Tag: Silkys
Silkie Starter Kit – What You Need Before the Chicks Arrive
As with any pet, it is important to plan ahead and purchase any equipment and supplies you will need before you bring home the actual animal. This is especially important with baby chicks.
If you plan on purchasing newborns or one week olds, you will first of all need to have a heat lamp and a heat lamp bulb to go with it. The heat lamp should be up and running before you bring the chicks home so that they can immediately warm to the right temperature after their car ride. When setting the heat lamp up, do not rely on just the clamp that comes with the fixture. Use mechanics wire to hang and secure the lamp over the brooder. The lamp should be able to be raised or lowered as needed to keep the chicks at the right temperature. This temp should be around 85-90 degrees when they are very young. Use their behavior as a guide. If they are too cold they will huddle under the lamp and cry. If they are too warm they will try and get as far away from the bulb as possible. You want them comfortably moving to all parts of the brooder.
I bulb should be a red infrared variety. I think those are the best so that the chicks can experience a night time cycle. It can also keep down the pecking of each other that can occur when there is the stress of constant daylight.
Any type of a tub can become a brooder. You will need to line the brooder with animal bedding to absorb moisture. I use pine shavings. I change the bedding about once a week and throw the used bedding on my garden to act as a mulch and fertilizer.
Your silkie chicks will also need a feeder and a waterer. Quart size is best when they are small chicks. Later you can get the gallon sized. I like to add a couple of things to the water for the silkie chicks. Vitamins with electrolytes can be added to give them a good start. I also add a splash of apple cider vinegar to help with digestion and general health.
Young chicks should be given chick starter until they are at least 10 weeks old. They can eat it longer than that, but you may want to switch to a grower feed. Chick starter is high in protein. Use medicated until they are around six weeks old and then switch to regular chick starter. Medicated can help their developing immune system to fight coccidiosis.
On my website near the top, there is a page called Silkie Supplies. There are some suggested products there to guide you in deciding what you need to start in silkie chickens. Good luck with your new pets!
For tips and tricks for raising outstanding silkies check out our Chicken Learning Center at VJPPoultry.com . VJP Poultry is an NPIP and state inspected hatchery located 30 miles north of St. Paul. We hatch out silkies all year long so we always have stock available. Like us on Facebook to get weekly updates on what we currently have for sale.
Victoria J. Peterson
Silkies For Sale – 8/30/17
Silkies for Sale – 1/22/17
A Trip To The Feed Store With VJP Poultry – 12/30/16
I visit my local feed store at least once a week without fail. I don’t have a lot of room or space to stock pile supplies, so it is a necessity that I make request trips. I don’t want to run out of anything important. It would be a crisis if I ran out of feed or didn’t have bedding available, so as soon as I start to run low, I head out to my favorite feed store.
Chicken feed is probably my biggest expenditure. I buy Game bird Conditioner for my adult silkies and Chick Starter for the babies. Game Bird means that it is made for turkeys or pheasants and has a higher protein content than most regular chicken feed. The ADM brand has 20% protein and it includes animal protein. I think that animal protein is important for chickens. They are, after all, carnivores. In the wild , they would be eating worms and insects. I also like this brand because it is in pellet form. With pellets there is less waste and mess.
The Chick Starter is also high in protein. It is in crumble form. Pellets are hard for a chick to break apart and digest. I sometimes grind it up even smaller for newborns in my coffee grinder. I use regular chick starter made by Houle Inc. for most of the year and then switch to Medicated Chick Starter in the summer months when it is more humid out. Medicated feed is used for controlling the disease Cocci which is more frequent in the summer.
I also purchase bedding for the silkies at the feed store. I buy two different kinds – pine shavings and flax bedding. I use the “small, fine” pine shavings because I compost all of my chicken bedding and put it in my garden. It makes wonderful fertilizer. The flax bedding is a little more slippery so I use it on top a a dressing over the pine shavings. Flax bedding is really nice for absorbing chicken poo or spills. It also leaves their feathers more shiny when they rub against it.
I also regularly purchase oyster shell for the hens. It is a good source of calcium which they need for creating egg shells.
The feed store will also carry things you may need in an emergency such as Corrid, Selmet, wormers, antibiotics (Tylan) or vitamins. They also carry plenty of treats such as meal worms, cracked corn and Boss sunflower seeds.
My feed store sells poultry supplies like feeders, waterers, and incubators.. They also carry chicken diapers. Last week I even saw chicken harnesses and chicken leashes.
What I like most about my local feed store is the friendly atmosphere. You get to really know the people who work there. These folks are very knowledgeable and are happy to spend the time answering your questions. I find prices to be very competitive with the name brand larger stores.
It is truly a pleasurable experience to enter a feed store and have a feeling of going back in time when life was a little slower. My favorite feed store is Houle’s in Forest Lake. Look for the grain elevators in any small town and you will find your local feed store.
For tips and tricks for raising outstanding silkies check out our Chicken Learning Center at VJPPoultry.com . VJP Poultry is an NPIP and state inspected hatchery located 30 miles north of St. Paul. We hatch out silkies all year long so we always have stock available. Like us on Facebook to get weekly updates on what we currently have for sale.
Victoria J. Peterson
VJP Poultry 