Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[TheAlrightyGina]

Just dropping in with supporting evidence about Silkies being decent layers. Here's this week's egg haul:

Don't mind that one egg off to the side, it was broken, but I will include it in the count.

My laying flock consists of 16 birds: 3 White Silkies, 2 White Leghorns, 2 RSLs, 2 BCMs, 2 Black Australorps, 2 White Cochins, 1 Lavender Orpington, 1 Buff Brahma, and 1 Olive Egger (the Olive Egger is being slow to start back...gonna look her over to make sure everything's good).

I've roughly organized the eggs so I could tell who laid what, and here's the ranking for the week:

#1 White Leghorns with 14 eggs / 7 per pullet
#2 White Silkies with 19 eggs / 6-1/3 per pullet
#3 BAs with 11 eggs / 5-1/2 per pullet
#4 RSLs with 8 eggs / 4 per pullet tied with Lavender Orpington and Buff Brahma, both at 4 eggs
#5 BCMs with 6 eggs / 3 per pullet tied with White Cochins at 6 eggs / 3 per pullet

So my Silkies lay almost as well as my production strain Leghorns. To be fair to my RSLs, they usually do better than this, somewhere around ~6-7 eggs a week, but even considering that, the Silkies would still be the 2nd or 3rd best layers in my flock, depending on the week. Even if you judge them extra harshly, and say that their eggs only count as 2/3rds of a regular chicken egg (weighing in at 40ish grams vs 60ish grams), they'd still be laying better than the BCMs, Orpington, Cochins, and Brahma.

 

[LynnaePB]

I'm not sure if I'm posting this correctly on the silkies specific page, so forgive me if I've posted incorrectly.

Would someone be able to help me with this gorgeous guys color? I'm getting conflicting answers and I'm just not sure. Blue, grey or splash?

Hmm I see why you are getting some conflicting answers, he is kind of tough to make a firm determination with.

To me he looks most like a blue with silver leakage in the hackles. He could possibly have some grey/silver partridge influence that is causing him to leak more although it could also just be lack of melanizers. Leakage in the hackles is pretty common in males in several color varieties. I don't have experience with blues much but I know black and paint males often have some leakage in the hackles. He definitely doesn't look like a full grey to me and I don't think he is a dark splash but can't be sure.

He is a very pretty boy!

 

[LynnaePB]

I found the body in the bush with inside eaten out of it. It was hard to see the little dark grey fluffy in the dirt/bush so I must have missed it when looking before but the others were avoiding the area so took another look there .. Not sure what would have done this... Someone's pet cat? What animal eats insides?

Oh no I'm so sorry!

I'm not sure what would go for the insides but I could definitely see a cat killing a chick the size of your little one.

When I was growing up we had indoor/outdoor cats. They'd kill things and leave them laying around the yard, usually uneaten but I do think a few times I did notice some of the birds they caught having a lot of their innards eaten.

 

[Chickeria]

ForTheLoveOfSilkies how is your little 6 week old one doing alone? Or did you find a companion of the same age?

 

[Chickeria]

I ended up ordering 15 eggs - thanks again for helping me with the decision

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Update on the “keepers”:
Ranging in age from 1 week to 2 1/2 weeks. The youngest, Imari, is feathering in blue but she does have these funky dark yellow patches that are very irregular I suspect they may be buff leakage? Hard to tell in the photo but she does have a little patch of it on top of her head as well. Will be interesting to see what this looks like when she feathers in completely. Awaiting her DNA results, I expect them tomorrow and she definitely has a girl vibe!

 

[Chickeria]

They are all such beautiful cuties! Little Imari

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

ForTheLoveOfSilkies how is your little 6 week old one doing alone? Or did you find a companion of the same age?

Poor little thing is picked on by all but the rooster. So it stays on its own I haven't found it a home yet. Hopefully it doesn't feel lonely since it has all the other chickens around, even though they don't accept him.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

So got the test results today for Imari! He is a boy! Guess the whole girl vibe is useless for chicks this age. My daughter and I were pretty convinced that the little ameraucana cross was a boy based on behavior and this one is female! I was completely off the mark. Will probably keep this little one, I was thinking about keeping a blue rooster anyway. We will see how he develops. He is a little sweetheart! Attached certificate that you get when you order these tests. Covered up identifying information for obvious reasons.

 

[LynnaePB]

So got the test results today for Imari! He is a boy! Guess the whole girl vibe is useless for chicks this age. My daughter and I were pretty convinced that the little ameraucana cross was a boy based on behavior and this one is female! I was completely off the mark. Will probably keep this little one, I was thinking about keeping a blue rooster anyway. We will see how he develops. He is a little sweetheart! Attached certificate that you get when you order these tests. Covered up identifying information for obvious reasons.View attachment 2562459

They sure are good at tricking you sometimes when they are little!

IQ bird testing seems like it has a really good turn around time, that is really nice to know.

I hope little Imari turns out to be a beautiful boy! A good male is invaluable!