Silkie thread!

[mama2my4]

The little Partridge Rock, Tweety is Nugget's little buddy. She follows Nugget everywhere! LOL Nugget won't sleep unless he/she lays her head across Tweety. Silly little bird!

so cute!!

 

[Hawkeye95]

The hassle with getting birds into Canada is finding a certified avian vet on the US side that can inspect the originating flock and submit the paperwork (VS form 17-6). It REALLY isn't a big deal for anyone in the NPIP program - all that is required on the form is an NPIP number, I believe - which anyone with decent breeding/showing stock in the US is apart of. (Kind of like the coggins test on a horse.) The issue is, finding the "certified avian vet"! Hatching eggs work the same as live birds. So it's basically a major hassle for US breeders and they have to be confident that the Canadian buyer is going to pay them for their troubles.

And they aren't supposed to be commercially shipped across the border (although it can and does happen). McMurray Hatchery and John Blehm (Ameraucanas) used to be willing to provide paperwork and ship to a border town post office. The Canadian purchaser can pick the eggs/birds up there and clear them into Canada themselves with paperwork in hand. Best case, have a friend near the border that can receive shipments!!

So any of you Silkie breeders that have access to an avian vet - advertise to Canadians!! You WILL get responses. Not sure if it will be worth your while or not but you will/should have appreciative customers!

I know there are a couple of APA judges that regularly work in Canada that will transport birds across the border (legally!) They advertise in publications up here. But the timing has to work - and it is often their own birds they are offering for sale. However, I've also heard them complain about "misunderstandings" when they arrive in Canada and attempt to present the birds to a customer that isn't getting what they expected. Then they are stuck with birds they probably don't want!! My comment - make sure all the money is dealt with before hand!

So you just need a breeder to provide a NPIP for the bird and that's all? That is pretty easy to come by. We have several people around here that do testing and of course all of our birds must be tested before a show. We do have an avian vet here in our town, (I bet most large towns here have avian vets) when you mentioned that, I was wondering if it had to be signed off by the vet. Otherwise, we have certified people that have to take classes to become NPIP testers here. Anyway, yeah, it's not as easy as calling up a breeder, emailing a few pictures back and forth and sending money and getting your bird right away. But the hassle of the forms don't sound too bad. Where did you get your bird? Yours looks really nice! (in your avatar)

 

[Hawkeye95]

oh and Peep-- tell me the brand name on your therm and hygro! Enquiring minds want to know! ha!

 

[sager:)silkies]

So you just need a breeder to provide a NPIP for the bird and that's all? That is pretty easy to come by. We have several people around here that do testing and of course all of our birds must be tested before a show. We do have an avian vet here in our town, (I bet most large towns here have avian vets) when you mentioned that, I was wondering if it had to be signed off by the vet. Otherwise, we have certified people that have to take classes to become NPIP testers here. Anyway, yeah, it's not as easy as calling up a breeder, emailing a few pictures back and forth and sending money and getting your bird right away. But the hassle of the forms don't sound too bad. Where did you get your bird? Yours looks really nice! (in your avatar)

i do e-mail breeders in the states asking if there willing to ship me eggs and npip or not alot of breeders just dont want to take the time

 

[Country Chickens]

I wanted to make sure I answered this, so jumped right on and haven't seen the other posts' since. Forgive me if I repeat what other's have said, but when we've had trouble with anything we bought from Brinsea they've been very good at working with us. When we concluded that the small thermometer was not set correctly, they just sent us a new one and paid postage for the old to be returned. I would contact them with your concerns and see if they'll help!

Zack and Barn Goddess-- are you all unable to import or order chicks/eggs from the USA to use in your breeding? I don't know what the laws are. It seems sad that it's so difficult to get nice birds. Very interesting about your standards being the same, just with a different looking type of bird.

Now that I'm having fertile eggs, I'm having incubator troubles. I'm using the Brinsea Oct and my real troubles lie in the fact that I think my digital therm/hygro is wrong. I'm thinking my therm is off by 2 degrees! I already salt tested my hygro and it's off by 9%. Where oh where do you get decent equipment that doesn't cost the earth??

 

[Hawkeye95]

i do e-mail breeders in the states asking if there willing to ship me eggs and npip or not alot of breeders just dont want to take the time

Wow, that's really too bad!! If I ever get big enough to have lots of fertile eggs, I'd look into that. We're kind of in the heartland of animal husbandry here and there's a vet nearly on every street corner! LOL Okay, not really, but it's big business to be a vet. And I have 3 vets just for my horses alone-- they all deal in their specialties and I would never ever just use one vet to care for the entire horse. Our county extension office keeps track of our NPIP testers and it's easy to find one near by. We also have a State avian vet that will come down and do large operations. I guess I'm not seeing the problem of getting a hold of papers on the breeder's end. (and I say that-- and yet have never had to DO it... so perhaps it's more time consuming than I think) Well anyway, I'm really sorry about that, that must be a real PITA!

 

[sager:)silkies]

Wow, that's really too bad!! If I ever get big enough to have lots of fertile eggs, I'd look into that. We're kind of in the heartland of animal husbandry here and there's a vet nearly on every street corner! LOL Okay, not really, but it's big business to be a vet. And I have 3 vets just for my horses alone-- they all deal in their specialties and I would never ever just use one vet to care for the entire horse. Our county extension office keeps track of our NPIP testers and it's easy to find one near by. We also have a State avian vet that will come down and do large operations. I guess I'm not seeing the problem of getting a hold of papers on the breeder's end. (and I say that-- and yet have never had to DO it... so perhaps it's more time consuming than I think) Well anyway, I'm really sorry about that, that must be a real PITA!

yep it is a pita but looks like i will have to do breeding the hard way breed lots and do lots of selective breeding maybe one day ill run into a miracle

 

[QuiltinChick]

I have a couple of quick questions. I am new to chickens, period. We have 54 Barred Rocks and we have 3 White Silkies. They are all hatchery birds and are all 11 days old. They have been together from day one.

I really thought the Silkies would congregate and stay together, but they don't, they just hang around with all the Barred Rocks. I think this is a good thing, right? Does that mean that the BR will be less likely to pick on the Silkies?

I have seen one of the Silkies doing a chest bump, for lack of a better explanation with one of the Barred Rocks. Does this mean that I probably have a Silkie Roo or just a grumpy girl standing her ground?

Then today, I saw two of the Silkies doing a chest bump against each other. Does this mean possibly two Roos?

THANKS!!! I know my hatchery kids won't be as nice as your BQ and SQ birds, but I really enjoy all of your photos!!!

 

[Sharksandguitars]

Both sexes do that little sparring thing so you really can't know. Also silkies are notorious for being late bloomers and hard to sex. I wasn't really sure of my silkie roo until her was 8months old and even then he had yet to crow. I think the chickens will be just fine together. I kept silkies with my bigger birds and never had a problem.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I wanted to make sure I answered this, so jumped right on and haven't seen the other posts' since. Forgive me if I repeat what other's have said, but when we've had trouble with anything we bought from Brinsea they've been very good at working with us. When we concluded that the small thermometer was not set correctly, they just sent us a new one and paid postage for the old to be returned. I would contact them with your concerns and see if they'll help!

Thanks Country! My problem is a bit more complex than their glass therm being off. The glass therm in the window is probably accurate for the temperature up at the top of the incubator. However, there is a Brinsea thread here on BYC and everyone has said not to trust that therm, because it's right near the heating element and it will show a degree or two higher than the temps down in the tray or the internal temps of the eggs. One person I talked to goes so far as to take an infertile egg, and drive a probe down into it and then use a bandaide to hold it in place to get a really accurate reading in the egg. My problem was that I knew not to trust the glass, so I bought what I *thought* what a nice digital therm/hygro meter and adjusted my temps according to that-- because it was small enough to sit in the bottom of the tray. It came from Cigar.net and is supposed to fit nicely in a humidor, and I thought the size was perfect for my incubator. It seemed like it had mostly good reviews on it, too. THEN... when I finally got fertile eggs here recently, I would put them in and they would start growing and die around Day 5 or so. Someone suggested my therm was wrong and I had nothing to test it against. Until I remembered I have a BBT (basal body temerature therm) and I stuck that down in between the eggs and sure enough, my reading came back at 100.9 My digital I had in there was reading 99 even at that point, and so it looks to be off by nearly 2 degrees. I already knew the hygro was off by 9% on humidity because after I salt tested it, it never set right. I just add in the extra 9% when I read it and all is well. But I think I was baking my eggs. So I need a much more reliable therm AND hygro to fit down into the tray and be ACCURATE. I'm frustrated and just sick over killing my poor little eggs! I even had a shipment of black Rosecombs in the mail and couldn't figure out why they didn't develop when the breeder has been having great success with her own eggs. Sigh. Long story--- I'm in a mess with no real accurate way to read my tray temperature, and I'm leary about buying a new therm without knowing if it's been tested or if it works well. But yet-- I don't want to spend $60 on having one tested for me! I'd like to only spend right around $20-30 for a new one.

Sooooo.... what are you using? What is the brand name of yours? I'll tell you mine is a Xikar and it's a piece 'o crap. LOL