 

[kada6305]

My Silkie free range the same time the LF flock mainly EE do, but they go in separate directions. Right now the Silkie have two separate coops, but have mixed well with other bantam breeds like d'Uccle and D'anver. Its funny how I can have several breeds in a coop and they separate by breed when free ranging.

All of my current flock separate by breed also. I only have 2 sussex one is a rooster so the Hen is always wondering off doing her own thing. We are going to hatch out some of her eggs to give her some sussex to hang out with.

 

[sonderah]

I'm raising out 3 little blue silkies. They are 5 weeks 1 day old. I've been pretty sure it was a trio for about a week. Well I still have them in the brooder because they are smaller than my other "grow outs", and this little dude just crowed!!!!! I have never had a cockerel crow so young! Lol It was pitiful sounding, but def a crow. :/

 

[Going Quackers]

I'm raising out 3 little blue silkies. They are 5 weeks 1 day old. I've been pretty sure it was a trio for about a week. Well I still have them in the brooder because they are smaller than my other "grow outs", and this little dude just crowed!!!!! I have never had a cockerel crow so young! Lol It was pitiful sounding, but def a crow.

we had one here do that, it was like seriously? nooooo lol

 

[Going Quackers]

I love it when chicken owners realize Silkies should not be mixed with LF. I would not mix Silkies with any other breed over 5-lbs and must have gentle temperaments. The best breeds to get along with Silkies seem to be the under 5-lb crested/bearded/muffed/feather-footed fowl like Sultan, Polish, Araucana, EEs, Ameraucana, Breda, Cochins, Houdan, Faverolles, etc which are basically non-combative breeds as well. Crevies are crested but are larger and a bit more independent and wilder in nature so don't think they'd fit. The only other non-crested LF I would mix with Silkies is possibly Dominiques since those hens usually don't go past 5-lb and have a gentler nature than say a larger dual purpose BR or RIR. IMO no LF roo should ever have access to a 2-lb Silkie hen.

It is tricky i agree, i do free range some good sized Cockerels that said they only interact with some EE"s and Ameraucana (well loads of ducks but that doesn't matter) i did have one little silkie hen loose in the area my Bielefelder cockerel was in at that time he was small(still bigger than her) but no he would not let her be so i pulled her it was temporary anyways..

Extreme size differences with any birds one has to use caution and know the birds and their generally reactions. Those silkie hens are small.. and pretty vulnerable. My quad of white cockerels are neither.. they are very cocky and full of themselves...