Silkie thread!

[KaylorFarms]

I'm not sure if you were asking about my chick, but here's the cute little face.

I think rooster

 

[hectors0hens]

Can someone explain to me why two of my chicks seem to have a crest and the other two don't ? I am new to silkies

 

[Justjered]

https://www.facebook.com/jeredhedrick/posts/10154844870104843

Check out our new back yard silkie farm page.

 

[SilkiesInSuburb]

Three of my silkies are brooding over nothing; is this normal? We make sure they get food and water.

 

[Hinotori]

Three of my silkies are brooding over nothing; is this normal? We make sure they get food and water.

Yes it's normal. Mine do it all the time because I take the eggs

 

[Sylvester017]

Three of my silkies are brooding over nothing; is this normal? We make sure they get food and water.

Ours brood empty nests all the time. Currently, have a Breda hen gone broody over an empty nest. It's good to give their bodies a rest after laying so many eggs in a row! During molt a chicken might get reclusive and be mistaken as a broody but is only hiding. If a broody is in hiding after 3 weeks I consider they are being reclusive during molt. Keep them fed, watered, and out of the box for exercise and they'll eventually snap out of it. I supplement my broody, molting, or ill chickens ONE drop of liquid no-iron children's Poly-Vi-Sol vitamin 2 or 3x a week because they don't eat so well during those times.

Broody Cuckoo Breda


Broody Partridge Silkie


Black Silkie and Partridge Silkie sharing a broody nest.

 

[Sylvester017]

Can someone explain to me why two of my chicks seem to have a crest and the other two don't ? I am new to silkies

Depends on who the breeder was, if the chicks are from hatchery or private breeder, and if the chicks could be a cross with something else. Also, not every chick hatched will look like show quality. It depends on the parentage as to how the chicks will turn out. Not every Silkie chick develops the same vaulting on the top of the skull or have the same feathering on their crest. Some pretty Silkies can even be born with the wrong number of toes from a fluke genetic issue. That's why people go to reliable Silkie breeders if they want a particular appearance in their Silkies. I am always prepared to pay good $$$ for a particular look to any of my chicken breeds purchased from a private breeder. You can sometimes be very lucky to get good chicks from a feed store and sometimes not if you don't know where they came from and don't know how to shop for a good chick. I don't usually pay attention to feed store chicks but our local store had some very nice White Silkie chicks from Belt Hatchery (in Calif) that I was surprised at how good the hatch looked. But then, I've seen some other chick breeds from the same hatchery that didn't look as good. I don't deal with hatching eggs but if I did, I would be certain of the breeder's stock and reputation before taking a chance on hatching eggs. Know your source and it will tell volumes about the quality.

 

[Hinotori]

Can someone explain to me why two of my chicks seem to have a crest and the other two don't ? I am new to silkies

Depends on how old they are sometimes as well. I've had both sexes slow to get their crests in. Usually they don't grow in as good of crests as the others.

 

[LadyVictorian]

HAPPY EASTER from the boys and I.

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

We picked up 3 white Silkies on Friday from our feed store. They had hatched and and shipped the day before. Once home in our brooder one of them started picking at the toes of our same aged black australorps. She was pecking to the point of dragging the poor babies around the brooder. I got her to stop that bevavior, or so I thought but today I observed her attacking her own toes. It is like she hobbles her own self and then screams that someone had her foot!

Has anyone else observed this type of Silkie behavior?