Silkie Egg Size And Color

 

Just a little example to show the difference between silkie eggs, size and color. Any breed of hen lays larger eggs each year. Believe me, that cochin egg is very large lol. So an older silkie can give you decent sized eggs. Egg shell color varies hen to hen, and diet can effect that and yolk color as well. During the laying season, hens eggs lose a little pigment with each Egg laid. The color returns next season. 

New Year, New Babies

 

Hi guys..I've been off Facebook, and social media period, for a while, hope you all are doing ok and had a good holiday season?!
Here's some grow-outs from my Paint Silkie group..loving how well they are turning out. Great feathering, and some pretty spots popping up! I've had to put up with them inside(mudroom off the kitchen), but my silkies are laying well even though it's cold, so I'm going to hatch early and be done with the majority of the hatch well before the hot weather and buffalo gnats start up. I have 18 nuggets cooking in the incubator as well, and 22 more ready to go in. I'll be up to my eyeballs in Silkies 😄

I have one baby that is either a normal frizzled silkie that's extra curly, or, she's what they call a "Woolie" in Silkie circles. My Silkies have a lot of Sherri Minker's blood lines in them, and she's has these Woolies pop up from Time to time. A mutation of the Frizzle gene?

Time will tell..her name is Bo Peep. LoL

The old timers always say that chicks hatched in Feb/march do the best for them, and they're definitely always through hatching for the year by June. From past experiences, I definitely agree.

Visit my Facebook page 

HERE 

To view the short video and pictures.

Take care and happy hatching! 🐣

Cheryl 

Silkie Maintenance

Sharon Honea, Pine Hill Silkies, shared her general inspection and maintenance routine for her Silkies. I think this info can help new Silkie owners to know what to do and when.

Read the post HERE

Satins, Sizzles, Frizzles????

 There's still a lot of confusion about the breed called "Satins " Formerly called Sizzles, and still not an APA accepted breed, the breed is still considered a project breed. 

Here's an explanation from Sheri Minkner, one of the original breeders of Satins/Sizzles for over 25 years:

*********************

I understand that there is a lot of confusion about frizzle, Sizzle, Satin, Silkie, etc., so I'm not being critical & only want to try & straighten out a few things.

First, "frizzle" is a breed in other countries but in the US it is only a feather type and the word "frizzle" must be followed by the breed. So we have frizzled Cochins, frizzled Polish, etc.

Second, Satins & Silkies are 2 separate breeds, & both come in regular & frizzled varieties so there are Silkies & frizzled Silkies and also Satins & frizzled Satins. There is NO SUCH THING as a Silkie Satin or a Satin Silkie!

Third - Satins are still a project breed & have not yet been accepted by the poultry associations as a new breed. However, many of us are working toward that goal.

Fourth - It takes AT LEAST 10 generations of dedicated & knowledgeable breeding before a Satin is exhibiting all the required traits & is breeding true enough to actually be called a Satin. Just because you bred your Silkie to another breed it DOES NOT mean you created a Satin.

Fifth - Sizzle is the former name for Satins. They were bred & shown as "Sizzles" for years, but the name was not acceptable to the poultry associations so it has now been changed to Satins.

Sixth - The difference between frizzled Silkies & frizzled Satins is feather type. Frizzled Silkies have the same fur-like (barbless) feathers as regular Silkies but the feathers are curled backwards toward the head. Satins have regular (barbed) feathers like a Cochin, & with frizzled Satins the feathers are also curled backwards toward the head.

Pictures below show both breeds in both regular & frizzled feather types. If you click on it to enlarge it, you should be able to see the differences in the feathering.  Please feel free to use this picture to explain the differences between Silkies & Satins.

Hatching Silkies

 

I just wanted to quickly share a tip that I finally figured out when hatching Silkies. They are more of a fragile and somewhat delicate breed, and often hatch rates aren't great. 

I remember seeing a post by someone quite a while back about humidity. They said that if your humidity is too high you can drown Silkie chicks in the shell.

It was by accident that I found out this may be true..

My incubator humidity had dropped from the recommended 80% to around 55%, and the silkie chicks hatched great despite..clean as a whistle!

So my last hatch I purposely left the humidy lower and again they hatched well. I have another small hatch due this weekend and I'm going to do the same and see how it goes, but I'm pretty convinced at this point that lower humidity at hatch is much better for silkies. 

Just wanted to pass the info along I'm case it helps someone!

Beginnings of the "way over the top" bordering on "ridiculous" Silkie barn..😆🐥🐣
I have cords ran, but if we ever get electric hooked up, I'd like to keep the incubators in here as well.
Silkies are just fun..a little whimsical, and the exhibition quality Silkies are also fairly fragile, so buildings like these are perfect for them. Especially so in winter and the rainy seasons.
This is also the perfect place for the NPIP tester to set up if the weather is too bad to set up outside.

Why Won't You Sell Pullets?

Here's and article written by the owner of Pine Hill Silkies. It helps explain why pullets are more expensive and harder to come by, and alot of the points are true of my Cochins and some other breeds.
It takes a lot of work, time, money and dedication to raise good quality birds, girls especially.

*Mrs. Honea's post:

Why I don’t sell silkie hens.....

Why I don’t sell silkie hens.....

I get asked this question all the time… why don’t you sell silkie hens? Well, let me answer that question publicly, and on behalf of (most) all silkie breeders.. It’s just the nature of the breed.

1) Silkies are naturally very slow to mature. It takes a silkie chick 5 - 8 months to reach maturity. In comparison, a meat/production bird is ready for market by 6 weeks of age. A 6-week old bantam silkie is just getting old enough to wean off of heat lamps and is about the size of a 2-week old LF bird.

2) Silkies are not known for being great egg layers… Many hens will only lay about 30 - 40 eggs per year, taking many breaks in between to go broody, which stops egg production for weeks to months at a time.

3) It is very hard to determine a silkie chicks sex until they reach maturity… As stated above, that can be half of a calendar year. Not only are they slow to mature, their walnut combs look identical at a young age.. meaning a boy chick looks just like a girl chick. In comparison, a single-comb breed cockerel's comb will stand up higher and be redder in color in as little as 2 weeks of age. That allows a breeder to cull out all the boys from a growout pen, allowing extra space for just females… Not so in silkies. They truly all look alike.

4) The only reliable, proven way to sex a silkie is a DNA swab test. Currently, the cost of each test can range from $10 to $25.00 for each bird tested. This makes it very cost prohibitive… Most DNA sexed silkie pullets sell for $75.00 each. If someone tells you they can sex a 2 month old silkie, they may also try and sell you ocean front property in Arizona. Buyer beware.

5) Pen size makes raising a large number of silkies difficult for the backyard breeders… Because boys look just like girls, breeders are forced to feed a mixed flock of birds until sexual maturity - around 6 months of age.. That’s a lot of feed, shaving, medical attention (mite treatment, wormer etc) and space, for a long period of time.. *With absolutely no guarantee that any of the grow-outs will be female.

Currently, my largest grow-out pens will hold about 10 full sized silkies … Given a 50/50 ratio, (often is 3 to 1 boys), at best half the pen will end up being boys, That’s only 4 - 5 pullets out of every 10 birds.. If I hold back 2 or 3 pullets for show or to replace my own stock, that leaves 1 or 2 birds to sell and around 5 or 6 cockerels (that I can’t give away because nobody wants boys). So breeders, like myself, will sell pairs on occasion, but even then, I just don’t have enough stock to supply all the requests for hens and pullets.

My advice is to purchase a bunch of silkie chicks, from a reputable breeder and raise them out just like I have to do.. Cull your cockerels and keep your pullets and in a year's time… you’ll have hens… That’s what us breeders have to do… It’s slow, it’s costly, it’s a lesson in patience.. But in the end, you’ll have silkie hens that suddenly are a hot commodity!

Competition, Catty Silkie People?

I saw a post reply in a group by someone earlier, someone who would know, that there's no drama between breeders like that of Silkie breeders(and owners.)
I'm sure that there is with other breeds, maybe lol, but I've definitely seen catty and stupid behavior over this past year.
Newcomers ask for help with breeding, feeding, showing and other topics and a lot of the time can't find anyone wiling to help. Can't give away those trade secrets! It's a shame.
Some are mad that you don't mention that some of your birds came from them. Some are mad that you DO mention it.
I've hatched from quite a variety of people. Many who show and have winners year in and year out. However, some eggs didn't hatch, some weren't even fertile, and some hatched fine but trust me, not every chick grew out to be a show quality bird. Some had faults that I'm kind of sure they've had to know crop up in their lines, some had more than one case of wry neck(but no chicks from my own birds did so I don't believe nutrition was a cause) but, I'll give the benefit of the doubt instead of accusing.
Some of us, including me, have spent quite a bit on eggs or birds, to sometimes end up pretty disappointed.
It's the risk you have to be willing to take.
I know someone who spent $150 on a dozen eggs, and only had one chick to hatch. That ended up being a $150 bird.
Sometimes flocks carry MG and other diseases that pass through the bird and the egg, and the breeder is totally unaware of it existing in their birds. Sometimes they are aware, and sell anyway. Some breeders never sell anything due to fear of someone competing against them, and others only sell their culls but don't mention why they are culls to the buyer.
I don't like dishonesty, or braggarts, or backstabbing, or competing like kindergarteners in a spelling bee. I also don't like people who apparently buy eggs or birds with unrealistic expectations or demands when they agreed to the terms of the seller beforehand, yet trash talk the seller anyway.
I've seen alot people saying that all of the above makes them want to get out of it totally. I don't blame them! I hope they don't give up the hobby though, even if they choose to keep chickens for fun, not showing or breeding.
All it takes is one false claim against you to make people believe the worst. I'm a person who stays to myself anyway. As they say, I'm not antisocial, but I AM selectively social lol.
I dont know if I'll ever bring new birds in again due to the risk of disease, defects ect. I plan to work with what I have at this point. I definitely am not mentioning where my foundation birds came from anymore because then you just might get accused of "name dropping."
I have a Bible verse on some of my page graphics ect, and I'll continue to apply it..
1Thess 4:11!
The pictures shared are my grandchildren, and nephew and nieces..and right there guys, is what's its all about.