Silkie thread!

[Sylvester017]

Had to share 3 precious Silkie eggs in our new egg skelter - love this adjustable skelter - it comes in 8 sections and I only used 5. Some have painted these plastic skelters but I happen to love the color green - it accommodates MED to LG eggs but our SM Silkie eggs fit nicely I think.


Had to share our newest kettle too!

 

[Minny]

is number 4 loulou possibly a frizzled silkie?

I've had a number of what I thought were silver partridges only for them to turn into brown in the end.

Must learn to do a proper photo shoot like u have done there. Now to find a way to make my chickens sit still for photo shoots...

Trying to find pics of my partridges as babies.

 

[sbendorf]

Just me -- but if my Silkies were getting bullied I'd send them all off together if you can't keep the roo and he shouldn't be sent off alone -- I'd send off all 3 Silkies to the farm to be together.  Dealing with Silkie roos is why I wait until they are 4 or 5 months old and definitely identifiable as boy or girl before I buy them or else get a DNA sexed female Silkie from Amber Waves Silkies but it is expensive to get DNA-sexed but worth it for me.  I wouldn't keep one Silkie alone around large fowl.  Some large fowl are docile but most dual purpose layer breeds are assertive breeds and will harass gentle Silkies that will not fight back.  I found it out the hard way when I didn't heed advice to not mix Silkies with dual purpose breeds that are 2 to 3x heavier than Silkies and turn into bullies when they see the Silkies are not good at defending themselves.  Some chickens can be so mean to each other.  My DH loves his Silkies and we had to re-home all our nice egg layers because they did not play nice with the Silkies in our small backyard.  We settled to keep an Ameraucana and docile Bredas around the Silkies who played "nice" with the bantams and those larger fowl gave us plenty of eggs even though they were not considered dual purpose -- they were lighter-weight and nice gentle temperaments compared to the more assertive heavier dual purpose breeds.  JMHO.

Surprisingly after my silkie roo went to the farm my 2 buff Orpington hens and americauna hen (all 8 months old) stopped harassing the remaining 2 silkies. I'm hoping this might mean the 2 remaining silkies could possibly be hens. They don't seem to chase after them anymore and go about their business. If they get right up in their food they have warned them but nothing like before. They are also much more quiet when laying(the egg song). Could eliminating the rooster really have created this much harmony??

 

[sbendorf]

Here are my remaining 2 silkies again. I don't notice the hackle and saddle feathers on my white one like I did on my rooster. The comb is a bit thicker than the one I believe to be a hen but nothing like the roo. Could my white one possibly be a hen??

 

[rockymountain]

I previously posted a question and no response. I have a silkie, was told a blue. Found a small egg, cream color with spots a week or so.. Was so excited thinking my silkie layed an egg. My other that hasn't laid yet is a Easter Egg, possible brahma. Well mean while I caught my silkie (cock a doodle doo), kind of. Not every day, just twice in two weeks. So now I am so confused. Who laid the egg. Haven't received another since. My other chicken a australorp, dark egg everyday, a white leghorn which lays a white egg oblong size, that is molting. The only two left is the Easter Egg or this silkie. Can a silkie sound like a cock on occasion but lay eggs. She was really strange acting at the time and was picking on the others for treats. Has mellowed out now being her normal self. Do they go thru a hormone attitude. So confused. Driving me crazy. I might not find out until next spring.


the one on left? the dark one from Australorp



Is this a blue as well?

The other easter egg/possible brahma(not sure) that could of laid as well but nothing since.

 

[moomoodiddy]

I previously posted a question and no response. I have a silkie, was told a blue. Found a small egg, cream color with spots a week or so.. Was so excited thinking my silkie layed an egg. My other that hasn't laid yet is a Easter Egg, possible brahma. Well mean while I caught my silkie (cock a doodle doo), kind of. Not every day, just twice in two weeks. So now I am so confused. Who laid the egg. Haven't received another since. My other chicken a australorp, dark egg everyday, a white leghorn which lays a white egg oblong size, that is molting. The only two left is the Easter Egg or this silkie. Can a silkie sound like a cock on occasion but lay eggs. She was really strange acting at the time and was picking on the others for treats. Has mellowed out now being her normal self. Do they go thru a hormone attitude. So confused. Driving me crazy. I might not find out until next spring.


the one on left? the dark one from Australorp



Is this a blue as well?

The other easter egg/possible brahma(not sure) that could of laid as well but nothing since.

The links are not working, but I am not aware of any chickens that lay spotted eggs, is there any way that the culprit is another type of bird?

 

[moomoodiddy]

Here are my remaining 2 silkies again. I don't notice the hackle and saddle feathers on my white one like I did on my rooster. The comb is a bit thicker than the one I believe to be a hen but nothing like the roo. Could my white one possibly be a hen??

rooster

 

[rockymountain]

I see the pictures when I check the tread, maybe I am doing it wrong posting and I see something that is missing? Does anyone else see pictures? No to your question the only two that could lay is the easter egg or the silkie. My white leg horn went broody then molting now, her egg is white and oblong, The australorp has been laying daily very dark. No other? The surprise egg just totally confused me, cream with light specs, very small and almost round shape.

 

[rockymountain]

reloaded pictures, sorry for repeat.

Silkie Blue


egg on left from silkie? egg on right is australrop (sp?)

EE or ? possible braham

Hopefully these pictures come up. sorry if repeated. Learning this sight on posting.

 

[Sylvester017]

Surprisingly after my silkie roo went to the farm my 2 buff Orpington hens and americauna hen (all 8 months old) stopped harassing the remaining 2 silkies. I'm hoping this might mean the 2 remaining silkies could possibly be hens. They don't seem to chase after them anymore and go about their business. If they get right up in their food they have warned them but nothing like before. They are also much more quiet when laying(the egg song). Could eliminating the rooster really have created this much harmony??

All chickens are individuals with some being shy, while others are outgoing. A flock's breed dynamics can sometimes turn shy birds into assertive birds while other dynamics can make a peaceful coexistence. My best flock mix was 2 Silkies, a Breda, and a Blue Wheaten Ameraucana and then sadly lost our Ameraucana and Breda this year. Back to the drawing board to develop a good mix for a new flock again. So far we still have the 2 older Silkies, still growing out a new docile Breda pullet, and hope to add a Dominique in the Spring - had a Dom before and liked her so want to try again. Love the EEs and Amer's for their gentleness but our humid SoCal climate is terrible for these lovely heavily under-downed birds.

So sad to have to re-home Silkie roos because they can be so sweet. Hope yours is ok in his new home and not bullied too much for being a little guy. We had to re-home a Silkie roo at 6 months and kept his sister. She was alone as the only Silkie so we got another pullet Silkie to toodle around with her. To this day they are not what I would call best buddies but they do tend to hang out together.