Dot and Willow couldn’t be happier to be out and about with the flock. This is Mamma (Black Silkie) and Randi (Buff Silkie hen) tending to the kids while out for breakfast. The chicks are three weeks old today.
Interestingly, Randi is at the top of the pecking order and although bossy and sometimes nasty, she is very kind to the youngsters.
Peaches, a Silkie Bantam, takes her hatch-a-long babies out for the first time. They stay very close to her while she shows them where the goodies are.
While breed researching for my fall chicks, I ran across an interesting breed to consider. This rare breed is often available for purchase from Murray McMurray Hatchery.
These are one of the most beautiful in the appearance of any of our rare varieties with their striking black and white markings and slate-colored legs. We are told that the word “Lakenvelder” when translated from the Dutch means “a shadow on a sheet”, a particularly descriptive name. They were bred extensively in Germany and Holland as long ago as the early 1800s but were not recognized here until the 1930s.
They are quite small when mature, 3 to 4 Ibs., and very quick and active, foraging widely if allowed to run. The skin is white and the breast unusually plump and round, almost like wild game birds. Hens lay white eggs and are non-setters. Baby chicks are mostly creamy white with a half collar of black on the neck and a sprinkling of black on the head and back.
On average, a Lankenvelder hen can lay between 180 and 220 eggs per year.
TBN Ranch Chicken Keeping Resources 