South Carolina

[grandmasgals]

I am so upset!
Hubby went out to feed the girls and found one dead on Sunday.
today I went out to feed and water them and feathers everywhere! one bird totally missing and the other one was dead in the nest.
I only had 6. Now I have 3. I believe it was a racoon. It went up the 6 ft chain link and moved the overhead chicken wire enough to get in and out.
I am so mad. All I can think of is the obviously violent death of my poor girls.
Sad in Greer!!!

 

[Joycats]

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I'm so sorry - can you lock the hens up in the coop at night? The raccoons will keep coming back. I know this from experience.

 

[Joycats]

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Joy, I do have lavender silkies. I have 8 pure lavs and 7 splits. One of them finally started laying! Since they're all the same age, we should have more soon. I put the first week's worth of eggs in the bator to see if they're fertile. So I should have something for you when you're ready! I have three lav split cockerals right now and I really only need one if you want an older one.

Your friend is probably talking about a Showgirl. They are naked neck Silkies. You're right! They were bred with Turkens (naked neck) I think. They have a silkie body with a long ole naked neck. Some showgirls have a completely naked neck and some (the bow ties) have some fluff around their neck like a tie. I had one showgirl and that boy was mean and ugly. I decided not to go in that direction. I've seen some really, really ugly ones and some that are kind of pretty. All in the eyes of the beholder!

Ok - thanks! So your split to lav cockerals would be black? What percentage lavender do you get when you hatch from lav x split to lav? I was thinking lavender to lavender would give 100% lavender chicks, is this right with silkies? I've got to watch and make sure that I don't already have a roo (that would be my luck) but I just can't tell with silkies until they're older. I definately want a mate for it, so keep me in mind when you get ready to sell some. I'll let you know when I figure out what I have.

I'll have to tell my friend that those bowties were bred from turkens! She also has some turkens and my son loves them. He just thinks they're great - I just really don't think they're very pretty but hers are very sweet birds.

 

[Joycats]

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Those are Showgirls. Some have bowties some don't


I used to have a Lavender rooster......... til a dog killed it. I think Susanne has some. As soon as it cools enough for me to get there I am going to go looking

Thanks Kimberly! We will have lavender silkies .... one day!!

 

[Joycats]

Well - take a guess what I found in my nest box tonight.....go ahead, guess.....it wasn't eggs but it had eaten my eggs! A big ole stupid black snake between 5 and 6 foot long. Darn thing filled up my nest box and yes, you'd better believe it didn't take long to get the shotgun and take care of that big boy. He was only feet from my pheasant chick and my peahen who is sitting on eggs and also some tiny duckwing chicks. Stupid thing, there's mice all around and he wants my eggs and chicks. I HATE SNAKES!!!

 

[huckleberryfarm]

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I'm so sorry! That's exactly what happened to me. It crawled up the screen door and squeezed in a few inch opening at the top of the door. Killed two of my lav silkies. We also thought it was a coon. Predators stink.

 

[huckleberryfarm]

Quote:
Joy, I do have lavender silkies. I have 8 pure lavs and 7 splits. One of them finally started laying! Since they're all the same age, we should have more soon. I put the first week's worth of eggs in the bator to see if they're fertile. So I should have something for you when you're ready! I have three lav split cockerals right now and I really only need one if you want an older one.

Your friend is probably talking about a Showgirl. They are naked neck Silkies. You're right! They were bred with Turkens (naked neck) I think. They have a silkie body with a long ole naked neck. Some showgirls have a completely naked neck and some (the bow ties) have some fluff around their neck like a tie. I had one showgirl and that boy was mean and ugly. I decided not to go in that direction. I've seen some really, really ugly ones and some that are kind of pretty. All in the eyes of the beholder!

Ok - thanks! So your split to lav cockerals would be black? What percentage lavender do you get when you hatch from lav x split to lav? I was thinking lavender to lavender would give 100% lavender chicks, is this right with silkies? I've got to watch and make sure that I don't already have a roo (that would be my luck) but I just can't tell with silkies until they're older. I definately want a mate for it, so keep me in mind when you get ready to sell some. I'll let you know when I figure out what I have.

I'll have to tell my friend that those bowties were bred from turkens! She also has some turkens and my son loves them. He just thinks they're great - I just really don't think they're very pretty but hers are very sweet birds.

You're right. Lavs breed true and it takes two sets to make lav. So breeding a lav to a lav will give you a lav. Breeding a lav to a split should give you about a 50% chance of lav since it will for sure have one gene coming from the lav. The biggest problem is the splits may be only black. You can't tell by looking. So the roos I have may be splits or black. I only have one confirmed lav roo and it hides from the others. I may have to take the three black roos out of there and see if the lav roo gets some boy behavior! Right now it is in the nest box with the girls. Let me know when you're ready and will see what we can do!

 

[RedBugPoultry]

I am bummed! My lovely white silkie hen that I was so proud of Crowed this morning! I was sure he was a she....

 

[RedBugPoultry]

Question! Can anyone tell me how Polish hens do with non-polish hen? Do the non-polish pick at the crest? Or other parts of the bird since some of they can not see very well? Wondering what people have experienced with this. I have all my polish in pens by themselves but if a person were to get just one that was not raised with "normal" looking chickens I was wondering what would happen.

 

[tiffanyg2]

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Oh my gosh~ I'm so sorry

Those racoons are just evil!!!

Everyone talks about how ruthless they are and they will keep coming back over and over again once they have found something to eat. I hope you can secure your other 3 babies to keep them safe.