Silkie thread!

[Fancychooklady]

Gotcha! I wasn't sure, I've read that bantams are sometimes 18 days... I ran into trouble with serama eggs (not waiting long enough)
I don't want to screw up again!
Thanks!!

There are some people who claim to have chicks hatch on day 18. I have a experienced a day 19 hatch once and several day 20 hatches but the bulk of chicks hatch on day 21. Just know that your broody hen has it covered no matter what. They know exactly what to do and when to lock down the chicks for hatch day.[/quote]
I have had an entire batch of silkies hatch on day 18, but 21 is just a marker. I generally don't give up on them till day 26 .

 

[Britras]

...

I'm getting some silkie hatching eggs on Fri. They are out of a partridge and a paint. Can anyone tell me what colours they'll be?[/quote. Most likely partridge and some blues you may get some paint but not very likely, have fun hatching!

 

[ShrekDawg]

I have 5 Anatolians, and 1 Pyrenees, I've also had several Anatolian/pyrenees crosses. I prefer Anatolians, I've found they are more protective (people wise) and I have to shave my Pyr. every summer because of the heat... But they are both fantastic breeds. I always have mine in pairs, because I live in VA and we have LOTS of coyotes, and while my dogs could easily deal with a few Coyotes on their own a whole pack not so much... All 5 of the Anatolians are above 115 Llbs, the Pyr. a little smaller than them (around 105 Llbs). But I would not trade them for the world. The only thing about the Anatolians is some take longer to be "everything friendly" (in other words not eat the little animals, poultry,lambs,etc...) But every dog is VERY different I have a 1 1/2 year old Anatolian and she lives full time with the poultry and doesn't harm a feather on them!  

How do you think their personalities differ? I know you somewhat saod it but my dad's friend has an Anatolian and we have a black Lab/Great Pyrenees mix and he said they have a similar/same personality to the Pyrs. Also ours goes ballistic when anything is outside, delivery people, friends, deer, so are the Anatolians even worse than that? Because I'm not sure I'd want anything more protective ha but maybe it depends on the breeding, ours was BYB, and training, we didnt socialize. He's also 130 pounds, 137 right now. He should he a bit slimmer but he's not a bad weight. Are your dogs small or are both breeds supposed to be slimmer? Pyrs are supposed to be more friendly right? Or no? What are the biggest differences you've seen? Sorry for all the questions haha you don't have to answer

 

[Sylvester017]

Maybe it depends on breeding or training or something but our dog goes ballistic over coyotes and if we let him outside, I'm sure would chase. Although we've had one in the yard once and he was on a rope outside and we still managed to get him to come inside so maybe he does have some of the protective thing. But he is also terrible at accessing threats and goes crazy over deer, rabbits, squirrels, turkeys, chases all of them if he's outside. Barks at weird noises, even moving furniture around upstairs, hate HATES loud noises, terrified. Lunges at the door, barking his head off, at delivery people and guests. And recently nearly bit the vet when he never used to be bad. But I believe it's our fault, didn't relaize how protective the breed was, didn't socialize him at all, and also messed up some training and made some things worse like the vet thing. He is half Black Lab and half Great Pyrenees. But yeah basically my point is he does chase and he also used to run off. I've heard roaming is common for Pyrenees. But he does tend to sleep on the bed all day or if he's outside he will be on guard the whole time unless hes dust bathing so that's good. I think he does eventually come back too. Maybe they run it off or only go within sight or hearing of the flock then come home? If we ever get another we will take the time to properly train him and make sure he knows how to access threats, what level of aggression is necessary and when it's allowed, taught to be called off when we say so etc. Too much hassle and liability. He's a sweet sweet dog and actually usually does come when called outside and is fine once people come inside but you can't get him away from the window for anything. Well, he will back down for food or if you clip a leash though but getting a leash on can be dangerous lol we admittedly haven't worked with him very much but if you can get him away he is good and will stay put but it's getting him out of that mindset that is tricky. We didn't realize how protective they were. Just saw a cute puppy. But of course that could have been resolved with socialization and training but oh well. Sorry, I'm rambling. Are true ones supposed to stay home though?

Working breeds, herding breeds, guardian breeds, service breeds, etc, have basic inherent instincts for their breeds. But it doesn't mean each individual is the same. For instance, seeing-eye service dogs are trained for approximately 2 years from puppyhood -- like Labradors, Golden Retrievers, even Rottweilers and Shepherds, but not every one makes the cut after that 2-yr training and get disqualified. So, as inherent as a dog is to have his breed's characteristics not every individual, even after training, will necessarily make the cut. We had 3 Rottweilers who are great working dogs who are attentive to taking commands yet out of our 3 only one absolutely looked forward to command training. He was big, beautiful, and the gentlest soul around visitor's children and toddlers. What is so sad about bigger breeds is that they rarely live past 10 yrs and all that bonding and training is so short-lived! Yes, I've heard owners say they've had wandering Pyrenees. I personally think it's because as guardian breeds their job is to wander pastures with their flock and it must be an inherent instinct in the guardian breed to have that wanderlust. Picking a dog breed is like picking a chicken breed - what is it's function? Pet, utility, eye-candy, etc. With our chickens we wanted pets and eggs were just a side bonus so as pets we handled them often, gave them names, and let them get accustomed to visitors feeding and handling them to tame them. If we just wanted production birds we'd handle them differently to free-range them and feed them differently, etc.

 

[Sylvester017]

How pretty. My silkies came from my TSC so he's very far from breed standards but he's pretty.

Your hens are gorgeous! I love the colorations.

Partridge Silkie colors are my absolute favourite - the boys are truly outstanding when it comes to colors. My girl is molting right now and there are quills in her crest. Can't wait to see how she'll look after her 5th year regrowth of feathers. Right now she's kinda dull - only her pretty new Partridge wing feathers are grown in so far.

A picture of the Partridge sneaking into the house with the Black Silkie and Blue Breda! They get so excited coming into the house they go in all different directions!

 

[Sylvester017]

I have 5 Anatolians, and 1 Pyrenees, I've also had several Anatolian/pyrenees crosses. I prefer Anatolians, I've found they are more protective (people wise) and I have to shave my Pyr. every summer because of the heat... But they are both fantastic breeds. I always have mine in pairs, because I live in VA and we have LOTS of coyotes, and while my dogs could easily deal with a few Coyotes on their own a whole pack not so much... All 5 of the Anatolians are above 115 Llbs, the Pyr. a little smaller than them (around 105 Llbs). But I would not trade them for the world. The only thing about the Anatolians is some take longer to be "everything friendly" (in other words not eat the little animals, poultry,lambs,etc...) But every dog is VERY different I have a 1 1/2 year old Anatolian and she lives full time with the poultry and doesn't harm a feather on them!

That just confirms my thinking about not every individual within a breed being the same. We had 3 Rottweiler brothers which we acquired one from each year's litter that the same sire and dam had, and all 3 were completely different from each other. The herding instinct was great in them but out of the 3 Rotts only one truly lived for command training. The other 2 brothers - one was sweet but unruly to handle, and the other turned out to be a biter. I told my DD to put him down as it was a trait from puppyhood that is almost impossible to break on such a powerful breed but she gifted him to a friend and it turned out seriously biting the friend's dad. DD's lesson learned. Just like seeing-eye service-dog puppies don't all pass their 2-yr training and get disqualified while their sister or brother qualifies with flying colors. The potential of guardian breeds is an instinct to stay with the flock (or family member) to protect without chasing an invader, but some individuals are just better at living to the potential naturally moreso than others within the same breed.

Besides needing to be regularly exercised, the heavy coat on guardian breeds is another consideration we had to think about in our climate. I can't think of one guardian breed that doesn't have a thick coat and in our humid region it would be impossible to keep the animal comfortable. Our friend's Ovcharka is kept shaved during summer and the sweet thing looks so awkward for being such a beautiful breed. Half the joy of having a beautiful dog breed is their regal appearance and it's a shame to keep them in a climate not conducive to their thick coats.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

I have my border collie Aussie and she is funny around certain people but she has never bit anyone!!!! The neighbor dog He is over here weekly sometimes more than once in a day. And my dog is very protective of me so she don't like other people coming near me or other dogs.

Now the people that have a camp down the road from us they just let there garbage lay amd walk all over everyone's property they were on the neighbors hammock, and they have just a little lap dog and it slipped it's collar and those people who have the camp have a big German Shepard and it literately full blown at acted the little dog we had pulled over and said something to them and I don't even know how many times neighbors have called the cops on them.there is even a little camp next to there's and they shot the windows out of the camp and burnt his picnic table for fire wood. Some people just don't learn.

 

[Lamaremybabies]

I too bought the tsc silkies, but my roo is lowest on the pecking order and is very quiet so far. my amber link roo's are just starting to crow and stand up to the territorial ducks

Haha. My rooster is definitely the top of the pecking order even though when it comes to people he's a bit of a wimp. He was also very quiet until a couple days ago when he learned to crow. Now in the morning when I let them out of the coop he crows like crazy but stops once noon comes. Also I it must be a rooster thing standing up to ducks and trying to show them what's what. Although even though my roo acts tough if the ducks are in the yard he runs far away from my drake. Haha

 

[Lamaremybabies]

Partridge Silkie colors are my absolute favourite - the boys are truly outstanding when it comes to colors. My girl is molting right now and there are quills in her crest. Can't wait to see how she'll look after her 5th year regrowth of feathers. Right now she's kinda dull - only her pretty new Partridge wing feathers are grown in so far. A picture of the Partridge sneaking into the house with the Black Silkie and Blue Breda! They get so excited coming into the house they go in all different directions!

They are just too cute! And man she's quite gorgeous. Here's a picture of my two silkies.

It's a bit of an older picture, but I'm gonna have to take some new ones soon. (Is it just me or does uploading pictures from a mobile device make them look blurry?)

 

[ShrekDawg]

I think you have to click on the pic to get HQ