Specializing In DNA Sexed Female Bearded Bantam Silkie Chicks We are NPIP Certified SILKIE CHICKENS MAKE GREAT ADDITIONS TO EVERY HOME While most oen thought of as barnyard birds, chickens are found in urban, suburban, and rural environments across the country – and for good reasons! Chickens produce fresh eggs for their owners to enjoy themselves or sell, provide a natural form of pest control, and make fun, inexpensive, and easy to care for pets. There are many variees of chickens, and one of the most unique, beauful, and friendly is the silkie chicken. It is because of these qualies that silkie chickens are an excellent choice for novice and seasoned chicken owners alike. Addionally, silkie chickens can be entered into poultry shows, which can become a fun hobby for the family to enjoy together. The following arcle will provide an overview of silkie chickens, what to expect from them, and how to care for them. Once you decide to open your home and heart to these unique birds, contact the breeders of Amber Waves to purchase silkie chickens and get any quesons answered. www.amberwaves.info/ 1 The rich history of Chinese silkie chickens The silkie (somemes spelled Silky) chicken is an old, unique breed of poultry aptly named for its fluffy plumage that is said to feel like silk. In addion to its feathers allowing the silkie chicken to stand out from other breeds, silkies are also unique because of their dark blue flesh and bones, blue earlobes, and five (as opposed to four) toes on each foot. Originang in Southeast Asia, most likely in China, someme before the 1200s, the first wrien record of silkie chickens comes from Marco Polo, who wrote of chickens with fur-like feathers in the logs from his Asian travels in the 13th century. Silkies made their way West via the Silk Route and were officially accepted into the North American Standard of Perfecon in 1874. Today, silkie chickens come in bearded and non-beaded variees and can be seen in poultry shows across the United States. Colors The American Bantam Associaon accepts six standard colors of Silkies for showing: black, blue, buff, white, partridge, splash and gray. However, there are also some non-standard, yet, popular colors. These popular non-standard colors are red, lavender, porcelain and cuckoo. The difference between males and females It is quite difficult to tell the difference between male and female silkie chicks because they take longer to mature than most other chicken breeds; however, once they are mature, there are some differences that set males and females apart. For example, males (roosters) tend to be larger than females (hens), with roosters weighing an average of 4 pounds and hens weighing an average of 3 pounds. The comb (the flap of ssue at the top of the chicken's head) will be larger on a male than on a female. Also, the saddle feathers will be long and sharp on a male and soly rounded on a female. Another more obvious difference is that roosters will crow and females will lay eggs. www.amberwaves.info/ 2 Costs associated with keeping silkie chickens Silkie chickens are extremely affordable pets to own, especially when considering the benefits of keeping them such as access to fresh eggs, pest control, and companionship. Silkies require housing, which can be cheaply built at home or purchased. Besides the low costs associated with building or purchasing housing, silkie chickens need food and access to clean water. Chicken feed is quite cheap when purchased, and silkies can also eat scraps from your home and insects they find themselves. Health costs can be kept to a bare minimum, especially when their housing, food, and water are kept clean. However, silkies will need a dust bath from me to me to get rid of lice. Fortunately, dust baths are also low cost. Housing Silkie chickens need a coop to live in, and as previously menoned, chicken coops can be purchased premade or built at home. The chicken coop should be a safe, clean place for silkies to roost, lay eggs, and be protected from predators. Three square feet is needed in the coop for each silkie, and roosng posts should be close to the ground because silkies can't fly. Nesng boxes, chicken feeders, and a watering staon will also need to be purchased or built. While the coop doesn't need to be extravagant, it should be set up before the chickens arrive. It is also advisable to set up a small fence around the yard where the silkies will be allowed to roam. Feeding Silkie chickens need no special diet; they eat seeds, grains, bugs (hence the natural pest control), and vegetaon just like any other hen. Feed silkies the same food as all breeds of hen and give them a layer complete food when they are of egg laying age to ensure they get all the nutrients they need for good egg producon. www.amberwaves.info/ 3 Egg production While not typically known for their egg laying abilies, silkies are actually excellent layers of relavely large-sized bantam eggs. Silkie chickens, unlike most other breeds, will connue laying eggs throughout the winter because their fluffy feathers keep them warm and content. In addion to being great egg layers, silkies are known for being the broodiest of all chicken breeds are oen used to incubate and raise the offspring of other poultry. This broodiness coupled with the silkies' docile nature make silkies the perfect pet because they are friendly, affeconate, and good with children. Longevity & Health When compared to other chicken breeds, silkies are extremely long-lived. Silkie chickens oen have life spans up to around nine years old, and they will stay beauful even when older. Even though silkie chickens are small and unable to fly, they are surprisingly hardy and resilient. They are able to thrive in both cold and warm climates. To give silkies the best chance of staying healthy over the course of their lifemes, owners should keep their coops, food, and water as clean as possible. Silkies should also be looked over weekly for mites, lice, and changes in health. Bad mite infestaons can kill a bird, or at least weaken it so that it is suscepble to any illness or infecon. Therefore, it is important to look over birds frequently, and if mites are found, treat the enre flock. www.amberwaves.info/ 4 NPIP – what it is and why it's important The Naonal Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) is a naonal program in collaboraon with state and federal departments of agriculture and industry representaves. The main objecve of this program is to use new diagnosc technology to effecvely improve poultry and poultry products throughout the United States. The NPIP provides cerficaon that poultry and poultry products desned for interstate and internaonal shipments are disease free. In order to be a NPIP flock, requirements include Annual P-T Tesng, AI Tesng, Annual premises Inspecon, and Annual Records Audit. Amber Waves currently maintains a NPIP flock. Obtaining birds from an NPIP cerfied flock is extremely important to ensure you are bringing birds into your home that are as healthy as possible. Chinese silkie chickens provide their owners with years of entertainment and companionship while only requiring a minimal investment of resources and me. However, to ensure the best possible silkie chicken experience, only purchase chickens from a reputable breeder. Amber Waves, an industry leader for over 26 years, provides its clients with high quality silkie chickens from its NPIP cerfied flock and support over the enre lifeme of the chickens. Contact Amber Waves (hp://showsilkies.com/) to purchase silkie chickens and get all of your silkie chicken quesons answered. www.amberwaves.info/ 5 WHAT ARE DNA SEXED FEMALE CHICKS? DNA Sexing Amber Waves is one of the few if not the only Bearded Bantam Silkie Breeder that takes the time and money to DNA sex their chicks. It is a well-known fact that it is impossible to sex baby silkies till they are near full grown. Many of our customers can only have female chickens in the city or county they live in. Customers who have experienced the heartbreak of raising and falling in love with a baby chick(s) only to find out it is a male that they cannot keep because of zoning regulations buying an already sexed female makes excellent sense. How often are female chicks available? Depending on how many chicks we have in the three - four-week range we will do a few test groups a month. We do not do DNA sexing until the chicks are old enough to wing band so they can be identified for testing. What is DNA Sex Avian DNA Gender Determination (bird sexing) Is a non-surgical tool used by veterinarians, breeders, and bird owners who otherwise cannot determine the gender of their bird by its physical appearance or characteristics. DNA testing can be performed on blood cards or feathers. We use PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) to detect the presence of male and female chromosomes in the bird's DNA. www.amberwaves.info/ 6 How old are DNA Sexed chicks? In most cases, DNA sexed chicks will be anywhere from 1-3 months of age. The demand for DNA sexed females is high, and they usually do not stay around a long time before sold. You can get an estimate of their age by taking their DNA date and counting back 3 weeks or 4 weeks. The majority of DNA sexed chicks are not coop ready they may still be under a heat lamp or at the very least inside till they are fully feathered How much is DNA Sexed Female Chicks We never know the cost of a DNA sexed female chick until we get the lab report back.