CindyinSD
All will be well, and that will be well is well.
Let me be the first to recommend against a cassowary... 
Seriously though, a lot depends on your setup. Are you urban, suburban, rural? How much land? Climate? How much do you want to spend? (Housing that cassowary (who is, incidentally, for sale) could set you back a bit... Plus there’s the cost of security to protect you...
Do you want pets or livestock? What are your goals? Companionship? Eggs? Meat? Exotic display animals? TBH, if it were me, I’d try to find some relatively inexpensive, easy-to-hatch eggs to see whether my novice broody has what it takes. She’s a Silkie, but she’s also new and untried. I wouldn’t want to start her on an egg that’s almost as big as she is.
And twenty times as expensive.
I guess I’d read up on any bird I thought I might want to make sure it was even a viable candidate. For example I thought I wanted guineas but after much reading (here mostly), I decided they were not for me, at least not just now. They’re really noisy and wild, hard to keep at home, bully the other birds and apparently are always looking around for novel ways to kill themselves. Some people, though, can’t imagine life without them.
How about those Seramas? They’re cool and a little exotic. You could also consider seabrights. What about some of the other exotic oriental breeds? There are so many fascinating chicken breeds out there that I’m sure you could go your whole life without ever coming to an end of them. Then you can start on ducks...
Or you might want to consider turkeys. Turkeys can make amazing pets, so folks say. I have some heritage ones coming in a couple weeks. I already have four meat ones and am being careful not to fall in love though they’re just naturally sweet. Turkey eggs are only about 1.5x the size of chicken eggs so your Silkie should be able to handle several of them. You can find amazingly beautiful turkeys if you look.
Seriously though, a lot depends on your setup. Are you urban, suburban, rural? How much land? Climate? How much do you want to spend? (Housing that cassowary (who is, incidentally, for sale) could set you back a bit... Plus there’s the cost of security to protect you...
Do you want pets or livestock? What are your goals? Companionship? Eggs? Meat? Exotic display animals? TBH, if it were me, I’d try to find some relatively inexpensive, easy-to-hatch eggs to see whether my novice broody has what it takes. She’s a Silkie, but she’s also new and untried. I wouldn’t want to start her on an egg that’s almost as big as she is.
And twenty times as expensive. I guess I’d read up on any bird I thought I might want to make sure it was even a viable candidate. For example I thought I wanted guineas but after much reading (here mostly), I decided they were not for me, at least not just now. They’re really noisy and wild, hard to keep at home, bully the other birds and apparently are always looking around for novel ways to kill themselves. Some people, though, can’t imagine life without them.
How about those Seramas? They’re cool and a little exotic. You could also consider seabrights. What about some of the other exotic oriental breeds? There are so many fascinating chicken breeds out there that I’m sure you could go your whole life without ever coming to an end of them. Then you can start on ducks...
Or you might want to consider turkeys. Turkeys can make amazing pets, so folks say. I have some heritage ones coming in a couple weeks. I already have four meat ones and am being careful not to fall in love though they’re just naturally sweet. Turkey eggs are only about 1.5x the size of chicken eggs so your Silkie should be able to handle several of them. You can find amazingly beautiful turkeys if you look.
and that sounds like a good idea too! I have a couple silkie/Polish crosses and they always look so unique! I never have any clue how they will turn out!
