Ok thank youI just trim carefully around the eyes until you can see their eyes well enough, then they can see. Have somebody else hold her still why you trim. We just do a little bit at a time until enough is removed. I trim both above and below the eye. Grows back pretty fast!
I love how tiny Schorschette isI took some pictures today. Weather wasn't really nice, so the pictures are from the evening.
Teddy and Sindbad (Kasimir and Violetta in the background):
View attachment 2791962
Kasimir, Mirabelle, Sindbad, Brioche, Snowman, Roberta and James pecking sticklewort's seeds from my mom's legs
View attachment 2792026
Little Schorschette (she is the smallest now):
View attachment 2792036
Maku:
View attachment 2792046
Violetta:
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"Hi there!" (James):
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Update on some of my youngsters!
Eko, my only remaining male, is now four months old. He is a lot lankier and taller than I would have hoped, but we’ll see how he looks when he continues to fill out. He is either developing some of those champagne colored feathers that the dominant whites can have, or he is just a little dirty.
He is submissive in that he is a bit afraid of me now, where before he would come running up to me. He is not being overly amorous yet to the girls, so he gets to stay with them for now. Just started crowing and does not crow every day yet.
He and Amai are still best buds, though he is now twice her size.
My two hybrids, Kinoko and Hikari, are going on six months of age. Hikari has been squatting for the past several weeks, I keep expecting to see a blue/aqua egg out there but nothing yet! No signs of eminent laying from Kinoko. She is still a little slow after her traumatic brain injury from my Wyandotte but gets by fine.
Hanabi my honorary “silkie” gets along with everyone and likes to hang with the big girls as can be seen in the photo of her with the three standards. Those three will be moving to the layer coop soon. Waiting for them to be big enough to stand their own against the “mean girls”!
Wow they sure have grown! They are all looking stunning!
Teddy and Sindbad (Kasimir and Violetta in the background):
View attachment 2791962
Kasimir, Mirabelle, Sindbad, Brioche, Snowman, Roberta and James pecking sticklewort's seeds from my mom's legs
View attachment 2792026
Little Schorschette (she is the smallest now):
View attachment 2792036
Maku:
View attachment 2792046
Violetta:
View attachment 2792047
"Hi there!" (James):
View attachment 2792048
Its practical for me. I put it in two pigtails and leave some in the back down. Not with my rooster though, or he turns into a lunatic.....
Great to hear from you! Hope your move is a smooth one and all the birds settle in well to their new digs!I haven't been very active commenting on the thread as I've been busy with a move but I am loving seeing everyone's beautiful silkies!
I'll have to get some pictures of my 11 grow outs once we've finished our new pens and moved the flock to our new house. Right now all the silkies are at the old house and I just get to see them quickly in the morning and in the evening when I let them out/shut them in and make sure they have fresh food/water. I can't wait until they are here and I get to see them more again.
I have a few unplanned silkie babies on the way as well. One of my broodies managed to hide some eggs just long enough I could start to see development in a few when I found them. I didn't have the heart to toss them even though they were probably only a few days into incubation. I tried giving her a chance at incubating the 5 she had but kept finding eggs sitting next to her cold so gave up after a few days and put them in the incubator. Four are definitely alive and growing and I'm hoping I'll have a couple new babies in the next week or so (unplanned or not I can't help but be excited to hatch new babies)! Once the pens are set up and I've separated my breeding groups again I'll probably hatch some more this year.
Aww they are all just beautiful! I hope the big girls have as easy a transition into the big coop as possible when the time comes!
My boys around Ekos age are looking scrawny/lanky right now too. I'm always amazed how much they can change between 4 and 7 months sometimes. I hope Eko fills out really nicely for you, he is a cute boy! I'm not surprised at all he is likely getting a bit of khaki leakage.....it's so hard to get a completely clean paint boy. I have yet to have any that are completely free of it myself.
Wow they sure have grown! They are all looking stunning!
As far as trimming crests it's pretty easy for me too (as long as I have a partner to hold them). I trim all around the eye, above and below, trimming somewhat close to the skin. My poor girls that need it always look bad afterwards because I'm not great at it but at least they can see a lot better.
I hope your trimming goes/went well!
What I referring to, and I don't know why.... Was my polish. I really don't know why I haven't put them on my silkies though. I will tomorrow if it doesn't rain....
Best wishes for your move! I hope you all will enjoy your new home and place and will be very happy there!I haven't been very active commenting on the thread as I've been busy with a move but I am loving seeing everyone's beautiful silkies!
I'll have to get some pictures of my 11 grow outs once we've finished our new pens and moved the flock to our new house. Right now all the silkies are at the old house and I just get to see them quickly in the morning and in the evening when I let them out/shut them in and make sure they have fresh food/water. I can't wait until they are here and I get to see them more again.
I have a few unplanned silkie babies on the way as well. One of my broodies managed to hide some eggs just long enough I could start to see development in a few when I found them. I didn't have the heart to toss them even though they were probably only a few days into incubation. I tried giving her a chance at incubating the 5 she had but kept finding eggs sitting next to her cold so gave up after a few days and put them in the incubator. Four are definitely alive and growing and I'm hoping I'll have a couple new babies in the next week or so (unplanned or not I can't help but be excited to hatch new babies)! Once the pens are set up and I've separated my breeding groups again I'll probably hatch some more this year.
Aww they are all just beautiful! I hope the big girls have as easy a transition into the big coop as possible when the time comes!
My boys around Ekos age are looking scrawny/lanky right now too. I'm always amazed how much they can change between 4 and 7 months sometimes. I hope Eko fills out really nicely for you, he is a cute boy! I'm not surprised at all he is likely getting a bit of khaki leakage.....it's so hard to get a completely clean paint boy. I have yet to have any that are completely free of it myself.
Wow they sure have grown! They are all looking stunning!
As far as trimming crests it's pretty easy for me too (as long as I have a partner to hold them). I trim all around the eye, above and below, trimming somewhat close to the skin. My poor girls that need it always look bad afterwards because I'm not great at it but at least they can see a lot better.
I hope your trimming goes/went well!
I did try it once on Schorschette (when my uncle heard I got silkies he sent me a picture from the internet of two silkie hens wearing hair bands, it reminded me of the times of Aerobic with Jane Fonda - those big puffy hairstyles with big sweat bands
). She got irritated and started shaking her head, and the others got interested, so I took it off. I think I made some mistakes: I took a white hair band for a black silkie 
and the hair band was used and therefore it was not as firm as a new one. I think with some training she would have gotten used to it. But I had read that roosters tend to tear hair bands off when grabbing the hens for mating, so with my cockerels in mind I gave up.
