Rico Suave: Yes, my favorite Silkie is a BOY.

I don't even know what to say...I mean, could fate BE any more cruel?? Yes...my favorite, sweetest, most docile adopted Silkie, has turned out to be...a BOY. Really? Really??

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may remember how these Silkies came to live with me. It wasn't by choice. I wrote THIS post on February 20th of this year...after someone abandoned a box of baby silkies on the door step of the garden center I run. Either in the middle of the night or very early that Sunday morning. It was cold, and the poor babies had no food or water. So of course, my store manager called me...and up I went to retrieve them. They were about 12-weeks old and all had CRD, or chronic respiratory disease, so it took a lot of hand nursing and antibiotics to get them back on track. The first one died within three days and it was a struggle with the remaining four, but eventually they pulled through. All were clucking along nicely, until the partridge colored one, (buff/blue) died mysteriously a couple of weeks ago with a wound to the stomach. So, then there were three. All fluffy and cute, all black.

Now, it can take 6-8 months for silkies to reach maturity, and it can be notoriously difficult for even an expert to sex the birds until they reach that age. So this was a lot of work that had gone into taking care of these birds I hadn't planned on...and I was worried I was going to get stuck with all roosters. That would be my luck, right? So I kept my fingers crossed that the remaining three were girls. At least then I'd get to keep them. I was pretty confident about two of them, and those two have confirmed themselves as pullets just in the last week by starting to lay the tiniest cutest eggs; but the third showed a slightly different morphology...the feathers were a bit different. But no comb or waddles yet. Until about the last month (which would be right on schedule). Yes, yes, I know that I've been in a state of denial. Why? Because he's the sweetest bird. Seriously. I didn't figure that the most docile sweetest bird of the bunch would turn out to be a boy. And now I don't want to part with him.

As his comb grew larger and waddles developed, I knew I was probably in for major disappointment. As of today, I can no longer choose denial. I mean, look at that pose he's making above? THAT was him being his proud self right after trying to awkwardly mount two of the girls just a couple of hours ago. Yep, and in that moment he became...Rico Suave. Even so, he's still my sweetest bird. Now, he hasn't made a sound yet and I'm not sure how long that will take or if he'll even make much noise at all. As you may know, Dallas ordinance prohibits keeping roosters. Not because they are a nuisance, but rather certain people made nuisances of themselves by engaging in cock-fighting. So thanks for that you jerks. In any case, I'm going to have to find a loving new home for this dude with someone in a city that allows roosters. At least I'll have a couple of girls to hang on to. They just don't like me as much as Rico does!

So, after 5 months of nursing, hand feeding, raising and becoming attached to him, Rico has to go. He's a beautiful boy and would make nice breeding stock if you are raising silkies, or just need a man around the house. You'll need to live in the DFW area (but not city of Dallas), be able to meet me somewhere in the DFW area, be able to show me that you have experience raising chickens and a photo of your secure coop and run. He's had a good amount of space to roam and I'd like to keep it that way. He's been raised completely on certified organic feed and gets plenty of fresh greens and worms. So I'll be looking for someone who raises their birds similarly. I have no idea if he was given any vaccinations when he was a baby...he was successfully integrated into my existing flock, who were all vaccinated for Merck's, but nothing else. All are healthy. All the birds get along very well, and he's pretty docile with all the girls, but that took about 4 weeks of transition time after moving the silkies from a separate enclosure. Everyone needs a little time to work out the pecking order. Realize that silkies are smaller than other breeds. Even though he's a rooster, there is the possibility that he could get ganged up on by your birds, so a gradual transition is always recommended. You'll need to plan on quarantining this new bird from your existing flock for 30 days just to be on the safe side in terms of health.

UPDATE: Rico found an amazing home out in the country where he immediately usurped the resident rooster and took over the entire flock. It happened within about 10 minutes of us releasing him into the farm. It was hilarious, and I hope he lived out his day with all his gals strutting his stuff.