Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

He is still young. They are raging hormones as you know at this sage. My five and a half month old cockerel has never tried to bite or attack me but he has purposely gone over to my daughter and bit her feet while she was wearing sandals. She pinned him down a few times so that stopped it. Eko is very sweet natured, but hormones take over.

Biscuit has always hovered around me since a little chick perching on my foot, so I am more attached to him. I even taught him a trick when he was young - jumped up in my knee for a treat when I said 'up' . I stopped that because rooster kept chasing him away from me from 4 months old. I probably shouldn't have done that trick, bad idea

 

[LynnaePB]

5 good eggs sitting under Smokey at day 10... 3 were not fertile as I suspected from another hen so all 5 are Smokey / Biscuit babies.
I have a dilemma, my 2 boys Biscuit and Cookie won't stop fighting and now drawing blood unfortunately Cookie instigates the fighting mostly.
Who should stay???
Rooster who is infertile is in the other coop but I should really cull him and put one of the boys in that coop or just get rid of 2 of them and just have 1 flock with 1 rooster. I only have 7 hens but was going to keep Biscuit and Cookie together but that doesn't seem to be working out unfortunately now that they are drawing blood in fights ( I stopped the fight this morning when I saw blood, but I'm not around every 10 min to stop them!)

Please help me decide who gets to stay!!!?
Who is the most beautiful to produce good Silkie offspring? If you want more pics I can take more.

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Biscuit, about 10 months old now
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Cookie, 1 yr 6 m oldView attachment 2844392

How exciting about Smokey and Biscuits 5 eggs! I hope she has a great hatch!

I'm so sorry to hear you are having trouble with Biscuit and Cookie fighting though. This happens a lot with my boys after a certain age too, even when in a bachelor pen with no girls.

Both Biscuit and Cookie are beautiful boys, I don't think either one would be a bad choice if you have to pick between the two. I agree that Biscuit's crest does look a little fuller which is a plus and he may be just a tad more typey. Are Biscuit's tail feathers completely straight or do they go just slightly to one side or the other? I've become very paranoid about wry tail and keep seeing it all over since I've had it crop up too frequently for my liking in my grow outs. Cookie's tail looks straight in his picture but I'm having trouble telling if Biscuit's is or not.

 

[Fluffy Lambs]

Since the discussion is about roosters and cockerels right now, and I know very little about them, I wanted to ask about mine....

Omelet crowed one day at 2 or 3 months I think, but then he didn't crow again till a few weeks later.. After that he also didnt crow again till a few weeks later. Then a few more weeks and he crowed again. Finally at about 4.5 months he started crowing every day, but only in the afternoon or after like 8 o'clock. He still won't crow in the very early morning. (They are all 5 months now). Onyx, who is bigger, just started crowing.They still won't do it until after 8 am though. Muffin and Crooksie have not attempted to crow yet. They haven't tried to mate my pullets or anything either. Maybe it is because all my other roosters? Or are they just to young? I don't think my pullets are laying yet either.(no squatting yet). Thanks, anybody that answers my question.

 

[Little Baby Bean]

Since the discussion is about roosters and cockerels right now, and I know very little about them, I wanted to ask about mine....

Omelet crowed one day at 2 or 3 months I think, but then he didn't crow again till a few weeks later.. After that he also didnt crow again till a few weeks later. Then a few more weeks and he crowed again. Finally at about 4.5 months he started crowing every day, but only in the afternoon or after like 8 o'clock. He still won't crow in the very early morning. (They are all 5 months now). Onyx, who is bigger, just started crowing.They still won't do it until after 8 am though. Muffin and Crooksie have not attempted to crow yet. They haven't tried to mate my pullets or anything either. Maybe it is because all my other roosters? Or are they just to young? I don't think my pullets are laying yet either.(no squatting yet). Thanks, anybody that answers my question.

I don't know. They are still pretty young but it could also be because of the other roos. I would guess that it is because they are still too young. I don't really know anything about this yet though so sorry that my answer was so bad. Hopefully someone more experienced comes and answers.

 

[LynnaePB]

Since the discussion is about roosters and cockerels right now, and I know very little about them, I wanted to ask about mine....

Omelet crowed one day at 2 or 3 months I think, but then he didn't crow again till a few weeks later.. After that he also didnt crow again till a few weeks later. Then a few more weeks and he crowed again. Finally at about 4.5 months he started crowing every day, but only in the afternoon or after like 8 o'clock. He still won't crow in the very early morning. (They are all 5 months now). Onyx, who is bigger, just started crowing.They still won't do it until after 8 am though. Muffin and Crooksie have not attempted to crow yet. They haven't tried to mate my pullets or anything either. Maybe it is because all my other roosters? Or are they just to young? I don't think my pullets are laying yet either.(no squatting yet). Thanks, anybody that answers my question.

Sounds like a pretty typical young silkie cockerel thing to do (the long gaps between crowing)! A lot of my boys do the same as youngsters. Usually as time goes on the frequency of the crowing increases though some are more prone to crowing than others. If you have a lot of boys I find some of the more dominant in the group crow a lot (too much, sometimes at awful hours like 3 AM in the morning in complete darkness).

The other roosters may be dissuading your boys from trying to mate but they are still pretty young so they may need a little more time before becoming interested in the girls (my hormonal boys don't seem to care if it's a young pullet not interested in mating yet or an older more mature hen, they usually grow out of this thankfully). I have three boys at about 5 months right now as well and only 1 of the 3 is very interested in mating yet. By 6 months most of my boys are interested in the girls but I get late bloomers as well that can take longer.

 

[Fluffy Lambs]

I don't know. They are still pretty young but it could also be because of the other roos. I would guess that it is because they are still too young. I don't really know anything about this yet though so sorry that my answer was so bad. Hopefully someone more experienced comes and answers.

Sounds like a pretty typical young silkie cockerel thing to do (the long gaps between crowing)! A lot of my boys do the same as youngsters. Usually as time goes on the frequency of the crowing increases though some are more prone to crowing than others. If you have a lot of boys I find some of the more dominant in the group crow a lot (too much, sometimes at awful hours like 3 AM in the morning in complete darkness).

The other roosters may be dissuading your boys from trying to mate but they are still pretty young so they may need a little more time before becoming interested in the girls (my hormonal boys don't seem to care if it's a young pullet not interested in mating yet or an older more mature hen, they usually grow out of this thankfully). I have three boys at about 5 months right now as well and only 1 of the 3 is very interested in mating yet. By 6 months most of my boys are interested in the girls but I get late bloomers as well that can take longer.

Thank you I forgot to include Henry he hasn't tried to crow yet either. I also think Marshmallow is a cockerel too but I am not sure... If she is i will have 16 roosters, not including chicks

 

[Little Baby Bean]

Thank you I forgot to include Henry he hasn't tried to crow yet either. I also think Marshmallow is a cockerel too but I am not sure... If she is i will have 16 roosters, not including chicks

Do you keep them in a bachelor pad?

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

Dumb question:
Can silkies live in a flock of other large breed chickens or would they constantly pick on it for being different? I imagine when molting it becomes more naked or at least different in looks from other chicken breeds? I’m new to this.

 

[Fluffy Lambs]

Do you keep them in a bachelor pad?

Right now I have all of them except the silkies and two frizzle roos in a roo pen.

 

[Fluffy Lambs]

Dumb question:
Can silkies live in a flock of other large breed chickens or would they constantly pick on it for being different? I imagine when molting it becomes more naked or at least different in looks from other chicken breeds? I’m new to this.

Mine live with my big girls and boys.