Silkies and Breeding

[championny]

So, I am a great chicken lover, but I am not really sure on anything about my Silkies. Here is what I know and hopefully you guys can help me out.

I have a white Silkie named Francois. I know he is a boy because he croaks every morning around 7:30 (Used to be 10 but then daylight savings time threw him off I suppose) I also have Josephine, a black Silkie. Now, she has a small comb and Francois has this huge "thing" on his. But, Francois is smaller than Josephine. Is this common or perhaps he will grow a little? I have had him since January and he doesn't seem to be getting any bigger. Josephine doesn't crow and her comb is small, so that is why I am sure she is a girl.

So, now if I have a boy and girl what can I do to encourage them to mate? He seems to be in his own world sometimes and I would love to get some Silkie hatching eggs to sell and incubate. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas? I don't mean to be so out of it having raised chickens for years, but I have never had Silkies so I am not sure what to expect.

 

[marie_martin]

Do you know how old your guy was when you got him. Sounds like he is just young. He will catch up if given time. Do you have pictures of them, that would help alot.

Silkies take much longer to mature than standard breeds. Many don't lay until close to a year old. So they may just be young yet? If you don't know how old they are, I would just give them some time. Also they may be breeding when you are not looking but probably not if she is not laying or getting ready to lay.

Hope that helps. Silkies are great, they just take a little longer to produce babies for us.

Patience, patience.

Marie

 

[championny]

Yeah, I will post some pictures tomorrow as soon as I can figure out how.

 

[chickhamm]

Champ.....do you have a picuture editing program on your computer? if not do a search on Paint shop Pro 7. Alot of sites have a free download of this verson. once you get your pictures onto the computer load them up into PsP and edit them. I like to resize mine around 400 to 500 pixels...there are alot of other things you can do with the pictures as you work with it. I resize them to make it easier to see and load for people on the site. After you have resized and saved the photo, find a picutre hosting site..i use Photobucket. The site will give you directions on how to download your picutures. Photobucket gives you 3 options to show your pictures......i choose the bottom one, its the actual picture (one of the others is a link and not sure about the 3rd), just copy and past that link to your post and voila......picture.

my silkies were a year old before they started laying eggs and becoming interested in breeding. They do need a bit more protein in their diet because they are so heavily feathered. Just make sure they have good feed, water and play time

chickhamm
Theressa
GA

 

[championny]

Ok, here is the picture I have.

Francois, my white Silkie is a bit smaller than Josephine, the black Silkie, but I was wondering if that was genetics, since I heard some Silkies differ in size. I have had him for almost 3 months now, and I haven't noticed a change in his size.

Also, I was wondering if he would possibly mate with the other females in the bunch? I haven't seen him, but there are the occasional squawks from the house after eggs have been laid, or there are no eggs when I think its an egg.

 

[championny]

BTW, Josephine didn't want her pic taken. Everyone else is very photogenic. Gertie tried to get in all the shots like this one.