A Silkie New Year!

Now that winter has set in, it’s time to start making plans for next year on the farm. One of the things I’ve been wanting to do for a while now is get a bantam rooster to escort our little bantam hens, Millie, Salt-n-Pepa, when they are out free ranging. It’s been a little over a year since we lost Lil’ Red Rooster (Lockdown), and I had been intending to get another little rooster man to replace him last summer, but there just never seemed to be a good time to do it with all of the excitement of the turkey babies at the farm this year (First Day Out, Turkey Teens). Millie, Salt-n-Pepa love to get outdoor time and free range around the farm, so if I’m outside doing chores then I will usually let them out for a bit. They tend to go exploring quite far from their coop which makes it hard for me to keep an eye on them, which is why we really do need a rooster to keep a look out for predators and keep them safe. In preparation for the addition of a rooster for the ladies, we are making plans to expand the size of the coop on the back deck so that the rooster can live in the same coop as Millie, Salt-n-Pepa, instead of the separate coop where Lil’ Red Rooster used to live. Since we’ll already be expanding the size of the coop for the rooster, it seems like a good time to make it large enough for some silkie babies too! Millie is our one silkie hen, so we will get a silkie rooster for her. She was such a cute little baby chick, and I’m sure it will be super cute to see her raising her own silkie babies. Silkies are well known for their frequent broodiness and their mothering abilities. Millie goes broody several times a year, and she has already successfully raised a couple of chicks for us a few years ago, so we know she is a good momma hen (Momma Millie). It’s been a couple of years since we’ve had baby chicks at the farm (Chick Love, Raquel Reinvented), so we are due to add some new fluffy butts to the flock. We are also planning to raise baby turkeys again, so there will be all kinds of cuteness at the farm this year!