Yep. Almost. And I was surrounded by peer pressure. With urgency. And pleading.
Y’all know it’s spring, right? And who knows what spring means (besides a lot of wind here)?
Anyone?
Ok, how about a hint. I’ll give a single hint.
Tractor Supply.
Oh come on, now, really? No one knows the answer to this?
Sheesh, people! 😆
Ok, how about this…. during the spring at Tractor Supply, certain, um, “things” are available for 3 months………..
Yes, you in back there? What’s that? Chicks, you say?
Ding ding ding, we have a winner!
Chick days are here!!! SQUEEEEE!!!!!!!!
We went there because my parents were visiting and had never seen chicks.
We (me and the girls) were drooling (hence the peer pressure). The girls had a solid plan to sweet-talk Daddy into more chicks. He actually agreed, with a few conditions.
1) Get rid of Butternut if she’s not laying.
2) Get rid of Daisy if she won’t behave.
Well hum. Oh the dilemma!
When I first started learning about chicken breeds years ago, I fell madly in love with ***silkies. Can you see why? 😆
The thing with silkies is that they are bantams, or a small breed. Most chicken breeds have bantam counterparts. Silkies, however, are true bantams in that they don’t have a full-size counterpart. This makes them ideal for first time chickens or pets.
Besides having feathers on their feet, they also have 5 toes, which is not a “standard” chicken trait (the norm is 4 toes). Because they don’t have traditional wing structure, it’s harder to sex them as day-old chicks. There is only a single place I know of where you can buy day old female silkie chicks, and it’s not Tractor Supply…………….
And there are other bantams that are fun in addition to other full-size breeds. For example, frizzles.
Frizzle actually refers to the feathers, as they are curly. You can have full size frizzles in addition to bantam frizzles. Because the frizzle is a gene mutation, you can get all kinds of breeds in the “frizzle” variety.
But here’s the thing……….
Bantams lay smaller eggs, as in, not full size eggs. It’s more of a two-to-one ratio, more or less. I definitely could not count on them as being “real” egg layers, if you get my drift. They really would be more like pets.
And that means, it’s hard for me to justify giving up a good egg layer, even if she’s currently got a bad habit.
But, because they take up considerably less space than regular chickens, I could get more of them……… if I was willing to give up my two buff orpingtons (and that would leave me with only our adopted BO, Sunny).
I don’t know if I need to say this or not, but I’m kinda attached to all of my girls. 😀
Another factor is cost. Unless I want to pay $10 a chick with a minimum order of 9 bantams, I have to get them locally, in which case, they are all going to be straight run. Straight run means they haven’t been sexed, which is a guarantee you are going to get boys.
In a perfect world, hunny would offer to build me a bantam coop and run, and I’d fill it; finding homes if need be for the roos that we ended up with. His project list is pretty big right now, though, so I’m not sure I feel right about asking him to do that.
Now, it could be that if I was actually IN the country, I wouldn’t care about having boys, and would start breeding them myself.
But I’m not. So I can’t. 😥
And that, my friends, is the only reason I almost did something bad, but in the end- didn’t. 😦
Fortunately, chick days don’t end until May, so there is still time for chicken math to strike again!
Cute and kind of crazy looking. I’ve never seen some of those types.
Ohhhhh, don’t get me started on chicken breeds! There are Polishes and polka dotted chickens (aka as Silver Spangled Hamburgs) and Turkens (which look like turkeys but are chickens) and and and and!
But Silkies…….. are just so fluffy! I just want to love them and squeeze them and call them George! 😆 I think it was the teal beaks that got me……. although, they have black skin, too, and feathered feet. Too darn cute!
They are cute and they do look soft and fluffy. 😉
And surprisingly, birds that looks soft and fluffy usually are. 😉 My big BOs are incredibly soft……….
You should have gotten them! You should have gotten them! You should have gotten them! LOL!
LOLOLOLOL. I wish. In hindsight, it was better because I had to rehome my entire flock of 23. I got lucky and found a lady to take all of them, including the sultans and silkies {all bantams}. I am pretty resolved that if we have to move again, this time I’m going to take them. Royal pain, but I’d already be moving 5 dogs, 9 cats (because I can’t leave the barn kitties behind!), and 6 horses. What’s 100 + birds? 😉 😀
And you know what? I must have, because I had to rehome silkies! 😀
HAHAHA! That is the silliest looking bird I have seen in a while. LOL ! Look at that! A chickeranian! (i.e., who let the Pomeranian in the chicken coop and who said they could breed?) ROFL!
I mean, they are cute… my goodness… LOL heheh! That is an odd looking burd… Where’s it’s face? OMG this just made me giggle!
I know!! How can you NOT have a smile on your face when you see those? 😀
There actually is a face under there. Many people cut the feathers around the eyes so they can see better. I think it goes without saying that they are not very good for getting away from predators just because they can’t see very well (another reason they are more of the pet variety, although I know of people who use them for eggs and have them free ranging out with their bigger birds- a regular roo can help).
Polishes always make me laugh, too! I especially like the pic with the chicken on one side and the lady on the other….. 😆 I may have to post some of my favorite pics of unusual peeps…..
https://www.google.com/search?q=Polish+chickens&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&rlz=1I7GFRE_enUS317&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=1gxaT8bgG4mxsALvtenEDQ&ved=0CDUQsAQ&biw=1127&bih=588
I am glad that T put his foot down when we first met! I would have everything that the feed store sold or could order! These little fellas are sure cute! It would be hard to say no or harder to just walk away!
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