Silkie thread!

[mama2my4]

At least your birds won't suffer like those poor chickens that are manufactured just for dog food or sold in grocery stores. I can't think of the last time I bought grocery store chicken.

I hear that! I haven't been able to bring myself to eat chicken since we got our first one.

 

[anbsmom]

I hear that! I haven't been able to bring myself to eat chicken since we got our first one.

I stopped buying chicken from the grocery store a few months before we got our first chicks. The day after we got the chicks from TSC we had to go grocery shopping. Every single item I saw that said 'Chicken' made me think of my cute little chickies waiting on me at home. Chicken Noodle Soup...chicks. Popcorn Chicken...chicks. Rotisserie Chicken...chicks. That was not a good trip to the store.

 

[peepblessed]

I know every body is off the leg banding subject but thought I would put in my two cents worth. Scroll down the right side of the web page until you see a flat coil of plastic called chick band. These expand as they grow and are reuseable. When the chicks are older I use zip ties with a big enough circle that I don't have to worry about them cutting off circulation. This company is the most reasonable priced I have found. http://www.poultrysupplies.com/index_files/Page723.html

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye- I hate to be the bearer of freaky but true news, but Asians are very superstious people. I see frozen silkies for sale in the markets. My mom says some believe eating the flesh brings good fortune and long life...

Yes, I like going to the Asian market here for the rice, etc and I've seen the little black dressed out silkies. Just wondering how everyone else felt about it. I don't know what else to do, I think they must go to be eaten. I wish they didn't have the freaky black skin or I'd eat them myself. Sigh.

This may not be a question for me because I don't sell them, but I WILL be feeding my culls to my dogs. How can I do this? Simple. They are chickens (after all) and I feed my dogs lots of chicken. Now, why buy gross grocery store chicken when I can use my healthy culls? That would make no sense at all. Now, will I enjoy it? Not at all. I simply have no other choice because I care what my dogs eat. That is an important part of my (chihuahua) breeding program. Having a quick outlet for my culls will also give my silkie breeding program a big bonus, as I can breed more to get the best birds. Sure there will be the occasional bird I can't cull this way, but for the most part that is what will happen. I say WILL because I am new to breeding silkies - in fact I haven't any mature birds to breed yet. But that is my plan. Sorry folks if it makes you cringe, but its gotta be.
I think every breeder who has been doing it a while will sell their culls as food. You'd have to. What else is a breeder going to do with all those roos?

Makes sense. I grew up dressing out our own birds, so I'm no stranger to eating what we kill. It's so messy and a drawn out process, I hope if I have birds to dress, I can find someone to do it for me! LOL My dad and I would go grab 20 birds at a time and fix them and then we'd spend the rest of the day plucking and cleaning. Bleah.

I know, I know...you can't tell silkie genders when they are young...BUT, someone mentioned the shape of the comb possibly being an indicator. So I want to throw my pics out there for speculation. They are hatchery chicks so probably not awesome but they are sweet. I don't intend to hatch any chicks from them. They are all 8 weeks old and there are five of them.

Partridge




Blue 1




Blue 2
this one didn't want to cooperate



White




Black

I'm probably going to be wrong, but I'll give it a guess.
Partridge- boy
Blue 1- most likely a boy
Blue 2- looks like a girl
White- could go either way-- looks boyish
Black- maybe a girl??
Those are all pretty large combs for being only 8 weeks old. But I've noticed that the hatchery birds do tend to get larger combs anyway.

I stopped buying chicken from the grocery store a few months before we got our first chicks. The day after we got the chicks from TSC we had to go grocery shopping. Every single item I saw that said 'Chicken' made me think of my cute little chickies waiting on me at home. Chicken Noodle Soup...chicks. Popcorn Chicken...chicks. Rotisserie Chicken...chicks. That was not a good trip to the store.

So far, nothing can stop me eating chicken. I have done my own butchering, and I'm still good. LOVE me some chicken (chick) noodle soup! hehehe!

 

[anbsmom]

LOL! I still love me a original chicken sandwich from Burger King. That's probably not even really chicken though.

 

[anbsmom]

LOL! I still love me a original chicken sandwich from Burger King. That's probably not even really chicken though.

Or Chick-Fil-A. UMMMMMMM!

 

[JoshU]

I know every body is off the leg banding subject but thought I would put in my two cents worth. Scroll down the right side of the web page until you see a flat coil of plastic called chick band. These expand as they grow and are reuseable. When the chicks are older I use zip ties with a big enough circle that I don't have to worry about them cutting off circulation. This company is the most reasonable priced I have found. http://www.poultrysupplies.com/index_files/Page723.html

Is this the style you are talking about? 25 Size 3 plastic coil chick bands Colors: black, blue, green, orange, pink, red, white, or yellow
And this works for them up to almost mature sized legs? And also is it a assortment of colors? Sorry but this site is vague on descriptions.

 

[chikymommadukes]

Thank You.

 

[GoldBarRanch]

I have a question for those of you who cull out your pet quality silkies by selling them. I put an ad on CraigsList for two of my pet quality cockerels. I have a response, and I know someone might want to eat them, but figured what the heck. I got the most odd response from someone I don't think speaks English. So now I can't understand what they are really asking in an email and since I can't understand them, I don't even know if I want to sell my birds to them. Do you all knowingly sell birds to people who are going to eat them? I don't know what else to do with these boys if I don't, though.

Thoughts on this?

When I post to CL I always price higher then the cost of whole chicken at the market. This helps your chances that it will go to a home as a pet and not for Food or Fighters.

 

[peepblessed]

Is this the style you are talking about? 25 Size 3 plastic coil chick bands Colors: black, blue, green, orange, pink, red, white, or yellow
And this works for them up to almost mature sized legs? And also is it a assortment of colors? Sorry but this site is vague on descriptions.

Yes, that's the one. Lot's of colors, you have to buy each color separately and it expands as they grow (I talked to them on the phone)