silkie light sussex cross

[walldanzig]

I have two light sussex bantams and have some silkies and one of them is a cockeral no one wants our friend the cockeral so I am going yo keep him. I have heard that a really good cross is a silky cockeral and light sussex hens. I was just wondering if anyone could throw some light on this rumour or has any experiance of what the chicks would be like

[Suechooks]

The only thing I know about them is they are sold as Broody hens! However the ones I've seen advertised are Large Fowl not bantams - from what i've heard you will have permanently broody hens!

[walldanzig]

I may give it a try as I think nature beats the homemade incubator everytime

[bluemoon]

I wanted one of these, but they were only 7 weeks old at the time and I couldn't have kept one on its own could I....... so I bought two. I have to say that from an entertainment point of view they've certainly been worth it, they're really cute, a sort of rich gold colour with normal feathers, but a silkie's 'top-knot'. Very gentle and friendly. They're still only about 12 weeks, so I couldn't tell you about their brooding capabilities, but their reputation as good mums was why I wanted them. Anyway, this is a sex-linked cross, which means you'll know which are boys and which are girls as soon as they dry out at hatching. (the girls are gold and the boys a pale lemon colour). The girls are apparently very good layers too and aren't too obsessively broody, just more so than most breeds and very good mums when they're on eggs. I certainly don't regret getting mine, though I'm pretty certain that both parents were large fowl, so I'm not sure how it would work with banties.

[Birdie Wife]

They are often sold as "gold tops" both your light sussex and silkies should also be really good broodies though.

[JILLY JACKSON]

I have silkie cross pekins and they have layed and layed,until i had to confine them to the run where Romany instantly went broody.These are bantams though.Lovely.

[walldanzig]

sounds good. I'm going to have to be careful I can see me having chickens everywhere

[bluemoon]

sounds good. I'm going to have to be careful I can see me having chickens everywhere

Perhaps we could be the founder members of a support group. I had none 2 months ago, was only ever going to have a maximum of 6, and I'm already at 13! They just keep turning up... at least that's what I try and tell OH. We have conversations along the lines of, 'We just need to pop to the farm for a bag of feed....and oh look they have some cute ikkle chicks... I didn't know before we left home.... honest... but seeing as we're here...and, coincidentally, have the cat-box in the boot...'

[chicken slave]

Perhaps we could be the founder members of a support group. I had none 2 months ago, was only ever going to have a maximum of 6, and I'm already at 13! They just keep turning up... at least that's what I try and tell OH. We have conversations along the lines of, 'We just need to pop to the farm for a bag of feed....and oh look they have some cute ikkle chicks... I didn't know before we left home.... honest... but seeing as we're here...and, coincidentally, have the cat-box in the boot...'

I know how that feels as my cat box goes everywhere (just incase), I have just been offered some mottled orpington growers, I am really interested as they are very rare and OH agrees as they would be a good addition to our breeding program.
I have lost 3 lately so really would only be replacing them, and the chicks in the outhouse don't count (really) nor do the eggs in the inci's as they are mostly to be sold to pay for the upkeep and upgrade of housing for my lot. The geese don't count either as they are xmas dinner.