Silkie thread!

[MumsyIII]

Your Silkies are beautiful. Can you give them a pumpkin?
Neat how they pick on the squash.

Thank you Aria.

Pumpkin and squash with seeds are an excellent food for chickens as a natural wormer and source of nutrition and extra fluids. Some poultry take to it (pumpkin and squash) right away like my chicks though the seeds are too large for them unless they are dried and ground. I take an ax to large gourds to break them up to divide among the breeding pens. They will eat the mushy centers and seeds first and the flesh after it starts to rot. If they start to mold, I bury them in the compost pile. I have a large garden and grow squash and pumpkins in abundance just for my flock as part of their nutrition.

 

[tjo804]

Quote:
I bet that is part of why they look so good.
Do you change out and do seasonal squash or can you grow the winter squash year round?

 

[tjo804]

I have a silkie that is just over 30 weeks old she has gone broodie and I am letting her set some eggs.

Should I give her nutri-drench?
If so Daily or Weekly?

 

[MumsyIII]

I bet that is part of why they look so good.
Do you change out and do seasonal squash or can you grow the winter squash year round?

The kabocha is not a winter keeper with a thin rind and softer flesh so I feed it first before they turn to a gooey mess. Acorn squash is very tough and will last in a dark cool dry place for the winter. I have to use an ax to break those up. I have one pumpkin left that is starting to go so I'll feed it next week. They last a week out side before the chickens eat them down. I feed from the garden all summer and fall. Wind fall apples, plums, and pears. Collards, kale, and cabbage that we can't use fast enough in the house. Lettuce, broccoli, and cauliflower that begin to bolt to seed during hot August. Just about every thing except onions. They won't touch onions. When the winter weather is dirty and the silkies are in the barn for the season, I spend a bit of time every day making sure every bird gets something fresh to eat. I'm going to start sprouting seeds in the house for them soon. I don't consider these food stuffs treats or boredom busters but part of their daily diet. I breed for health, vitality, virility, and vigor. Part of that is feeding them fresh produce when ever it's available. All my chicks are started on fermented un-medicated chick starter. I haven't lost a chick or any bird to cocci in a decade. My four year old hens are still laying and the boys are still fertile. The extra time is definitely worth it. I kind of rambled on a bit. I enjoy the subject about healthy silkies more than sick ones.



My old man Dapper Dan the Paint. Going on five and still siring chicks.

 

[tjo804]

Your silkies are amazing!
The time shows!

I love your rambling it is always beneficial to me.

 

[Fizzybelle]

@Fizzybelle A very pretty Gray. That is an accepted color in American silkies.

Thank you

 

[Shadow920]

he's beautiful

 

[Aria]

ME TOO. Your words of wisdom are most welcomed.
New to chickens...always reading to learn...and your
Silkies are so BEAUTIFUL. Regards, Aria

 

[Chicken gal77]

I have this beautiful grey Silkie rooster and I'd love to breed him but all my hens are blue, white with paint gene, and splash so far. I have a black that I'm suspecting to be a hen. To get good results do I need a grey hen? His poof is usually much bigger, I trimmed him so he could see.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I have a silkie that is just over 30 weeks old she has gone broodie and I am letting her set some eggs.

Should I give her nutri-drench?
If so Daily or Weekly?

Not really necessary, but it wouldn't do any harm . I will usually leave food and water close by, but when they are brooding its best that they leave the nest to dust bathe and poop, otherwise they are inclined to poop on the eggs . Once they are sitting firm , I treat them and the nest area to prevent lice and mites.