# Chickens Anyone?



## marie_martin (Oct 22, 2007)

I raise silkie and salmon faverolle chickens. Pretty new to it all but loving it already. Here are some pics:

The salmon faverolles:


















And the Silkies:


































Just a few. I have 12 all together. The white one has a new home. I have black and blue silkies right now. If anyone wants to talk chicken, let me know.


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## alyssa_romine (Oct 5, 2007)

i love those silkies!!! I don't have any chickens but I do plan to get some after I get moved onto my land.


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## enjoytheride (Oct 5, 2007)

They are just beautiful- but they look like a stuffed animal chicken. I could see one make of pompoms.


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## ksacres (Oct 30, 2007)

You have some nice Silkies! They are my all time favorite chicken-even though mine are slow and kinda dumb-just adds to their appeal.


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## Hailee's Herd (Oct 5, 2007)

Nice chickens! I really like your gray Silkie.


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## sungoats (Oct 7, 2007)

Your chickens look beautiful... and very happy! I have 27 Plymouth Rocks. I have 15 White Rocks, 7 Barred Rocks and 5 Buff Rocks. They are brown eggs layers. Your Salmon Favs look young. Have they started laying yet? Chickens are great fun! BTW, I found this site from the Backyard Chicken site. Do you ever go there? My user name there is Sunnychooks!


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

beautiful!

my friend is looking for fertalized eggs from the silkies, do you have a rooster?


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## Muddy Creek Farm (Oct 5, 2007)

I love them!!! They are so CUTE!


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## marie_martin (Oct 22, 2007)

Thanks you guys. I am a member of BYC but I was a member of Goatweb and Goat Talk way before I got chickens, that is how I found this site. My faverolles are young, about 7 mo. They have only been laying for a short time now. My silkies are 7 mo. and down to 5 mo. and are not laying yet, so I could not send out eggs to anyone. I do have a few roosters right now and need to sell a couple. My roos are nice but have some discoloration in the neck feathers but would be great pets. Compared to other roos, they are very sweet. Thanks again for your comments. And you should join BYC if you haven't. Lots of nice folks there too.

Marie


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

well if in the spring you are selling eggs let me know because my friend would be interested. she is a member of BYC but I don't know her user name.


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## enjoytheride (Oct 5, 2007)

I have always been interested in chickens but having another aminal to clean.............
How hard are chickens to care for? It's cleaning up the poops that really puts me off although I think chickens are beautiful. But whewwww- chicken poops.............


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## dobe627 (Oct 16, 2007)

I was going to post a chicken question and saw this so maybe one of you can answer. Last week my americana rooster was found dead. No apparent reason. He and the hens were all the same age, about 3 years. but since this has happend none of my hens have layed any eggs. All the hens and all my guineas seem fine so I don't think it was any illness. But I am wondering why my hens aren't laying? I know they reach a certian age where they stop. But it seems weird that it all happened at the same time. 
I really want to get some polish chickens now that the rooster is gone. I just love the way they look.


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## sungoats (Oct 7, 2007)

enjoytheride...
I don't think chickens are hard to care for as long as they have proper housing, ventilation and space. We use the "deep litter method" in our coop and the most common comment I get from non-chicken people is that there is no smell. I clean the coop twice a year. We designed it so that there is a dropping pit under the roosts that can be cleaned separately and we have linoleum under the litter that is easy to bleach. I use nesting pads in the nesting boxes so the eggs stay clean, too.

dobe627...
I'm so sorry about your roo. Sometimes they just seem to die without a reason, but it is odd that your chickens have all stopped laying at exactly the same time. Could something have killed your roo and frightened the chickens? Sometimes if chickens get scared they'll stop laying. Or it could be that the decreasing daylight just effected them all at the same time. Our egg production is way down now because of that. Are they molting? That will also decrease the amount of eggs you will get.


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## dobe627 (Oct 16, 2007)

sungoats, thanks for the reply. As for my hens no they are not molting right now. And I have my inside coop installed with a light so that they still get a good amount of light, of course they have access to the outside yard freely so maybe I am not fooling them. But this has worked in the past, and I had eggs. I too was curious about something getting the rooster as I have lost some guineas, but only the free range ones, not the one in the coop. The rooster didn't have anybite marks, but he was missing some feathers on his neck. He had been fine that night when I fed. I checked all around the inside and outside for anysigns of anything. Nothing out of the ordinary. The hens are still using the nesting boxes, just not laying. It has me puzzled too.


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## enjoytheride (Oct 5, 2007)

Sungoats- What is a dropping Pit? And nesting pads? I have heard of deep litter- do you think that rice hulls would do OK for this? There is a few grains of missed rice in the hulls and would this hurt the chickens? Does it have to be absorbent litter?
I think that the accumlation of manure under the roosts are the things I have disliked when I saw someone's coop.

I have been checking out BYC to feel it out some- the chickens are so beautiful especially the Wyandottes.


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## sungoats (Oct 7, 2007)

A dropping pit is located under the roosts where most of the chicken poo goes. Ours is a screened in enclosure so that the chickens cannot get into the droppings and scratch around under there. On the top we have 1" X 2" wire so that the droppings fall through into the pit area. On top of that are the actual roosts. The wire top and the roosts are removeable and can be cleaned separately with a wire brush. When we clean the dropping pit out, we replace the litter with the litter that is on the floor around the pit because it stays relatively clean. Then we put fresh litter on the floor.
For litter we use wood chips. If you use chips, just be sure that they are NOT cedar chips. Chickens are suseptible to respiratory problems and the cedar is not good for them. Also, be sure the chips are not from treated wood. We have a friend who has a landscaping business and he gets us chips for free. I've never used rice hulls, so I don't know if that would work or if they would all be eaten! :? There are lots of types of litter that people use besides chips, though.
The nesting pads we use are the ones that are sold in the chicken supply catalogs. They have a removeable tray with a pad on top that looks like grey astroturf (OK.. I'm really bad at describing things!  ). The nice thing about them is that they can be cleaned and replaced if they get soiled. I have two sets, so that I can replace them with the spare set while the other set is being cleaned. I think eggs tend to stay cleaner using the pads than with straw or other bedding. 
BTW, the reasoning behind the deep litter method is that the droppings will compost and generate heat during the colder months. Just add some additional litter and turn it occassionally.


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## enjoytheride (Oct 5, 2007)

Sungoat- thank you - that's a very clear explanation.


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## ksacres (Oct 30, 2007)

Stacey- is your friend looking for pet or show quality? I have some eggs out of what I consider "pet quality" silkies, all 5 toes, correct comb, etc, just not very good type. I can only sell about a dozen at a time right now because not all the girls are laying. I would sell them for $20 for the dozen, including shipping-that would help cover mostly postage and packaging. And I would include any extras I had at no charge.


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