Silkie thread!

[Fancychooklady]

I have beagles for hunting and Australian shepherd mixes for around the farm (most of which were rescues and none I raised from puppies), they are great but I really want another puppy to raise around all types of animals and in all types of situations. Any recommendations for a multi purpose farm medium to large sized smooth coated dog? I'm thinking along the lines of a lab or something. Just gotta get the bosses approval. (this is for everybody)

Maremma dogs make for wonderful shepherds. Friends of ours have 3 and they guard the chooks, cats and sheep. Perhaps you could talk the ' boss ' into a few alpaca as well, they too are good flock protectors.

 

[Sylvester017]

Here's a question, I've got mostly silkies. I also have a australorp, a welsummer and two wyandottes in tthe same pen. The australorp is pretty big but she's bottom of the pecking order for the big girls and not aggressive at all. Its a big pen and they've all been together since they were babies and we don't have much problem with anybody being picked on. I have a couple of broody silkie girls and have been offered some lavender english orpington eggs. Their adults are huge. If I let the silkes hatch the eggs, will they be okay with the rest of the flock as they get older or are they just too much bigger and will pick on the silkies when they are adults? Anybody ever run both breeds together or had silkies hatch much larger birds and then kept them together?

My answer is that you just never know. I personally don't believe in having the LFs outnumber the Silkies in a flock. An owner related a story on BYC where she had a Silkie momma hatch out some LF eggs and a couple years later one of the grown offspring actually attacked and killed it's foster Silkie momma - the adopted LF weren't just raised together but were actually hatched and raised by the foster momma Silkie. Again, it may or may not happen to all who have mixed LF/bantam flocks but I personally will not have my LFs outnumber the Silkies in my mixed group and I don't have any LFs heavier than 5-lbs. Our 2-lb Silkies were getting bullied, pecked, and attacked by a 7-lb Marans so do the math and figure who got the short end of the stick in chicken battles. All the LFs I've chosen to keep with my Silkies are known by reputation to be mostly gentle-natured breeds and 5-lb or under -- so I don't keep the more common dual-purpose breeds since they seem to be higher on the assertive/aggressive scale where smaller crested, bearded, muffed, or feather-legged LFs seem less combative and sweeter around the Silkies. Just my personal experience. About 50% or more of Silkie owners/breeders would suggest on the safe side not to mix Silkies with the assertive dual-purpose LF breeds and I wish I had heeded the advice at the start of owning Silkies.

This is what our 7-lb Marans did to our 2.4-lb Silkie plus chewed off her comb before we realized the Silkie was not molting but being eaten alive - the Marans and Silkie were raised together. If we had not been home to see the Maran also viciously attack a 2nd Silkie pullet, we might've come home to find a dead Silkie. We immediately re-homed the Marans to an egg-seller's flock where she couldn't pick on smaller birds any more and it was then that we began a search for gentler lighterweight LF breeds that were not so prone to pick on docile smaller breeds. So far our search ended with Ameraucana (not EE) and Breda as the two gentlest LFs to mix with Silkies. We no longer allow the LFs to outnumber the Silkies. There will always be pecking orders established in a flock and so far the Silkies as the oldest birds keep the LF in line but still we monitor closely to make sure it stays that way. If Silkies aren't the top of the pecking order then there could be trouble for them from LFs.

 

[QueenMisha]

I just impulse bought 6 Splash Silkie hatching eggs on EBay... whoops! I honestly didn't even go there to buy anything, just to check the prices on Sebastapol hatching eggs... but there they were with 3 minutes on the clock and a good price... haven't had shipped eggs since last spring but I'm excited for these guys! Given the 15 eggs already in my incubator and plans for a bunch more to go in on the 1st, I think this officially makes me a hatchaholic!

 

[Sylvester017]

I just impulse bought 6 Splash Silkie hatching eggs on EBay... whoops! I honestly didn't even go there to buy anything, just to check the prices on Sebastapol hatching eggs... but there they were with 3 minutes on the clock and a good price... haven't had shipped eggs since last spring but I'm excited for these guys! Given the 15 eggs already in my incubator and plans for a bunch more to go in on the 1st, I think this officially makes me a hatchaholic!

If you get some pullets out of the Silkie hatch they'll grow up to be good broodies and mommas and you won't need a 'bator any more

 

[Fancychooklady]

Here's a question, I've got mostly silkies. I also have a australorp, a welsummer and two wyandottes in tthe same pen. The australorp is pretty big but she's bottom of the pecking order for the big girls and not aggressive at all.  Its a big pen and they've all been together since they were babies and we don't have much problem with anybody being picked on. I have a couple of broody silkie girls and have been offered some lavender english orpington eggs. Their adults are huge. If I let the silkes hatch the eggs, will they be okay with the rest of the flock as they get older or are they just too much bigger and will pick on the silkies when they are adults?  Anybody ever run both breeds together or had  silkies hatch much larger birds and then kept them together? 

I currently have silkie hens raising coronation Sussex and Wyandotte . The youngsters tend to have more respect for the silkies once they adults and one of my stroppiest birds is a Silkie.
These wyandottes are already bigger than momma and they are only 10 weeks old.

 

[silkiecuddles]

I just impulse bought 6 Splash Silkie hatching eggs on EBay... whoops! I honestly didn't even go there to buy anything, just to check the prices on Sebastapol hatching eggs... but there they were with 3 minutes on the clock and a good price... haven't had shipped eggs since last spring but I'm excited for these guys! Given the 15 eggs already in my incubator and plans for a bunch more to go in on the 1st, I think this officially makes me a hatchaholic!

whoopsy Daisy. Good luck on em!

 

[jas humbert]

Thank you Sylvester. I'm coming to that conclusion myself. I only have gentle large fowl. I have 7 silkies and 4 LF. plus a few silkie babies in a separate broody pen/box for now with two silkie moms. The silkies outnumber the big girls and I not only raised them together but got rid of several LF the first few months who did not play nice. I'm kind of afraid to introduce something that big. So maybe I'll pass. I don't have too many other options because my husband will not be happy if I ask him to help me build yet another pen/coop.

 

[Lamaremybabies]

Does anyone know anything about polish crested??? My friend is getting some and I was wonder how they'd mix with silkies?

 

[Fancychooklady]

Does anyone know anything about polish crested??? My friend is getting some and I was wonder how they'd mix with silkies?

Polish and silkie get along quite well, they also make some very cute chicks when together.

 

[Lamaremybabies]

Polish and silkie get along quite well, they also make some very cute chicks when together.

Ok cool! So the reason I ask is she is gonna get 6 polish and I have two silkies (plus 4 GSL) and the GSL are all hens but obviously the silkies are straight run and soooo she said if she ends up with any roo's she has to get rid of them. Long story short will a polish roo get along with a silkie roo? I know two roo's together isn't something people typically like to do but I really want to help her out. I also know you aren't supposed to have less than 8 hens to 2 roos.... Any advice? What if I also got a hen to go with it so they'd each have three hens?. I know it's slim but I really want it to work.