Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Those are partridge color. Roosters on the arms. Others are hens. Yes I put them there. It was a bit windy that day. Silkies pose pretty well. Getting 6 to cooperate takes patience. They stick pretty well. I had the tripod set up to make it easier. It was all centered so I just needed to focus. It was too many birds for a visually nice picture, but a good sampling of my breeding at that point in time.

I have somewhere around 60 silkie or silkie mixes at the moment. That's not counting the laying pen with the ameraucana and EEs. Any of my home bred EEs have silkie blood. The flock rooster in there is silkie/ameraucana. He's been the absolute best rooster. Vigilant, puts himself between danger and his hens, friendly to me.

Partridge! LUV em!!!
Could kick myself everyone I think of rehoming the one light colored Partridge I had from very first hatch!!!
Beautiful babies, just beautiful!

 

[Hinotori]

Agh!!! They r gorgeous! Would these be considered partridge or buff?
Just beautiful babies!!!

They are partridge. At least one of those hens was in the chair picture. The low sun makes for that golden look that bleaches colors

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

These three have been calendar pictures in different years.

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They are beautiful!! I love the partridge silkies.

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Was looking through some older pictures.View attachment 3170185View attachment 3170186View attachment 3170187View attachment 3170188

Omg id have my house covered w these pics

 

[Hinotori]

Small house. I did get the 3 cockerels in a row put on canvas. I'm thinking Puff with her cocked head so she can see me needs done too. That's one of my very favorites. She was so fed up with me posing her and I caught that "are you done yet?" look. I usually take hundreds of pictures when Im using the camera. Just a slight move or tilt can make it perfect.

 

[Hinotori]

Some version of this might get entered. I did 3 birds. Pictures with phone and camera. There are better ones on the sd card, this was a phone. I had to plan this picture out beforehand for Christmas because the hawthorn berries are only the perfect redness at the end of August, beginning of September and bright, cloudy days make it look best.

I'm mediocre on my pictures but have a good instinct for making them pleasing usually. I follow the rule of thirds without thinking about it. If there is ground and sky visible, one of them should only take up 1/3 of the background. Try and pic a spot you want as the center. Sometimes with birds it's an eye. Get your camera on level with your subject. I lay on the ground if I have to. Make sure you have good lighting. Indoor lighting usually sucks so a flash is required. Daylight is best and even then, sometimes a flash can make it better. Take it both ways if you want to see the difference. Take lots of pictures, not just one or two. Keep the sun behind you if you can. There are exceptions on that for artistic purposes. Unless you're taking a picture of a person, or an up and down front body shot of a bird, keep your phone sideways in landscape mode. It makes better pictures because of how we actually view the world. It also is needed if you're entering photos in a contest so they can actually use them on say the calendar. Change your phone camera settings to the best quality possible. They do make flash drives that are double ended and will plug into a phone or computer so you can remove pictures that way if needed.

Everyone just needs to take more pictures to practice. Practice is everything. Even if all you have is a phone, it's quite possible to get very good pictures. Take pictures of your silkies and flood the calendar entries this year.

Oh and silkies take the best pictures if they are off the ground, can't see their coops, and are a good distance away from where they know the coop is.


ETA: don't use digital zoom if you can help it. It makes for graininess in pictures, especially the farther zoomed in it is. Physical lenses don't cause that problem. You're better off just cropping the picture closer if needed, but getting closer is best.

 

[Hinotori]

Added a small edit at the bottom of my previous post.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Those are partridge color. Roosters on the arms. Others are hens. Yes I put them there. It was a bit windy that day. Silkies pose pretty well. Getting 6 to cooperate takes patience. They stick pretty well. I had the tripod set up to make it easier. It was all centered so I just needed to focus. It was too many birds for a visually nice picture, but a good sampling of my breeding at that point in time.

I have somewhere around 60 silkie or silkie mixes at the moment. That's not counting the laying pen with the ameraucana and EEs. Any of my home bred EEs have silkie blood. The flock rooster in there is silkie/ameraucana. He's been the absolute best rooster. Vigilant, puts himself between danger and his hens, friendly to me.

Wow that's alot! Is your coop bigger then your house? I'm up to 22 Silkies now and looking to expand my coop size to fit more in for Spring hatching time

 

[Hinotori]

Wow that's alot! Is your coop bigger then your house? I'm up to 22 Silkies now and looking to expand my coop size to fit more in for Spring hatching time

There are 6 pens. Five 10x10 pens for silkies. They have little houses to sleep and lay in. Roofed and I fully tarp in winter. Because silkies will stand out in the rain given a chance.

Those open on a 50x30 courtyard where I can let them safely "free range". It needs mowed right now and my small dividing fence panels are being used for the puppy until he's trained enough. I'll probably take the scythe out in there soon. They like having some tall grass for shade and cooling. They love to hide in it and eat the seed heads.


There are usually between 8 and 10 birds in a pen. There is the batch of juveniles at the moment. I leave the greenhouse tarps up on the south and west side in summer as it helps keep them noticeably cooler.

It will drop back down to around 40 silkies soon enough.

Large fowl have an 8x15 coop and 15x35 netted run. They are still mad they can't fee range because of bird flu.

 

[Hinotori]

Wow that's alot! Is your coop bigger then your house? I'm up to 22 Silkies now and looking to expand my coop size to fit more in for Spring hatching time

Their roofed areas are almost as big as my house. My house is only 900 sq feet. Which does mean the silkie courtyard is bigger. We have 18 acres so i can fence them however.