Silkie thread!

[sager:)silkies]

i have polish to and this spring im getting some splash and i do have sq silkies white and black to me that black one i just post pics of is coming out nicely its feet are nicely feathered just its crest has to grow a little bigger she still young so lots of growing to go lets see how she turns out but she dose look like she will be sq

 

[riane'smimi]

sagersilkies :

i have polish to and this spring im getting some splash and i do have sq silkies white and black to me that black one i just post pics of is coming out nicely its feet are nicely feathered just its crest has to grow a little bigger she still young so lots of growing to go lets see how she turns out but she dose look like she will be sq

Yea,it takes soo long to grow silkies out.Then one day you walk out and WOW !!!!!!! It's like the ugly duckling turned into a swan over night (not that silkies are ugly ducklings LOL ) Splash silkies are so pretty and girlie looking .I do love my blacks though.
My polish are clowns .Silly boogers.I have one that runs as fast as she can to me so she can peck my hand looking for food,she will do it everytime she sees me.
Here she is The little booger

 

[sager:)silkies]

riane'smimi :

sagersilkies :

i have polish to and this spring im getting some splash and i do have sq silkies white and black to me that black one i just post pics of is coming out nicely its feet are nicely feathered just its crest has to grow a little bigger she still young so lots of growing to go lets see how she turns out but she dose look like she will be sq

Yea,it takes soo long to grow silkies out.Then one day you walk out and WOW !!!!!!! It's like the ugly duckling turned into a swan over night (not that silkies are ugly ducklings LOL ) Splash silkies are so pretty and girlie looking .I do love my blacks though.
My polish are clowns .Silly boogers.I have one that runs as fast as she can to me so she can peck my hand looking for food,she will do it everytime she sees me.
Here she is The little booger
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/71009_2011-11-30_023.jpg​

she is very purty what color is she bared or something like that mine are white crested and buff laced​

 

[alliandme]

Desperate to show silkies! I'm a junior shower, between 14-17 and stilllive with parents. I want to build a coop especially for bantams, but mostly silkies, if I can get hold of some around here. Just wondering on some things to look out for when buying?
My coop will hopefully be exactly the same as this coop: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=32956 but with a few minor tweaks, like swapping the egg boxes and the door around for easier egg collection, adding more windows,and instead of wood (It would fall over in the first 3 days due to termites) build it out of tin, and them maybe get some wood pannelling or something.

 

[SilverSilkie]

Quote:
The ground-color of black contain normally a double doses of the gene E (means Extended Black) so => E/E
Black contain not the black-pigment diluting gene Blue so => bl+/bl+
Blue is this Black diluted in 1 doses by the gene Bl (means Blue) so => Bl/bl+
Splash is this Black diluted in 2 doses by the gen Bl so => Bl/Bl

To become from a Black (male or female) diluted offspring you need to cross it with a Blue or with a Splash to bring in that black-pigment diluting gene. No other way.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

Quote:
I totally agree. I have LF and silkies. My LF girls (and a couple roo's) are in pens with big yards and no cover. For the above mentioned reasons, my silkies are completely covered. I let the silkies out with supervision. When I was raising some banties earlier this year, they were housed with some growing silkies and did fine. I have heard of other people keeping silkies with LF but I would guess the silkies get the worst of the deal.

I also have Australorps and Wyandottes. Mine are just hatchery stock layers.

You gotta get some silkies! You just might need a new little coop.

Julie

You obviously never met my VERY LARGE, exhibition barred rock cockerel who was terrorized by a ratty (personality) silkie rooster a third of his size. I have some tiny silkie hens woul will more than willingly take on anything larger than they are. To an extent, they have the same kind of daring-do as my Jack Russel Terrorist.

Sonoran Oh yes, my neighbor had a rogue BR who was a mammoth and he'd meet his match every time he'd wander down here, my PQ silkie boy (my daughter's pet) is the MASTER of this yard and free ranges all the time. However my SQ birds are all on the bottom of the food chain, and get picked on by my bully big girls. So I only let them out to free range when I'm outside to keep an eye on them. But my PQ boy Pika (A splash silkie) like I said is master and king and whoops anything including dogs that he feels needs to be 'put in their place' ....

 

[countrygirl911]

ok i have a questionis it my silkies that are crazy or is everyone elses. all my silkies seem to be crazy it has been raining her on and off for a few weeks now and my silkies do not seem to know how to go inside the building to keep from getting wet they find a corner in the run all pile up on each other and lay there and of course look like drowned rats and get all muddy. Another thing i would like to bath them but once it dries out enough to where they will not get muddy and i go to bath them it starts to rain again. How do i keep them clean and what do i use to bath them with. Also how can i teach them to go inside they refuse to go in the building even at night and now that it started raining while i am at work i bet they are in the rain.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

Quote:
My SQ bunch didn't understand the concept of getting out of the rain either, so I had to top part of the run. Silkies you have to be careful with them, because when it gets cold and it rains - their feathers soak up water and don't shed it like regular feathers would...So they can get wet to the skin or "soaked to the bone" as the saying goes....

So if it turns cold too soon, and they aren't dried out, they can catch a chill and its known to kill silkies.

I would suggest topping or tarping your run, or make a bigger building for them, and just leave them in the building on rainy days, and don't allow them out in the rain in cooler months - hot/warm months it wouldn't be an issue at all though. Many people who breed and raise silkies especially the Show quality birds keep them indoors in breeding cages/pens, or their whole set up is roofed so they can't get rained on.

as for teaching them how to go up, with new birds I just have to put them in a few days, and put them in front of the door and give them a boost to the butt, they go in on their own the past foot...they learn that the coop is the place to go up at night. Does your building happen to have a ramp to get up into it, or is it on the ground? Some silkies just don't take to ramps well at all, you'll either need to make it really long so there isn't much incline at all and they can feel secure, or if possible lower the building or entrance to be on the ground or only a couple inches off the ground.

 

[SilverSilkie]

Quote:
You should close your Silkies for a few days in the nightspace (so they become habituated to the sleeping place). Than you open it and let them go outside on there own (not put them outside yourself), normally the evening they go back inside that place where they slept the nights for a few days.
For rain during the day you could place a open shelter where they can go under. It will help when you put there sand because chickens (also Silkies) like to take a dry sandbath.
When you want to bath them use babyshampoo and warm water. You must dry them after as you dry your hairs.
Good luck with them.

 

[countrygirl911]

Quote:
My SQ bunch didn't understand the concept of getting out of the rain either, so I had to top part of the run. Silkies you have to be careful with them, because when it gets cold and it rains - their feathers soak up water and don't shed it like regular feathers would...So they can get wet to the skin or "soaked to the bone" as the saying goes....

So if it turns cold too soon, and they aren't dried out, they can catch a chill and its known to kill silkies.

I would suggest topping or tarping your run, or make a bigger building for them, and just leave them in the building on rainy days, and don't allow them out in the rain in cooler months - hot/warm months it wouldn't be an issue at all though. Many people who breed and raise silkies especially the Show quality birds keep them indoors in breeding cages/pens, or their whole set up is roofed so they can't get rained on.

as for teaching them how to go up, with new birds I just have to put them in a few days, and put them in front of the door and give them a boost to the butt, they go in on their own the past foot...they learn that the coop is the place to go up at night. Does your building happen to have a ramp to get up into it, or is it on the ground? Some silkies just don't take to ramps well at all, you'll either need to make it really long so there isn't much incline at all and they can feel secure, or if possible lower the building or entrance to be on the ground or only a couple inches off the ground.

it is on the ground we converted a storage shed into a coop so there is no ramp. i hatched these from eggs of show quality chickens i hope i have a few we can show. i had them in the coop for about 3 weeks so they will learn where their home is and where they sleep but they just do not seem to know that they live in there. rain gets in a little but only if the wind is blowing really hard a little gets in thru the window that is covere in chicken wire and thru the door a little not enough to make it muddy just a light mist gets in but my husband if it stops raining long enough this weekend he is going to fix that. i just hate seeing them like that and i guess for the rest of hte winter i will keep them inside the coop at all times because it has been raining here constintly for weeks and i will not be able to close the top of the run so that rain does not get in till after christmas. maybe i can but a small tarp in the cornor they seem to like for now but that will not last long but at least they will be able to be out for a little while. guess i need to think about building a diggerent coop and run for them but with money really tight it would be a while before i could do that.