Pros: Mine are calm, docile, and like to be pet and held
Cons: Wouldn't be too useful for a layer since their eggs are small
I have black, splash and white silkies. They all have similar temperaments, in that they are calm and docile. Very sweet birds, and they are easy to get attached to them as pets. So far, mine are doing well in our temperatures of very hot summers to cold winters with snow. However, in the summer, I did set up a water mister system in their pen and made sure they had plenty of shade.
They did learn to use the ramp up to the coop, and can flap their wings enough to get themselves up to the bottom rung on my ladder style roost. The lowest rung, by the way is only about 4 inches off the floor. I've never seen them go higher than that on the roost, even though the ladder is very easy to navigate for the other birds. They also tend to sleep in a pile on the floor at night if they decide against the roost. I don't know if this is a Silkie thing, but I have two white silkies that are the "peace keepers" of the flock. If another bird (like a barred rock) is picking on another bird-- the Silkies go flying into action with feet out and chase down the birds that are not being nice. I've noticed they keep everyone in line and continue to stay on top of their job every day. Perhaps I'm lucky, or maybe this is a trait?
Below is a picture of my 9 month old Splash cockerel. One more thing to mention-- they LOVE to crow! All the time. They are not quiet about it. :)
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