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Silkie

The silkie chicken was developed in the southeast asian countries or china.It was valued as a medicinal food item because of its black skin and bones
Pros: Docile, loving, will raise your chicks, very good with children.
Cons: Can't think of any, excpet that their crests and small size makes them have a greater risk with predators.
I love silkies, they are my favorite breed! They go broody constantly. Very tame, they are also very good with children. Not aggressive. The best chicken breed!
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Pros: small, loveable, entertaining, good broody.
Cons: small eggs, must supervise from predators.

My silkies consist of "Sid Vicious" as we call him, he's now 8 months and will attack certain people and loves his three ladies, "Bertha, Spike,Lily". They mumble a lot under their breath.
Its funny to watch Sid act like he's going to rip you to shreds. I pick him up and hug him and his dignity is hurt and he goes away.Very protective of his 3 girls. The girls started laying
two months ago and one has the 4 chicks in my spare bedroom. They steal each others eggs too. Each has their own personality. Spike is just a chicken.
Not freindly at all. Sid crows quite often and loud but he also competes with my huge cochin rooster who just ignores Sid....all in all they get along fine.
"Deufuss" the cochin rooster is protection for everyone. He has already ran off two large hawks. And the boys have their hawk warning growl.
Everyone runs for cover. I make sure the white puff silkie "Lily" stays close, she really stands out.

I'm happy with my cochins, who are friendly and horrible beggars, but the silkies are so cute! So the cochins lay brown large eggs and the silkies lay small ones. Perfect
for egg mcmuffins . Plan to enlarge and produce more chicks to sell to support my habit, chickens that is!
Pros: Fuzzy
Cons: Takes along time to begin laying can't tell gender
Silkies make good pets but thats about it. Mine are hard to cull because I cant tell roosters from hens. Mine are 8 months and the cockerels and pullets still cant be identified. I have 6 and none have crowed or layed eggs. Neither males or females have wattles or combs.
Pros: Friendly (not so much the roos (for me anyway)), docile, sweet, fluffy, do well in confined space.
Cons: Roosters can be nasty, poor layers.
I have three, 5 month silkies that I hatched and they are great birds. They are friendly and sweet. Sometimes my rooster can be kinda mean pecking and scratching at me but the hens are the sweetest things
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. They do well with rabbits, and I keep mine in with a buck. They don't lay very well and go broody quite often, but they are great mothers. I would recommend them to someone looking for a pet, or a breed that does well in confined space.
I love my silkies and they are my favorite breed.
Purchase Date
2015-07-05
Pros: Cute as a button
Cons: None
IMO if you know what you're getting into, silkies are perfect. Why would you buy silkies if you want eggs? Get layers. One thing is for certain they are the most attractive bird. Fluffy and cute.
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Pros: Small, sweet, quiet, fluffy, adorable
Cons: Shy, easily scared, hard to keep clean
My silkie is small, sweet and shy. She is a bit of a scaredy-cat, and dislikes chickens, straw, birds, and people except for me.
Pros: Friendly, Silly, Cute, Fluffy
Cons: Slow egg layers
Silkies are one of my favourite breeds and I would recommend this breed highly. We have a white Silkie named Lily and out of 31 chickens she is my favourite. They are very silly and I love her very much.
Purchase Price
30.00
Pros: Pretty to look at, friendly, calm, gentle, wonderful temperament, great if you have children, excellent broody hens
Cons: can't free-range cause they don't see too well if they have huge crests, feathers don't repel rain like normal chickens, somewhat of a delicate breed
My first silkies were hatchery birds and I did not like them at all. They weren't fluffy enough and their crests were on the small side so I got some nicer quality ones and I am in love with them and will be breeding them next spring. They have wonderful temperaments and are great with children. They come in lots of different color varieties and are adorable little fluffy critters.

This is Jasper the splash cockerel when he was younger.


This is Jasper now at 4 months old.


Here are a few others.

This is Princess Marauder the 4 month old pullet.


Marauder close-up.

Mixed colored silkie chicks


Mixed color silkie cockerel


Dark blue-cream cockerel




There are tons of colors to choose from!
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Pros: Interesting, cute, small, wonderful disposition, Fluffy, friendly, gorgeous, talkative
Cons: Feathered feet get wet/dirty way too much, can be onry when young...
I love my little silkie. She can act like a toddler going through terribles 2's sometimes but she so adorable and interesting to watch. Very active.
Pros: fun looks, very smart
Cons: roosers can crow loud!...and all day!, rooster attacks, not very friendly
I currently own one silkie rooster and he makes me want more! He is slightly flighty since he was raised by a hen, but settles down quickly. He has created an inseparable bond with my 'alpha bully' hen and shares his own coop with her. He's such a lover, and never been a fighter! He used to nip when shy, but learned in less then a week that that wasn't acceptable. When sleepy he comes a cuddle bear and is content to sit in your lap and relax. We even shared pizza before while I worked on the computer! Huge family favorite - once they see that poofed body, you're inevitably engaged in chicken stories!

As he grew up, he grew out of that little body and became more aggressive. He attacks people and has become very rough with the hens. I keep my serama separated from him because he'd attack her then rip out feathers and skin unintentionally. He stays with my hardy Sumatra hen who puts him in his place. Those two are very independent.

I'm personally not sure if I'd get another silkie, and if I did it would be a pullet. :)
Pros: sweet, cute, and fluffy.
Cons: Have a hard time seeing. And silkie hens are very broody
I have three silkies. They are super cute and funny!
Pros: Funny, Adorable, Friendly
We have 2 silkies, a blue silkie hen named Caroline and a black silkie rooster named Dot. They are so cute. They always stay together when their outside and they are fun to hold because they are so fuzzy! My rooster is so friendly towards other roosters, even if they aren't friendly towards him. They are 1 of my favorite breeds.
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Pros: Attractive, docile, great broodies if you don't want to deal with bators.
Cons: Not friendly lap chickens, hawk magnets, will stay broody for over 3 mos
We've bred and raised 16 Silkies over the past 2 years, handled them daily, but none of them got particularly friendly. They are so docile, though; they will meekly submit to being handled. I have bathed and blow dried hens and roos without any fuss. The broodies won't get upset or peck when I check out the eggs or chicks under them.

All of my girls started laying eggs after 7 mos.of age and would go broody for the 1st time by 9 mos. If I didn't let them keep the eggs, they would stay broody for over 3 mos! I do use them to hatch eggs from other breeds. My moms would go broody again within 3 weeks after they stopped raising their chicks. My oldest roo would actually give the moms a break and take care of the chicks for a while.

Although our Silkies aren't as friendly as we hoped they would be, we do enjoy watching them free range in our backyard. They are so cute and resemble two legged poodles running around. Our eldest female frequently and loudly yells at the others, so she's been nicknamed "the Bitchin Chicken", lol! Unfortunately, Silkies are hawk targets. The neighborhood red tail ignores the standard size chickens and zeroes in on the Silkies only, so when we aren't home, they have to stay in a covered run while the big girls get to run free all day.
Pros: does well in confined spaces
Cons: Prone to leg issues as chicks, prefers sleeping in the nesting boxes at night rather than roosting
I purchased my silkies from TSC over a year ago. Believe it or not, none have gone broody so far, they lay a good amount of eggs and they're not as low ranking in the flock like I thought they would be - pretty bossy chickens! I'm giving 3 stars because they didn't turn out as I expected. I feel like this review was meant for another breed, but nope! I will edit my review when I purchase from a breeder, I definitely want to give this breed another go.
Pros: hilarious, sweet, endless entertainment
Cons: could be on the bottom of the pecking order, can't really see depending on the size of the poof...
We were amazed that one of our silkies was the first chicken in our flock to lay an egg! She lays really regularly. Among the two silkies we have that are laying, we collect a silkie egg almost every day.

That being said, obviously, egg production is not the reason to get silkies. Silkies are adorable, hilarious, endless entertainment. I love all of my chickens, but my silkies make me smile the most. I didn't know it was possible, but their personalities almost out-do the ridiculous way they look. I can't imagine not having at least a few silkies in my flock. They're a must-have!

I've specifically chosen pretty mild-mannered breeds, but I can imagine silkies might get bullied in big flocks with bossier breeds. We also don't have to worry about predators, which could be a serious concern since their head poofs can create real visual restrictions.





Pros: Very soft, Hens Are Sweet, Broody
Cons: Slow to Mature, Can Be Hard to Raise to Adulthood
Nobody told me when I first got Silkies that they are very sensitive to everything when they are under 3 months old. Thankfully I had raised a few other chickens before starting on Silkies, but that knowledge didn't help me much. I got around 5-6 Silkies in my first batch. Two made it to sexual maturity but only one survived past a year. All of the deaths were caused by some little accident on the Silkie's part and they couldn't recover from it. My second batch did worse than the first. I got 9 that time and all but one of them made it to 5 months old, but after one heavy rainstorm they all died. I learned after that that, since their feathers aren't as water proof as other chicken's feathers, you have to make sure they are under complete shelter for their first heavy rainstorm. After a good deal of reluctance, I got a third batch of 9 silkies last April. This batch has done great, though I've had to take a lot of precautions with them. One died from unknown causes a few months back, but the others have done excellently. However, as they reach one year of age, they have yet to complete sexual maturity. In fact, one of my "hens" showed herself to be a him after he started crowing just last week!
Pros: Cute, Fluffy, Friendly, Great Mothers, Funny Looking
Cons: Bottom Of Pecking Order, Broody
Silkies Are So Cool, They Are My Second Favorite Breed!
Pros: Very friendly, active, great 4-H breed
Cons: None!
Great chicken to have around the backyard! Rooster are pretty quiet when they're crowing and the hens are very sweet. Never met a mean silkie.
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Pros: Cute, calm, colorful
Cons: Feet are ALWAYS dirty and muddy
I have 2 silkies, a white, and a splash. The splash, Gabby, is small, fast, and NOT the cuddly type. The white, cottonball, is large, slow, and sweet. Feet are always muddy. I can't say anything about their laying abilities, as mine will be 4 months old on the 18th.
Pros: Very cute, pretty hardy, don't eat much, dedicated broodies, don't require any special care
Cons: incredibly small, very very shy, easily panicked
My silkie is really cute and adorably tiny, but she's also easily panicked. I'd recommend getting multiple silkies, and not just one, so they can fit in with birds their size.
I don't really want any more birds like her, she is usually freaking out about some random thing, but she's a cutie.
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