Silkie thread!

[lynly444]

I don't want to breed to sell or nothing I just herd they are friendly love being mom so if I cross Breed or maybe separate til I'm ready for baby chick let them date how long does it take so we have a mom and dad? So many questions

 

[Goosegrrl]

Strange as it may seem, sometimes in a group of hens with no roo present, one hen will become a bit more manly.
People have had them (sort of)crow even...
If you are sure that all three are laying I wouldn't worry about it. Some variance in comb/wattle size is normal, especially among non-show fowl.

 

[lynly444]

Ok thank you

 

[Sylvester017]

Oh wow..I just may have to get me a Partridge...how do you get them through breeding..to make the color I mean. Or, is the color out there enough to just breed Partridge to Partridge. Now, did I make sense? lol... I have been staying with whites and splash..but now have some blues, and black babies. No whites right now.

Silkies are so fun! I can't help with genetics or breeding of Silkies. I don't produce them -- I buy mine ready-made LOL!

 

[Sylvester017]

I have a not so refined group of Silkies... I probably should have had more patience before purchasing them, but I never intended them to be anything other than pets and broodies for my other chooks.
They have stolen my heart!

Obviously from a very MIXED pen, I was looking for partridges or blue partridges, and all I found after a couple of months was a small group of "3 partridge 2 splash" chicks.
What I actually got was one Barred with leaky red. (very pale skin/eye)
One Spalsh with leaky partridge.
Two silver partridge with paleish skin/eye (I'm blaming the barred in the pen). I actually love this color, but wish the skin and eye was darker.
And one partridge leaning heavy to red. No black chest.

Lou, my barred (leaky red) roo... He is the sweetest! He begs for cuddles.
Next to him is one of the Silver Parts.


Here is the whole crew, along with a few of my regular crew(Spangled OEGBs and SS).
R to L: Lou the barred roo, Pepsi a bad example of a partridge, Pippin and Pepper the Silver pair(some ppl call this Moorehead?), and Shushu who is extraordinarily fluffy and nice splash(for such mixed heritage) with some partridge leaking in there.



These guys have inspired me to actually get some nicer quality Silkies/Showgirls.
My preferred color is still partridge or blue partridge... and the silvers. But I do love the Splash look.
These mixed up heritage kids will have a forever home here as sweet lap sitters and yard peckers.
But trust me... Lou will not be fathering any chicks! I kinda hope he becomes one of those great silkie dads I've read about.

Love the Moorheads!
The Cuckoo is pretty -- too bad not enough dark skin

.
Lou will continue fathering chicks while he's free to roam with the ladies! Just don't turn him loose on your chosen breeding hens.
Love the amount of land you have for foraging. I'm paranoid about aerial predators so if it were my piece of lovely land, I'd have more chicken shelters or recycled doghouses scattered around for the chickens to snooze/hide in from hawks. Whenever we can't find our hens we'll discover them all together in one of our 5 backyard doghouses! For some reason the hawks prefer to swoop down on prey or running hens but they won't combat them on flat ground or under shelters even if they are only 5 feet apart from each other. I've had Cooper's Hawks sitting on our patio furniture watching our hiding hens but won't go after them while they're in the doghouses or under plants.

 

[Sylvester017]

Sheesh. What has our world come to. It's just crazy. As long as the chickens don't make a ruckus at night and aren't attacking children or neighbors they should just mind their own business.

I agree! We have a neighbor's son across the street that uses his driveway like an Auto Repair Shop and keeps revving his engine at its loudest for hours at a time and then guns his car engine squealing his wheels down the street! I've stood in our front driveway when the hens cackle their loudest egg songs and can't even hear them! To both our neighborly credit neither of us tattles on the other.

 

[Goosegrrl]

I was sitting on the lawn with them taking pics toward the open yard... We have ligustrum hedges(some are fully trees about 20ft high x 15-20 ft deep and 30-40ft long), a big clump of bamboo, and a pair of cedars that are limbed all the way to the ground that they have access to, as well as their coop and run (which is netted over with the thick netting-I've seen it stop a large redtail and it hasn't come back since).
Lots of places to hide near the house and coop!

I also encourage a group of crows that lives locally to stay in the area by feeding them out in the back pasture. They chase any hawks that show up relentlessly.

I know he can try to father chicks... and I'm happy to let him try all he wants. I just won't be allowing any of those to be set. LOL

 

[Hinotori]

So I'm better off without the Roos for now and purchase what I want until I become a better chicke mom what size of a flock is a good size ? thank you for your help

Well size depends on how good you are at playing Tetris to fit the chickens in a coop.

I have several pens but I think I have too many birds at the moment so I'm downsizing. Mainly on the large fowl.

 

[lynly444]

Better to keep it fun smaller flock and learn with them now which breed? Silkies or I really want to challenge my self and show them sillies or well until I purchase them then I will decide what breed and how many still have to build the new coop my free range use the barn and won't share with last year chicks who are now the bullies there coop is on my fence I tried everything this is the way they want it my pets wil free range in a moveable run with wheels pooh yea wanna give a shout out to summit station P.A. I love finding this site I have become obsessed with my chickens starting to get somethings I will need research is really important I was never a good reader so I didn't read but now I spend hours reading thank you there a lot of us who share the love of our chickens and I'm not crazy loving chickens is normal

 

[Chickensfan]

SILKIES!!!!