What should I do????? :/

[TimBaumann]

I've been looking for silkies for about a year now and they are very hard to find in Namibia! Now I found someone that breeds them. I have one bantam rooster here at home with 4 hens! Would I be able to get a silkie pair (one roo one hen) or will this cause fighting?

 

[sumi]

The roosters will almost definitely fight, yes. Can you keep them separate somehow? Put the silkies in their own pen?

 

[TimBaumann]

separating them would probably cost again and I don't want to ask more of my parents since they are already paying for a chicken house that we'll build soon! But I think it would be best to just take some hens! Mixed silkie chicks would probably look very interesting!

Can a normal bantam rooster easily mate/fertilize the hens? Or is it harder because of their differences?

 

[sumi]

I honestly don't know! I think since Silkies are so scarce by you, you should maybe think about selling hatching eggs or chicks. That will help recover some of the cost in the long run.. Just a thought. I lived in South Africa most of my life and I never saw a Silkie chicken or any advertised for sale anywhere. I'm sure there's a market for them though. People I knew there were often looking for good broodies and Silkies are legendary!

 

[TimBaumann]

Ok. You'r south african? awesome! There are no other namibians on this site that are active members!

It's good to at least find some south africans on here! I'll talk to my parents but I also have a idea that might work in the long run. My current rooster has mated with his sister and she just recently hatched chicks but they got eaten by rats (That's why we're building a chicken house). Once this hen has chicks that survive and grow up I'll sell or give away the rooster so he won't mate with his own kids. Then I can get a silkie roo and keep him to breed silkies! It's quite a long way to do it but its the easiest way for me and my parents! But for now I'm more than happy with just the hens! Silkies are awesome!

 

[sumi]

There are a few active South African members here now, but when I joined I didn't find any. I did encourage quite a few SA chicken owners I knew to sign up and created an account for a friend of mine before I left SA. And he's now having internet issues

Well, I try!
Back to the chickens. Sorry to hear about your chicks! How awful

You can breed roosters to their sisters and mothers and kids with no problems, though I personally prefer not to. But your idea of replacing him with a silkie roo can work. As long as you make sure you know which eggs were laid by the silkie hen so you can keep the chicks pure. Silkies are very broody, so you probably won't need an incubator!

 

[TimBaumann]

where are you now? America? I hate our internet! A 5 min youtube video takes 10 min to load

!

Yeah I also think that breeding roosters with their own family is kind of wrong! I don't like him having chicks with his sister but I guess this once can't harm! If I have a single silkie roo with a few hens all the eggs from the silkie hen will be pure and all the others mixed! Mixed are my favorites since you never know what to expect once they grow up! It's like opening a present!

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Its really not a problem to breed chickens parent to offspring or offspring together, in fact, its one way to improve and keep a line pure. Once you have several generations you can expand a little. Just choose your best to breed and hatch from. Good luck!

 

[sumi]

where are you now? America? I hate our internet! A 5 min youtube video takes 10 min to load

!

Yeah I also think that breeding roosters with their own family is kind of wrong! I don't like him having chicks with his sister but I guess this once can't harm! If I have a single silkie roo with a few hens all the eggs from the silkie hen will be pure and all the others mixed! Mixed are my favorites since you never know what to expect once they grow up! It's like opening a present!

No, Ireland. We battled to get internet at our new house, which surprised me. I thought thing's go smoother here! LOL But we do live in a rural spot and the internet's fast once you got it. I sometimes couldn't get the smilies etc to work when I replied to a post back home, but here I can do anything quick-quick. I have noticed that the few times the signal's a bit low I can't get into my gmail, but BYC works 100%. I can view pics etc, no problem.

I also like mixing breeds, though I'm going to start breeding pure now. When I start. Still need a roo...

 

[TimBaumann]

awesome what type of chicken will you breed?