Silkie thread!

[Suzierd]

Suzie, we have the same problem with hawks, right here in a neighborhood.  My friend just lost her Wyondotte to a hawk.  It was so aggressive after having to leave it there after killing it.  It must have been interrupted.  It kept flying over them when they went out.  They had the chicken in a box, and it still kept flying over them, and landing on their coop.  When they went to bury the chicken, that thing swept just feet above their daughter.  That was it. They called authorities, and the guy said it was a coopers hawk.  She had taken a picture of it just hanging out on the neighbors roof, so he could see what it was..didn't see it flying around though.  Of course not.  They had buried the bird by then. 
So what comes by my house a few days later?  Yep..I got swooped down on just as I came out of my coop's run  Not as low as what happened to my friend, but, I would say it was only about 8 ft. above me.   Needless to say, I kept my chickens in the run for days.  Silkies, can not, see above them!  My other chickens can, but they usually freeze when something like that flies over head!   I had Red Hawks come by, but they aren't as brazen as the Coopers when you are out there.  But one day, my neighbor heard a lot of chicken noise going on while I was at church.  He comes out to look, and there was a huge hawk stuck on top of the chicken wire.  He said he couldn't believe the span of the wings on that thing.  Had to be a Red Tail.  The Coopers are smaller, but stubborn!  Read a bit up on them if you have a min.  Unbelievable. 

Wow they don't seem to have much fear! He really wanted his meal. I read on here one lady had her hen taken just 10 feet from her! I'm saving up to enclose the orchard, I know it will be spendy but the chickens and I both will enjoy it.
I see a lot off red tailed hawks here and there's a smaller hawk around that I've seen get birds around the feeder it might be a coopers.

 

[chickendales]

Thanks, I'll contact the breeder (they were shipped eggs) and send her a picture. Just curious if she's had this turn up before and how he will mature.

The only thing I don't care for on him, is his comb is too light. It's still dark, but you can see the red through.

Deb

ya i probly cull him if you dont like him

 

[sheeshshe]

I have 3 silkie chicks around 15 weeks old. 2 of them chest bump frequently. I thought that meant that meant they were males, but someone mentioned that she read somewhere that in silkies are the opposite and the females are the ones who chest bump. if that were true, it would make sense bc the one who doesnt chest bump is the one who I thought was male. what is your experience?

 

[Momma 2 silkies]

I have males and females that both chest bump. The males more than the females but they both do it.

 

[peepblessed]

OK here are the pics of my new catdance babies. I need help with colors since I'm fairly new with baby down colors. What do these look like to you? These are from her lavender project pen. I think lav roo over lav split, buff, porcelain hens. I have more pics but I didn't want to load this down any more than I had to. Let me know if you need more shots of any of the babies. Thanks for any help.



These are from lav pen with black split roo over lav hens. Should be black or lav but I got a weird one here. What do you think? One on the right is likely lav. If so it will lighten quickly as my Catdance lavs did.



And this is from a black egg. I have never seen white feet and so much white on a black. His legs are black. What do you make of this? Very likely silver partridge (Grey)

I hatched one with pink feet from my own pair. Here is photos at hatch and grown. The pink turned to medium gray. Lighter than they should be.

Okay time for some baby chick pics,

Sorry gals and guys I just love my babies and I have to show them off to people who care, LOL

Never see enough cute pictures! Thanks!

I have 3 silkie chicks around 15 weeks old. 2 of them chest bump frequently. I thought that meant that meant they were males, but someone mentioned that she read somewhere that in silkies are the opposite and the females are the ones who chest bump. if that were true, it would make sense bc the one who doesnt chest bump is the one who I thought was male. what is your experience?

Both males and females exhibit this behavior. If they are still doing it at 8 wks, I think boy.

 

[aoxa]

[COLOR=800080]A friend got three Silkies from a hatchery and saw mine, the other day.  She was pretty upset as she says that hers look nothing like mine and after seeing mine wonder if she even got pure Silkies. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=800080]You described them perfectly.  Tiny crests and zero fluffy-- they are nearly flat.  She is now getting some 'normal' Silkies [/COLOR]

[COLOR=800080]Sheila [/COLOR]

You have to get her some real silkies

[COLOR=A52A2A]Originally Posted by aoxa [/COLOR][COLOR=A52A2A][/COLOR]

[COLOR=A52A2A]Even poor quality breeder birds are MUCH MUCH better than hatchery. I really don't like hatchery silkies. In my opinion, the silkies from a hatchery are the worst quality of any breed they sell. The crests are just so tiny and they aren't fluffy at all. Lots have problems with silkie chicks from a hatchery missing their extra toe, and cross beak, etc.

Now that I've mentioned that, has anyone ever got a hatchery silkie that was decent quality? If so, which hatchery?[/COLOR]


Before I read more, I got some silkie chicks from a feed store.  They were from Ideal.  In a nut shell, the buff and blue were not good with regard to crests and beards. The blue was the worst in that department but the buff had poor foot feathering.  The black has a respectable beard, very nice foot feathering, but a small crest. [However she is the nicest most lovey dearie and I kept her because of that.  Just loves to be held and runs up to me.  Falls asleep in my arms.  She is precious, and very black with a little beetle-sheen in the sun.]

The whites however, and I got two of them two weeks apart so not the same hatch, were really quite nice, oddly enough.  The female looked "rattier" as a youngster than the babies I hatched from a breeder, but once she was about 4 months, she was pretty nice. 
Here's a few pictures of the white pullet:

You got very lucky with this one! One in a million

 

[Momma 2 silkies]

I added a few more silkies to my flock yesterday, 2 black girls and a blue roo. I was hoping for a black roo but he is still very pretty. Here are a few pictures of the trio.

 

[sheeshshe]

Well gee, LOL. I thought maybe I was onto something boo hiss, I still don't know who is who!

Here is another question, at what age are they at their optimal sized crest?

 

[Momma 2 silkies]

Well gee, LOL. I thought maybe I was onto something boo hiss, I still don't know who is who!

Here is another question, at what age are they at their optimal sized crest?

I'm not sure about that. My girls have had their full crest since they started feathering out after they lost their chick fluff. Can you post pictures of your silkies and their combs?

 

[sheeshshe]

The silkies I have are supposed to be part cat dance, part hat trick, and part something else. They can still see LOL.

I have old comb pictures from a few weeks ago. I'll have to get new ones. Here they are now... they're still quite little. She said they were about 10 weeks when I got them, but they didn't seem to have all their feathers yet., well the blue one didn't have the face feathers yet, but they had everything else. We've had them a month now.