Silkie

If your looking for a fluffy, slower moving chicken that can handle a childs rough or surprise handling....look no further. They come in large varieties of fluffy. As in, buff fluffy, white fluffy, blue fluffy and etc. Kidding, but really. Silkie's take to confinement well however they are not good at grooming themselves and can get really nasty. They are not good flyers and have a hard time getting to roosts, this can result in getting pooped on! I have noticed that they are not very smart. Often times running into objects or doing....silly things. Some can be skittish. I would suggest them only in a flock that has no aggressive chickens. They are prime targets for smarter chickens.

I like my Silkies even though they are crazy, they aren't afraid to fight cats or people to keep their baby's safe. If you are looking for a breed of chicken to hatch baby chicks this is the breed. They will starve before getting off of their nest, I have had hens try to hatch walnuts they where so broody. If you are a first timer, or getting one for a child good choice in breed they are reliable layers and are small.

if u want a broody or showy bird the silkie is the best one for u. resently i have had 3 of my silkie hens all go broody at once including 2 silkie crosses and so far theve hatched out 4 chicks however 3 of them were squashed buy my brothers americaunas. so i recomend having them separated from the rest of ur flock. also if u have nesting boxes put them on or like a foot off the ground if u have limited space.also make sure the eggs are all the same age if u have them in a nesting box that is off the ground if u r going to let the hen keep the chicks. then u will need to take the chicks and the mother out so the chicks will be able to eat. i dont recomend for the eggs to be on the floor because sometimes they dont sit on them and they go bad. you dont want the nesting boxes to be to high off the ground because if the chicks or eggs could fall out. another reason is that they can fly well at all so they wont be able to get off the ground to get in the nesting box. ive had 1 silkie die from getting sick from getting wet and the other 1 mostly stop growing. (i had 2) a weird thing is that my splash hen was sitting on nothing and was broody and she was only 5 months not even laying yet. so i got a nesting box i made for 4-h and put it under her with like 6 eggs and she didnt even care. she didnt turn the eggs so they didnt hatch but last week se hatched out some chicks and was taking care of them utill they got squashed. prices - you can buy a silkie chick for around $3 straight run and sell a 6 month old hen for around $8 and if sh has chicks just add about $2 for everyone. this all depends how good of conditon they are and if they are really fluffy and have a big crest u can sell them for more. male silikies are around $5 for the average one and about $8 for a really nice one. white seems the sell the highest then probably blue. dont have two many roos because if they dont mate alot of they get picked on for any breed they will probaly die from lonelyness.1 last thing, if u see a chick or chicks growing faster than the other ones it is robaly a male (or just eating alot better) also this works for lots of breeds not just slikies. i hope this will help you and please comment if it did and thank you.
also they dont lay alot of eggs only when they want to they will

We got our first Silkies 3 months ago and are already looking into increasing the flock. We had planned on just a couple of them because I always thought they were cute. But these little have real personalities. When it was time to take the chicks outside to the coop was a bittersweet day. I was proud to see my babies grow up and sad to see them go. You will just fall in love with these little birds.

I love that my silkie hen goes broody,shes a great mother,all silkies are very soft and I have 5

I was shocked at how easy they catch on to routine! We have a separate run from our coop and we've taken to carrying our silkies to it, but then we had the idea to have our babies walk to the run by themselves. It works like a charm and we just supervise as they walk in then close the gate behind them. That easy! They are the sweetest birds I've ever met but very difficult to keep clean because they will roll around in the dirt and come out looking like a spotted brown and white Pomeranian! My sister was begging me to name one of them 'Dog'. Anyways, the silkies are very flighty and easily frightened by mowers or loud sounds near them.

Adorable, so fluffy and friendly. They bond very quickly as chicks. such a sweet rooster couldn't hurt anyone. Joey is probably the dumbest silkies iv ever seen. She will set and once she gets babies they all ended up dying because she wont take care of them! Not a very intelligent chicken but none the less they are sweethearts.

I have one silkie. From the time we got her, she layed 3 eggs a week and was so sweet and friendly! Then, she went broody 3 times in a row But she came back to us just as friendly as the first time we held her! She is so sweet and soft and fluffy and fun to play with! I love her and would recommend this breed to anyone.

I have 3 silky roosters that we got thinking they were hens. They are the sweetest chickens and fun to watch. One of the roosters even adopted baby chicks after their mom left them. He stands up and waits patiently while they settle under him on their roost in the coop I have the picture to prove it.

I have had a total of two silkies, and I love them! I had a roosters named Chewbacca and had to sell him due to fighting with my other rooster ( I pushed my luck by keeping two) But anyway I sold him, now I have a gold silkie hen named Elko! I love her she is so sweet and fluffy! I put bows in her hair! She puts up with it! Silkie lover forever!

if any one knows where to get these silkies chicks or would like to sell some please e-mail me. [email protected]

I love this bird because they are good for show and they are also broody mothers alot. The eggs are not very big but look at the bird they are kinda small to me. They do like to eat slugs and they do not always eat plants. They are easy to let free range but hawks are a big issue due to not being able to see very well (feathers block view).

I have a small flock of 4 adult hens and just bought another 12 chicks. These guys are NOT great production birds... they are ornamental and fancy... I have black, white, partridge, and buff adults. Show quality of the standard colors are around 7 bucks for breeder quality chicks. I recently bought some of the fancy colors, Porcelains ran about 15 a chick... and for self blue (gasp) $30... I only have one of them, and she appears smaller than my others and not quiet as bright eyed and active as the others... the last blue I hatched myself failed to thrive, and I'm not sure if this is just that they need more development as a color type or just bad luck on my part...

Silkies have endearing personalities... and they may not do well in a mixed flocked, as they look different and other birds sometimes pick on them... The don't need a large pen though, but it's best if they don't have to fly or hop up far to reach it... Silkies not roost, they cannot fly... so if they are in a house with others that do roost, they may get pooped on... as a flock on their own they will sleep in a pile which is so flippin' cute! These hens are wonderful moms... I have even grafted non-broody silkie hens to my red star chicks... They do a great job rearing them, and are more attentive moms than most other breeds, so my survival rates on grafted chicks have been really high with using these ones as mommas... They don't seem to get bored with the job like some other breeds.

Young birds will need some attention as they are a bit more delicate than other breeds, the time spent caring for them is rewarded with friendly well bonded chickens... Kids LOVE them, easy to catch, soft to hold, and rarely struggle. If you are looking for egg production, these are not for you... if you want great personalities and a positive experience for kids raising chickens or first time chicken enthusiast... then this is the breed. Overall, I rated them 4 stars, just because they don't lay well, tend towards broodiness, and I originally got chickens for their eggs... But they have so many other great qualities.... so in the end it depends on what you want... I enjoy them more than most of my chickens.

A word to the wise... get GOOD breeder quality stock.. they difference in the look and appeal of breeder quality is worlds apart from what you may find in your local swap.

Overall a good show bird


Notice my rooster Rainbow is dirty.

Our silkie hens are amazing. They are so gentle, you can easily pick them up and hold them, even when they are on their babies or eggs. They are super great moms, and raise all the other chick breeds in the yard too. Love them. Although, strangely, one silkie roo was very mean and would run across the 1/2 acre yard to jump on my daughter's back (he ended up in the soup pot).

I have 4 Silkies, 2 roos and 2 hens. Our 2 hens are the consistent, "backyard chickens" who come running to the gate behind me bocking all the way after letting them out. Our little black silkie is a bit spoiled as in she'll stand at the glass doors staring at us begging while we eat our meal next to her. Her favorite treat is bananas. The other white silkie hen is not afraid of much at all and will get out practically almost under the shovel if working on the garden, so they have a brave streak in them. She knows the easy way to the bugs and worms.
They are very independent in the fact they don't mind being away from the rest of the flock which consists of 20 chickens. The roosters do fine looking after the ladies but our smallest silkie which happens to be a rooster also has Napoleon Syndrome. Sometimes you'll feel a little bump and wonder if it was the wind or his amassed 2lbs of almost all feather attacking your leg. He happens to be at the very bottom of the pecking order and is just trying to impress the other chickens I've come to the conclusion.
If you're looking to bring something different to your flock this breed is great as they are unique like I said and can be very friendly. They do tend to get pushed to the bottom of the pecking order due to their size and friendliness. The broodiness does happen much more frequently then the other 8 breeds I have so if you're looking for a broody bird this ones great.

They are the cutest things on earth and they are so Fluffy. But they don't lay big eggs and they are not social

Last summer, I bought 3 Golden Silkies, one pullet, one cockerel and an unsexed one. I originally housed them with the large flock of hybrids. Unfortunately, things didn't work out for them and I had to rehouse the 3 into a new pen. They do fight between each other despite being nice to you. Into the early autumn, we noticed that the unsexed one start to get weak and couldn't walk. I thought it was a leg issue so gave it a sling and tried to make it better. A week later, I found out it had Marek's Disease, and I had to put it down to save the others. I then gave the pen some really strong chemical treatment and moved the Silkie couple back in. They also don't do too well in wet conditions and have a habit of sitting outside in the rain and getting drenched! TIP: Remember to cut the toenails/claws now and then, my hen hurt her leg and took a while to recover.

Now, due to space issues, they share an fenced area with another coop of an Orpington couple and two Araucana hens. The hen was broody earlier on, and did sit on her eggs. Sadly, the hybrids found there way into the pen and scared her off the nest a lot. Hopefully going to try again in the Spring! Although they are frightened of those hybrids (who cannot get in anymore), they rule their flock and the Silkie cockerel is the dominant of the Orpingtons and the Araucanas, quite surprising!

The eggs are alright but nothing spectacular, not profitable nor profilic layers but are good for home use.

This are by far my favorite chickens. Just adorable, friendly birds!