Silkie thread!

[chooknook]

The ladies are not real happy with me over this less than fashionable do!

 

[jmdarrow]

YAY!!! I know the excitement, mine laid this month too. Thanks to global warming it hasn't been brutal here in NY, still have laying hens woooohoo lol. Better than when, how did you know? smallest egg in the bunch? huh lol.

For sure the smallest and my laying hens have high best boxes. And this egg was on the floor.
Still don't know who laid it.

 

[RubyNala97]

Rest assured, her eggs will get bigger. Pullet eggs are always smaller, no matter the breed.
In this pic , from smallest to largest, fart egg, Silkie ( second year layer ) , Wyandotte and Sussex.

That egg is just sooo cute!

At what age can silkie chicks come out of the brooder and into their own little coop? Mine are about a month old?? Gotta look again... they seem fully feathered but not like ADULT FULLY FEATHERED... they can just about fly a little bit. They got all silkie feathers in, but it doeant cover their eyes or head yet.. They are about 6 inches tall... maybe 7...

Its my first time having silkies and they arent near as easy to tell as large fowl are... they still seem like chicks to me... but i got chicks that are passing them up in size quick haha...

What's your weather like? If you have a heating pad, you can make a "cave" for them and put them outside with it. They will be able to go under and get warm if they are cold. Look up "mama heat pad cave" on byc.

I have silkie chicks that are almost 19 weeks old how long till they start laying?

It depends. Im still waiting on the ones that hatched early June. The ones hatched in May are laying.

 

[Shadow920]

can a standard Silkie set a nest of banty eggs. because i'm thinking of getting a few silkies next spring. i want a larger mother to raise banties. because my sebrights chicks outgrow their mother before they are ready. so i need a mother who can cover all for longer.

 

[Shadow920]

one of my sebright's laid an unfertilized egg that was half the size of her other eggs. you wouldn't've known it came from the same bird. i wish i had pic but i already ate that egg.

 

[silkiecuddles]

can a standard Silkie set a nest of banty eggs.  because i'm thinking of getting a few silkies next spring.  i want a larger mother to raise banties.  because my sebrights chicks outgrow their mother before they are ready.  so i need a mother who can cover all for longer.

Silkies make great mothers to any breed, really. It should be fine

 

[Sylvester017]

Hey...so excited! First Silkie egg this morning!!!!! Yay! How do I know who laid it?

I have more than one Silkie and at the start of lay it was easy to tell who layed what by watching who was sitting in the nestbox. Sometimes there are slight differences in tint or gloss or shape of the individual hen's eggs that you'll know who layed it. After a while though it can be hard to distinguish because the tints and the gloss get lighter and they all look the same. I have two Silkies so if I get 2 eggs in one day then I can record they both layed. Other days if only one egg is layed I have to really examine it closely to identify which hen it came from. Some days we just don't know who's egg it is - but one thing for certain - Silkies are terrific layers when not broody or molting!

 

[Fancychooklady]

I have more than one Silkie and at the start of lay it was easy to tell who layed what by watching who was sitting in the nestbox.  Sometimes there are slight differences in tint or gloss or shape of the individual hen's eggs that you'll know who layed it.  After a while though it can be hard to distinguish because the tints and the gloss get lighter and they all look the same.  I have two Silkies so if I get 2 eggs in one day then I can record they both layed.  Other days if only one egg is layed I have to really examine it closely to identify which hen it came from.  Some days we just don't know who's egg it is - but one thing for certain - Silkies are terrific layers when not broody or molting!

What they fail to lay in the spring , whilst they are busy brooding, they make up for in the winter. Mine lay all through winter.

 

[Sylvester017]

What they fail to lay in the spring , whilst they are busy brooding, they make up for in the winter. Mine lay all through winter.

Just a clarification - your cooler winter season is the opposite of the Northern Hemisphere so do you consider Dec 20 to March 20 as your winter as we do in the U.S. or is your winter June to Sept? Which months are your cold season winter that your Silkies are laying well? I believe your climate is cold during the time our climate is hot? Our cooler season started end of November and that's when our 2 little Silkies started laying well. I suspect around March when the weather turns Spring-ish they will both go broody as usual but then their little bodies will have earned a well-deserved rest from all the eggs they lay. 4 and 5-yrs old and they give 4 to 5 eggs a week still. These are the best all-round little chickens one could ever ask for! I prefer taking care of maintenance on them more than our LF. After cycling through so many breeds we realized we should have stayed with just Silkies for their great temperament, brooding qualities, productivity, and surprisingly easy maintenance for a froo-froo looking breed. Other fowl were a great learning adventure but in the end the Silkies won our favour!

 

[Fancychooklady]

Just a clarification - your cooler winter season is the opposite of the Northern Hemisphere so do you consider Dec 20 to March 20 as your winter as we do in the U.S. or is your winter June to Sept?  Which months are your cold season winter that your Silkies are laying well?  I believe your climate is cold during the time our climate is hot?  Our cooler season started end of November and that's when our 2 little Silkies started laying well.  I suspect around March when the weather turns Spring-ish they will both go broody as usual but then their little bodies will have earned a well-deserved rest from all the eggs they lay.  4 and 5-yrs old and they give 4 to 5 eggs a week still.  These are the best all-round little chickens one could ever ask for!  I prefer taking care of maintenance on them more than our LF.  After cycling through so many breeds we realized we should have stayed with just Silkies for their great temperament, brooding qualities, productivity, and surprisingly easy maintenance for a froo-froo looking breed.  Other fowl were a great learning adventure but in the end the Silkies won our favour! 

Haha, we are currently in summer, although they are forecasting snow down to 800 metres this week. Tasmania is unlike the rest of Australia. The Northern Territory and QLD are hitting 40 degrees . Our coldest months are July / August. My Silkie and Wyandotte lay all the way through winter.