Two of my silkies hatched out 12 babies between them, but we have lost two. (one dissapeared the first night and they other got steped on by an idiot peacock). These are the ten at about three weeks old. We call them the chicken bugs, because that's what they look like as they zip around the yard. Their house is a plastic log cabin play house. It works perfect!
Too cute they are awesome
ADORABLE!
so cute! great photo
cool pics i have a broody silkie right now also
They're so cute! What color was the roo?
Oooh another reason to have silkies again! They are such great mamas! Love that pix! Be nice to the peacock, prolly didn't even see the chick 'way down there'...... still, no excuse, but.......
The rooster was a gray splash. Of the chicks there are 5 gray 3 black, a buff and a kind of speckled (partridge?).
What fun! Will be cool to see what colors they all turn out to be - especially the speckled one!
I showed my mom my silkies and she just fell in love with them. I will have to watch them closely they may find a new home at her house. :)
love those pics jyl! i have a black silkie, but i don't think he is gonna make it very amny more days... maybe next year
Tamara, I wish you were closer, I have a splash hen and buff rooster that need new homes!
what would you call a redish colored silkie?
I wish I was closer too Jyl.. I would love to have them...sniff
i'm not THAT far jyl.... just as soon as gas drops to 2 bucks a gallon LOL... Tia, i would call it red...
Dusty, get that brooder house finished, the ChickenFairy is itching to give you a visit!
The house is done and has been for about 130 years... I just need the money to get the yard put up...I am having to spend it on dog yard fence right now, and since my bank account got hacked for nearly $700, I am behind now, and having to pay bills, and try to get fuel oil and propane before winter...I am just furious....By the time I can do anything chicken wise, it will be spring again...
hugs, i am sure CF knows and understands... have you sent her your wish list yet?
No...not yet...I just want some brown eggs layers...Dominics I think...
Somebody here in town has 7 hens, brown and green eggs on Freecycle, and I was sooooooo tempted, but it wouldn't be right to keep them locked inside...
well, fo rthe winte rthey might rather be inside? you gotta start somehwere, and i KNOW CF works on freecycle...
I just emailed her...I don't want whatever lays green eggs, but I would take the brown eggers...no clue what they are yet or if she still has them..
This was her post:
I have about 7 laying hens of various breeds, brown egg layers and green egg layers. They're 1 to 2 years old.
I'm NW of the village on YS-Fairfield Rd
check their leg color. and ear lobes. red ear lobes = brown eggs. greenish blueish slateish legs = green eggs... if she wants you to take them all, i bet you could get CF to help you rehome the "easter eggers"
BUT FIRST, please ask where they ariginated. i guess you know that MMH has sent out chicks with AE for 1-2 years now. surviors pass it in the egg, it can affect your whole flock, weaken their immune system, causing them more health and parasite problems...
tf
Dusty, you can start with green plastic fencing ans T posts. I had a tempoary pen made of that for two years. I found the fence on a yard sale, but it's pretty cheap and all you need is Zip ties to put it up. TAKE THE HENS!
I got the best chicks I've ever had from Randal Burkey. They got lost in the postal system for several hours on a 90 degree day and I lost three cornish crosses, but ebery other chick and turkey has survived and flourished. The ones I got from Ideal dis
d not fare nearly as well and I'll never order from MMH again.
id take the green egg layers oof u but i am to far away
I would love to get my hands on some reliable, healthy green eggers, but where to go that's reliable...
Bird netting is cheap and doubled will keep out a lot -more floppy fencing talk, I know- but nothing likes to touch it because it's too easy to get tangled and hard to get a bite on. I think that would keep birds safe for a few months in most situations. Wouldn't want it as a permanent solution, but as a cheap way to buy time.
So true, grownut! I have at least 4 feral cats in my yard. One likes to sleep on top of some of the chicken runs. The other day he tried it on the loose shade cloth covering the Nankins--that was one frantic cat! He fell into the run with the Nankins and got all tangled up in the cloth--ricocheting around the run like a whirlwind, getting ever more entangled. I finally released him and he shot over the fence. Poor guy, the big layers won't even let him get a drink from the waterers. Hen pecked!
ROTFLMBO! ^_^
Thats my big problem here too Cat...I have barn cats...There are 6 full grown and a new litter of I don't know how many...The Momma is an avid hunter...I have seen her take down sparrows out of the air when they were dive bombing her trying to protect their nests in my shrubs...and then she found the babies...
I have been working hard on my yard since we moved here to get the shrubs cleaned up and pruned up to make them less attractive for nesting, to protect the birds...
No chicken would be safe here unless it was locked in the brooder house or in a yard with a top on it...I am going to get a large 12x12x6 cyclone fence dog yard with a gate, and cover the whole thing with chicken wire and then I can add another one to it later on...They are $249 here at TSC...
I am going to dig a trench and line it on the outside with chicken wire and set it in and pour cement over the bottom rail...The chicken wire should stop any diggers trying to get under it from the outside...I will also line the bottom of the cyclone with 2 foot chicken wire to keep the babies inside once they hatch...
My DH says I am planning a fortress... maybe so, but I don't want to have to start shooting things like TF does....LOL
I'm a crack shot, but I have BIG guns...Hubby was laughing at me cutting back that huge cedar out front with my .38 in my pocket loaded with snakeshot, until I unearthed a nice 5 footer hiding under there...He didn't laugh anymore... ^_^
This is where he was hiding.....
they are adorable
Hey Grow... If I get the hens from this local lady, I will let you know...You are welcome to the Greenies...She hasn't answered my email yet, so I don't know if they are still available...
Farmer D took some huge awards at the state fair on the goats....The big Buck came home last night, and he is docile as as a newborn...They walked him out of the trailer, across the yard and down into the barn...He was as peaceful as you please...He has already left here for the 60 acre pasture to feed and water, but hopefully I can catch him tonight and find out what he has available for you...Do you want a proven or a young one??
Your silkies are beautiful! I love the splashes and the black ones! We have five new little white ones living in my daughters room. :) We are planning to get her some of the darker colored ones next year as we already have white and buff.
She just came around the corner, saw your photo and said "Oh silkies!". We also have one Polish and would like to get more.
Good luck with your babies.
Dusty -barely proven buck would be ideal, good stock.
If they are healthy and not so expensive to get here, that would be wonderful! This is HARD. I love the flock I have now and it's fascinating to watch them blend into a happy mongrel horde,(not mongol) but I am sooo tempted to get more kinds and sooo want some green eggs. I really loved what came out when one of my original sex-links hatched out 4 from the black JG boyfriend we got her. Three gorgeous roos and one all black hen. I incubated 3 times this year and got some really interesting crosses, back to the original SL's and to some newer PBR's. I'm going to have to start picking and choosing to make sure next spring's hatch comes from blends I want. Don't want to just be depending on the local hatchery every year for hens like most people around here where I live.
I am so with you on that one Grow, I dont want to depend on the hatcheries anymore. I want my own stock now. The birds I am getting tomorrow will be my starting point. Plus the babies I have now, that will be 4 weeks, 7 weeks and 8 weeks old this next week.
Tia, I so wish I had kept incubating. We could take more of this stock but I don't want any too young ones when cold weather gets here. sigh.
incubating can get tuff somtimes too though
well I am on my second batch of silkie eggs I ordered from ebay hopefully I will get at least one more silkie so the one I have now won't be so lonely. Wish me luck!
good luck hun, hope the chicken fairy is good to ya on this go around.
Once you get a silkie hen going, you'll never need to incubate again.
he he he that is what I am hoping. I have about 6-8 silkies and I have no clue to gender yet. hoping for at least 3 hens.
if i had them knowing my luck they would all be roo's
