Silkie thread!

[Sylvester017]

We got started the same way! My husband wanted the chickens, and I thought he was crazy! We started with 8 (7 hens and a rooster) and I just fell in love with them! I told him not to bother, I had this. Now we've got 20 or so Silkies, a trio of Japanese bantams, 8 turkeys and 16 guineas! Ducks are on the list for us too, I used to have some Calls and loved them, once my hubby builds me a pond and a duck house, I will have my ducks again!

What ducks do you plan to have? I understand Indian Runners are prolific egg layers as are the noisy Pekins. I prefer geese over turkeys but both are meal-worthy but the geese have the added benefit of tasty eggs and are pretty good guardians.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

We're planning for Pekins, my hubby said if we do ducks we need to be able to butcher the extras. My Calls were tiny, not worth the time it takes to butcher.
I absolutely adore our turkeys! They're such personable birds and we love their eggs! We had geese for a while, they got in the habit of chasing and pinching my kids, so we haven't tried them again. Though I would consider them. Our last geese came to us as adults, from pretty horrible conditions, so I didn't hold it against them :/

 

[dowgirl71]

I thought 4 was enough and now I'm going up slowly.  I have six now.  Hoping to get a few more, but I live in town so I can't really have more then 10.
I only want 8-9 right now, but it's almost like a disease.  You start wanting maybe a few more and the maybe even a few more and then even more and then MORE!

Lightchick, you sound like me! I am also fighting the urge to get just a couple more, but I live in the city and already have 8 and it's getting colder. But Silkies are just so cute and my boys would really like to have some! I most likely wouldn't be able to get them integrated with my older pullets/hens. But two local people have some young Silkies for sale-so tempting!

 

[flynntheduck]

What ducks do you plan to have?  I understand Indian Runners are prolific egg layers as are the noisy Pekins.  I prefer geese over turkeys but both are meal-worthy but the geese have the added benefit of tasty eggs and are pretty good guardians.

The 3 ducks I got after the initial 2 were half black runner and half khaki campbells. They were the most skiddish birds ever. I could never pick them up or even walk by them without them running away. And I got them when they were less than 24hrs old and spent many many hours with them as they grew. My first two ducks were a male mallard (super sweet) and a buff orpington (also super sweet and played fetch!)

 

[Lacrystol]

And so the CHEC disease kicks in.



Can't have enough chickens! Lol

 

[maddogdodge]

Hello Silkie people

I don't have a Silkie yet, but am hoping to get one or two soon. I have always loved Silkies, but i've never owned one before. I have a couple of questions about them though.

1. I'm hoping to use them as broody hens to raise chicks... I read that Silkies are very very regularly going broody, is this true for all silkies? And at what age roughly would a young Silkie first become broody?

2. Do you find they have trouble seeing through all their feathers? I have a British Araucana chick at the moment, and she was acting quite depressed for a while, I soon realised it was because she couldn't see, so i trimmed her feathers back and she's fine now.

3. Do you find they get picked on much when they're kept with a flock of larger birds? At the moment i have 4, 13 week old chicks (Araucana, australorp, cochin, and production layer) I was thinking I could get a silkie that is perhaps a little older than them so I can put her with them and she won't get picked on too much. Then when that bunch are old enough, they can all move in with the big flock together. Keeping this in mind, would I be better to get two, so that they can hang with a bird of similar size? Or would one be okay?

Thanks in advance!

 

[FoxholeFarm]

Hello Silkie people 

I don't have a Silkie yet, but am hoping to get one or two soon. I have always loved Silkies, but i've never owned one before. I have a couple of questions about them though. 

1. I'm hoping to use them as broody hens to raise chicks... I read that Silkies are very very regularly going broody, is this true for all silkies? And at what age roughly would a young Silkie first become broody?

2. Do you find they have trouble seeing through all their feathers? I have a British Araucana chick at the moment, and she was acting quite depressed for a while, I soon realised it was because she couldn't see, so i trimmed her feathers back and she's fine now.

3. Do you find they get picked on much when they're kept with a flock of larger birds? At the moment i have 4, 13 week old chicks (Araucana, australorp, cochin, and production layer) I was thinking I could get a silkie that is perhaps a little older than them so I can put her with them and she won't get picked on too much. Then when that bunch are old enough, they can all move in with the big flock together. Keeping this in mind, would I be better to get two, so that they can hang with a bird of similar size? Or would one be okay?

Thanks in advance!

Yes, they are good brooders, but they are not the only broody breed. Cochins are as well and are hardier. Silkies do not tolerate cold weather well, but Cochins have a hart time in high heat. They go broody around one year of age usually, but some individual birds never will. It's a good reason to get a few.

In my experience, they are fine with their fluffy feathers covering their faces. There are also beardless varieties of silkie that have no crest or beard if this is something you're concerned about.

Finally, yes they get picked on more than other breeds. They are extremely docile and easily traumatized. They do much better in groups of two or more silkies because they can form their own sub-flock. You have to be prepared to remove bullies from your flock of you want to integrate silkies and be present and observing for the first week or so to make sure they are safely settling in.

 

[Rainier]

We got these babies on Aug 22. They still had their egg tooth when we picked them up. We got these guys to replace my daughter's silkie that a coon got when he was 17 weeks! He was the only silkie we had and had ever seen in person so I don't have a lot of experience with them. These chicks just seem so much different from the white silkie we had before. They have more poof and fluff to them and I'm not sure if that is good or not. One of them is already developing a red comb, not sure it that means boy or not with silkies.

I thought buff would mean brown but these guys seem more orange to me. Please excuse the dirty feet they played outside today.

Chick 1 - Buff with vaulted skull. We call him Twitch because he has an odd twitch to his head. We think it was because of a peck to the head by his "siblings" about four days after we brought them home. He is the one that is starting to get red in the comb. He is banded blue.





Chick 2 - Buff with Vaulted Skull. Charlie is banded green.
It looks like I am squeezing his neck but I promise I am not.





Chick 3 - Buff chick with vaulted skull. Aval is banded pink





Chick 4 - White chick no vaulted skull. Max is not banded.

 

[FoxholeFarm]

We got these babies on Aug 22. They still had their egg tooth when we picked them up. We got these guys to replace my daughter's silkie that a coon got when he was 17 weeks! He was the only silkie we had and had ever seen in person so I don't have a lot of experience with them. These chicks just seem so much different from the white silkie we had before. They have more poof and fluff to them and I'm not sure if that is good or not. One of them is already developing a red comb, not sure it that means boy or not with silkies. I thought buff would mean brown but these guys seem more orange to me. Please excuse the dirty feet they played outside today. Chick 1 - Buff with vaulted skull. We call him Twitch because he has an odd twitch to his head. We think it was because of a peck to the head by his "siblings" about four days after we brought them home. He is the one that is starting to get red in the comb. He is banded blue. Chick 2 - Buff with Vaulted Skull. Charlie is banded green. It looks like I am squeezing his neck but I promise I am not. Chick 3 - Buff chick with vaulted skull. Aval is banded pink Chick 4 - White chick no vaulted skull. Max is not banded.

Those are pretty good looking chicks! The first looks like a little roo with that comb. 2 and 3 almost certainly pullets. 4 I am unsure. Could go either way.

 

[kada6305]

Out of the 8 silkie eggs I set 2 weeks ago only 2 made it. ended up with 3 bloodlines, 2 clears, 1 quitter. We go into lock down Next Tuesday so hopefully we end up with some babies. My last hatch only 1 made it, so he is lonely. Luckily the silkie eggs are only 1 week behind so he will get some friends soon hopefully. I got my second batch of silkie eggs today. They look so much better, only 2 detached air cells. will have the setting for 2 days before putting them and a few of my speckled Sussex mixes in the incubator So hopefully I end upo with some silkie babies!