Silkie thread!

[Hinotori]

Hi everyone, I'm so happy to have found this thread!

I have a flock of RIRs for the past 4 years and I'm currently researching silkies

After reading this silkie chicken guide, it said that they struggle in rainy climates, is this true?

I haven't heard this before but living in Seattle it has me worried. Any advice!?

Im south of you and just out of the Olympics Mountains rain shadow so get about twice as much rain as Seattle. You want fully covered runs. Otherwise they do fine here.

Silkies figure out pretty quick that water can slick up the feathers on their head. They WILL stand in the rain to accomplish this. I had a few hens figure out that mud works even better. Of course they had to teach that to the others. Now they will scratch through the straw in the runs to get to dirt. That gives them mudballs on their foot feathers.

I currently have it where 180 ft of 200 ft runs are covered. Guess where the little brats like to be when it's raining. New roofs are slowly going up. Have 1 of 4 done. So the bachelor pen is fully roofed and they don't get soaked.


Oh. Do not keep silkies with an aggressive breed like RIR. They will need a separate house. Silkies are docile and cannot see well. So silkies also cannot free range.

 

[FirstTimeClucky]

My Showgirl is all grown up now and starting to crow. I've put him in with my partridge Silkie pullet (hen? 3 months short of 1st year). They seem to be getting along, she sometimes pecks at him and he just squats down and waits until she's done.

I plan to rehome him because of the crowing, but would like to get a few chicks out of him first. Would it be fine to let her incubate the eggs on her own or should I get an incubator? Once she's on eggs, should I remove him from her pen?

Here's what he looks like now:

 

[AlleysChicks]

What color is this? Hatched from my mixed color flock.

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

How long will my hatching eggs be viable before I need to either give them to a broody or put them in the incubator? They were laid Wednesday and Thursday (yesterday).

Update..

We have given one of our Silkies (Snowball) 5 of the eggs on 2/18. So far, she has been faithfully sitting on them! She is due to hatch them on this Sunday, 3/11

We gave one of our Australorps the other 5 eggs on 2/20. She too has been sitting faithfully. She is due to hatch them Tuesday, March 13th.

We are super, super, super eggcited in case you couldn't tell!

The incubator is up and running, just in case. I hope to report back here in a few days with and not with ...

 

[AlleysChicks]

How about color on these? What will adult color be? I’m keeping these so just looking for guesses.

 

[NNYchick]

Me again with a crazy question. Can a bearded Silkie lose their beard? I have 2 pullets are sisters hatched 4/12/17 and recently noticed they are losing thier beards. One started a awhile ago I thought I got overzealous with the trim. But today I noticed both have lost thier beards and I know I didn’t trim the other one. I’ve checked them for bugs but didn’t see anything and they are both at the top of the pecking order so I don’t think they are being plucked. Any ideas what’s going on.

 

[AlleysChicks]

Me again with a crazy question. Can a bearded Silkie lose their beard? I have 2 pullets are sisters hatched 4/12/17 and recently noticed they are losing thier beards. One started a awhile ago I thought I got overzealous with the trim. But today I noticed both have lost thier beards and I know I didn’t trim the other one. I’ve checked them for bugs but didn’t see anything and they are both at the top of the pecking order so I don’t think they are being plucked. Any ideas what’s going on.

could they be molting? My EEs lost their beards first when they started their molt.

 

[moomoodiddy]

I'm down to four hens now, possum got one of mine the other day.

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

born 3/10 and 3/11!

 

[PouleChick]

Hello everyone! I've just spent a week reading maybe the last 100 or 150 pages of this thread - you all have such gorgeous silkies and lots of wonderful information for a new silkie mummy! I did post a thread a few days ago but didn't get many replies so thought I may be better posting on here as someone suggested a while ago!
Firstly a quick background, I want a lovely mixed flock with lots of coloured eggs and decided that silkies were the way to go to get me that flock (no way can I afford €25-30 per hen for the likes of an araucana which is what they go for here) - we have too many blackouts here in SW France to trust an incubator. I went and picked up 2 girls last weekend they are both between 1 and 2 years (I thought this a better bet than getting young birds - they have both had babies before). I thought they seemed a bit flat but after a few days with some vitamin water and 22% protein feed they are very perky and happy. Well except for them being totally terrified of me! The previous owner didn't handle them at all so aren't up for being picked up etc which we are a bit sad about as me and the kids were looking forward to that side of them.

So time to meet the girls. I think from reading on here that Hermione is a Isabel (please do correct me if I'm wrong) and Doris is a cuckoo. After looking at lots of pics on here I'm thinking that they are actually pretty nice birds (but would love your opinions) with shape / colour etc (other than the cuckoo pale gene thing).

So I was expecting that we may get an egg after a couple of weeks from what I'd read of chooks being moved so I was so excited this morning to find Hermione sat in the little nesting area (they are in a very little coop with a nesting area where the door opens then a bigger area with a little wall / door in between). A few days ago I put in 2 plaster eggs and she'd been moving the eggs around (actually I just remembered yesterday she'd moved them totally into the next room bit) and fluffing the straw and wood chip. I was a bit sad when I went out later and there was no egg and she was out running about in the run. This evening I went down to lock them up and they had already gone to the coop. Doris was sat on the little block of wood I've put in as a perch in the main living bit and where they have been sleeping for the last maybe 5 nights (they were in a wire covered box the first couple of nights) but Hermione was in the nesting area and had gathered up the plaster eggs and presumably was sitting on them. I'm slightly confused and don't dare to hope but is there a chance that she has decided to go broody at my house after only living here 8 days and not having even laid an egg

So my few questions:

• Is Hermione an Isabel?
• What do you think of them are they decent quality birds?
• Is it possible that Hermione has gone broody?
• Will they ever love me (my other 3 came to us as 5-7 week babies so are used to being handled and come running in excitement when they see me. These 2 run away in terror )? And any tips please how to help this situation?

Thank you in advance, I welcome your advice and thoughts!