Silkie thread!

[chicken hawk 33]

just got this pretty girl yesterday. I am so excited trying to figure out a good name for her

peaches

 

[Fancychooklady]

just got this pretty girl yesterday. I am so excited trying to figure out a good name for her

What a cutie ! ' Megs' , as in Ginger Megs.

 

[silkiecuddles]

just got this pretty girl yesterday. I am so excited trying to figure out a good name for her

AWW SHES so pretty!! What types of names do you have in mind? (Flower, human, animal, item, etc?)

 

[daxigait]

I can only speak of my own experience with an Ameraucana (related to EE) and 2 Silkies -- these breeds are too timid, gentle, or small when we had a White Leghorn, a Buff Leghorn, and a Cuckoo Marans around.  We found that the regular egg-laying or dual-purpose birds were either too assertive or too heavy around the Silkies -- a 2-lb Silkie didn't stand an equal chance against a 7-lb Marans in flock politics.  Our Ameraucana is so timid that she was easily picked on by the Leghorns who chased and yanked out her muff and beard feathers as they did to the Silkies too.  The Leghorns were okay as pullets but once they matured they turned into bullies.  The Marans was the most vicious/aggressive because she was the heaviest and even tried to battle with the Leghorns.  We re-homed all our common assertive chicken breeds and kept the gentle and timid ones.  This past year as an experiment we added a Blue Breda pullet which is around 4-lb, a smaller and gentler breed to mix with our Amer and 2 Silkies.  So far she has been a good flockmate and decent layer of almost 2.0 oz white eggs.  My folks had RIR, NHR, and BRs and together they get along but our experience has not been so good putting them together with gentler smaller breeds.  I have only 4 birds and a small backyard so my flock has to be compatible -- I have no room to separate gentle breeds from dual-purpose chickens.  Everyone's situation is unique and you'll know if something will work or not in your own yard.

thanks. That is kind of what I thought. I have found even my Lavender Orpington hens are too timid as are my EE. I think I am going to keep RIR and br together and put the EE and buffs tigethet. The silkies that hatch will be sold. I will just have to hope an Orpington can be a good broody. The silkies are too cute, but I don't think they will work in my set up.

 

[tjo804]

i thought the same thing. my 90 yr old neighbor used to have them and she kept saying i should get some of those...finally i did...she is my Zen chicken ....she stands for anything...sits and coos at me...such a good mom...she is so tiny and sweet. how can anyone NOT love silkies...i have 12 eggs in incubator now..well 10 and 2 under her. which lead me to the question i needed answered....
first time with an incubator....humidity is 45 right now and has been all day...put them in at noon, it is 5:30 now....and temp is 99 and sometimes 100....is that fluctuation ok? i really am impressed by nature that the hens do this naturally...

This is a helpful link.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/incubating-w-friends-helpful-notes-links-informational-post-links

It is also just a neat fact that I learned recently, the Humidity is very important but with a broody while sitting on her eggs she leaves a light coating of her Feather oils on the eggs so they do not loose as much moisture as the incubator ones do.

Quote: I have LF Cochin that I am thinking of putting with my Bantams and moving the production breeds to the smaller set up there are 4 that I am thinking of moving.
I think it is the manner of the birds you will want to watch not so much the size. I have pickers that pick on the Cochin and I want to choke them when I see them, But they are DGD birds and she knows every one.

I found out earlier today I can't order the paint silkies from cackle hatchery becouse I would have to order 25 of them. I only want 5 does anyone know where I can get them. If full grown birds I would like it to be in Alabama. But if chicks I want them shipped.

What about ordering Broilers to go with the Silkies you want 8 weeks and they go to freezer camp.

 

[tjo804]

just got this pretty girl yesterday. I am so excited

trying to figure out a good name for her

Silkies are an Asian Breed (China specifically) You might look into Asian baby names.
That is what I plan to do if / When I start to breed my Cochin.

 

[daxigait]

Five day old silkies in Joplin Missouri.
@QueenMisha I was not trying to be insulting you silkie is toooo cute and made me laugh thinking about big bird meeting a miniaturization ray

 

[cade hall]

This is a helpful link.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/incubating-w-friends-helpful-notes-links-informational-post-links

It is also just a neat fact that I learned recently, the Humidity is very important but with a broody while sitting on her eggs she leaves a light coating of her Feather oils on the eggs so they do not loose as much moisture as the incubator ones do.

I have LF Cochin that I am thinking of putting with my Bantams and moving the production breeds to the smaller set up there are 4 that I am thinking of moving.
I think it is the manner of the birds you will want to watch not so much the size. I have pickers that pick on the Cochin and I want to choke them when I see them, But they are DGD birds and she knows every one.




What about ordering Broilers to go with the Silkies you want 8 weeks and they go to freezer camp.

well I live in Haleyvill AL and only have a little coop. Plus u don't have any clue what to do with the broilers.

 

[cade hall]

Sorry about that I meant I don't have any clue what to do with the broilers.

 

[jas humbert]

RE: trying to combine large fowl and silkies:
I think it depends on a few things- the age at which they are introduced, the amount of space they have, the number of each and the breeds involved. Right now I have 4 LF girls; a gold laced wyandotte, a silver laced wyandotte, an astrolop, and a welsummer. I also have 6 silkie pullets. And everybody gets along really well. I originally added 11 silkie babies at about 8 weeks old to my existing 6 LF girls who were about 3 months older. I have a 35 x 12 pen with some hiding places and I added more. I have 2 feeders and waterers on opposite ends and you can't see one from the other. It took a month or two to meld and I knew I was going to cut down so I gradually sold off the more aggressive pullets (rhode island reds) as well as some silkies. The silkies are a little over 6 months old and rest are about 9 months old and everyone functions as one flock. They do have a pecking order and the silver laced wyandotte is boss lady but no abusive pecking and no terrorized chickens. When I pass out treats they all cluster around and all get a share. They all sleep in the same coop; all the big girls on a roost and all the silkies in a pile on the floor. Now they are older I've never seen a LF chase a silkie more than a step or two.

If I add more large chickens though, I'm thinking of very docile breeds. Which is okay with me. I grew up with leghorns and don't love that kind of personality. Mine are more pets. All of my big girls will tolerate being picked up and the astrolop likes being petted and her head scratched. All the silkies but one love being picked up and two stand on my feet and peck my shoes until I give them some attention.