Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Yall I searched but didn't find anything on BYC but this...so rather than look like a dufus and post something that goes unanswered (I have that happen frequently for some reason) I thought I'd check with yall!
So yall know I have satin silkies all bantams. Well both boys are dancing their heads off at this stage. Joey has managed to dance right into the wet mash I give em...nearly everyday this week. This morning he fell completely wing out into the wet mash that had garlic and Oregano in it.
Question: what do yall use to put your way mash in each day if you do it? And I wiped him down best I could but him being the biggest...and the fact he spread his wing - let's just say he got real messy!
Suggestions? Thoughts?
I just bought a weeks worth of the melamine bowls so I could run them through the dishwasher so kinda frustrated this doesn't seem to gonna work out...ugh

 

[AngBantamLuv]

are feed prices skyrocketing in the US as well? I will definitely keep silkies and araucanas only and got rid of the rest due to feed price and probably lack of feed. I hope to be able to find enough greens (from a market seller) for my waterfowl otherwise I'll have to butcher some of them.

I'm not seeing any major changes, but i think we have higher volume and distribution where it isn't as noticeable, at least for backyard quantities.

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Yall I searched but didn't find anything on BYC but this...so rather than look like a dufus and post something that goes unanswered (I have that happen frequently for some reason) I thought I'd check with yall!
So yall know I have satin silkies all bantams. Well both boys are dancing their heads off at this stage. Joey has managed to dance right into the wet mash I give em...nearly everyday this week. This morning he fell completely wing out into the wet mash that had garlic and Oregano in it.
Question: what do yall use to put your way mash in each day if you do it? And I wiped him down best I could but him being the biggest...and the fact he spread his wing - let's just say he got real messy!
Suggestions? Thoughts?
I just bought a weeks worth of the melamine bowls so I could run them through the dishwasher so kinda frustrated this doesn't seem to gonna work out...ugh

Hmm, i only did wet mash for their first week or so, then moved them to crumble. I use the chick feeder trays, so it pretty much stays in the container, but they scratch at whatever falls around it.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Hmm, i only did wet mash for their first week or so, then moved them to crumble. I use the chick feeder trays, so it pretty much stays in the container, but they scratch at whatever falls around it.

Yeah I do it on cooler mornings mostly...and to incorporate the Oregano and garlic into them when they got sneezes. Not really sick but from cooler and wet weather they have little a-choos here and there.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

42 eggs @LynnaePB? I thought I was crazy doing 30+ at a time! Being a hands on hatcher, much like yourself, I am overwhelmed with more than 12 at a time!

I am hoping to keep the Hanabi baby, which seems to defeat the purpose of reducing the flock size (I just sold 4 adults), but it is so sweet and I am really interested to see how it feathers out. Sounds like you may need to get some red Silkies for your project!

Your mottled baby is looking good! Will be exciting to see if more white develops with time.

 

[chickengr]

you are lucky. last year's price for 30 kg of grain mix (corn, wheat, barely) was 9 eur and I have just paid 16 eur! every week the prices go up. 40 kg of corn cost 11 eur and now it costs 19 eur. we import corn and most of other cereals.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

you are lucky. last year's price for 30 kg of grain mix (corn, wheat, barely) was 9 eur and I have just paid 16 eur! every week the prices go up. 40 kg of corn cost 11 eur and now it costs 19 eur. we import corn and most of other cereals.

You guys do not even want to know what I pay for feed here in Hawaii!
Even before the recent price hikes...

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

You guys do not even want to know what I pay for feed here in Hawaii!
Even before the recent price hikes...

I pay $30 (AU) for 20kg bag chick starter, and that's the cheapest one available.

 

[AngBantamLuv]

You guys do not even want to know what I pay for feed here in Hawaii!
Even before the recent price hikes...

Check walmart!! I was surprised to see it stocked here.. i Don't think i ever actually looked for it there before!

 

[LynnaePB]

Food here has definitely gone up some in the bigger chains but not super bad. The smaller local stores seem to have more reasonable prices from more local feed companies that don't tend to go up as quickly in price.

Oh wow! He's a looker! So when u say his skin pigment needs work...you are referring to the fact that it is pink and not black?
Thank u for the explanation on Nn and NN. This is just super hard for me to grasp LOL!

Are they still havin shows in TN with thr avian flue breakout? I wasn't sure if we had it here or just everywhere around TN.

Thank you! Yes it's the red skin that needs the work. Ideally it would be very dark like a normal silkie. It's tough to get that to happen in mottled because the gene also affects skin color but I've heard it can be done. I have yet to see a highly mottled bird with a lot of white that has really dark skin everywhere though.

I haven't heard of avian flu cases in TN yet. There was a show that was going to be held on April 9th here in TN that was canceled because birds from states with confirmed cases were not allowed to be entered in the show which they said would make holding the show virtually impossible. I see there are still shows in surrounding states like NC and AL though.

42 eggs @LynnaePB? I thought I was crazy doing 30+ at a time! Being a hands on hatcher, much like yourself, I am overwhelmed with more than 12 at a time!

I am hoping to keep the Hanabi baby, which seems to defeat the purpose of reducing the flock size (I just sold 4 adults), but it is so sweet and I am really interested to see how it feathers out. Sounds like you may need to get some red Silkies for your project!

Your mottled baby is looking good! Will be exciting to see if more white develops with time.

Yeah I think with my hatching style it is going to be an exhausting hatch. I doubt all are going to make it to lockdown (I'm down to 37) but enough to make it a fairly sleepless few days at hatch time. I'm just really going to hope most are in the correct positions so I'm not dealing with too many difficult assists at once.

Oh I hope maybe you'll get to keep the little Hanabi baby, she sounds like a sweetheart besides the neat color! It's always tough though when you are needing to downsize. The little satin frizzle girl I have being from a red project I'm hoping will help. She's got a lot more pheomelanin covered areas than a partridge so I think she might. I'm hoping to cross her to one of the paint babies from that first crossing. Out of the three paint chicks 1 is looking more feminine and two maybe more masculine. I'm hoping for at least one boy. I'll get some other colors besides black/paint this time around with the partridge base genetics being split in the paints but I should still get 25% paint chicks on the right base. I think it'll be fun getting some other feather types too.