My first Silkies... I'm beginning to think they are thick!!

[EggSighted4Life]

see not going up ramps into a raised coop or not roosting, but they are a flightless ground breed that doesn’t see well. I would think it’s against there instinct to sleep off the ground.

They aren't really too much flightless, some can make it all the way to the top of our outdoor dining table from the ground. To me that's relatively just as high as most of my large fowl can make it.

Every single one who can find their way will NOT stay on the ground or near the food source... I collect feed every night anyways. While I don't think they are the brightest of all my breeds... they are prey animals and have some natural instincts to avoid predation. Given the opportunity... they will get as high as they can in my experience... and I even provide daytime perches in my Silkie pen. If I have someone in a broody breaker, the others think the kennel is a nice place to roost on top of.

If they are sleeping near the food source... that must be the place they think is the safest.... I think.

I don't think Silkies are truly stupid... I do think they are special needs chickens. And yes, too huge of crest definitely impacts their abilities to function... you can see some trying to make things out... trimming crest, made it poof more into the eyes of the one I tried and made it worse... We bought Aqua Net hair spray, hair gel, and all kinds of other things to try... Seeing really does make a difference! But even when they are chicks and see perfectly well, next to other chick breeds of the same age with the same mum... they simply don't figure things out as quickly (most of the time).

my rooster doesn't attack girls or boys,only my dad,

Proof that people have different standards... I would not keep a "rooster" that attacked ANY member of my family (child, adult, or k9)... bantam or not it isn't cute or funny, it's unacceptable behavior to me!

I understand that it makes YOU feel special when he curls up and purrs in your lap... that's what a lot of Chihuahua's do. Small animals can be taught manners just as well as large ones.

Yes, my Silkies rush their gate when they know I am coming, the same way my stags, hens, and other separated coops do. It's funny, when I get home and they are all on alert because they are SLIGHTLY in tune with my dogs.

Silkies are still creatures of habit... they will follow the routine once they have figured it out. They like security as well.

 

[snow5164]

I've got a few Silkies, makes all the other girls seem really, really smart though.
Dumber than a box of rocks, one and all.

Now come on, that’s just not nice!!

Just because you don’t take the extra time to trim around their eyes and adjust the coop for their needs doesn’t make them dumb as rocks ! Really how brilliant are your other birds anyways ??

Let’s be honest , when you can raise 25 birds without giving a haircut , or altering the roost heights that’s seen as easy.....

But if you choose a breed that has unique needs don’t blame them ..putting them with full size birds with limited vision is your bad choice.
mine are crazy friendly but you know what? I carried them around as chicks , I hold them everyday , I let the rooster guide them and don’t interfere in his job .

You guys have to be careful someone reading this won’t give a silkie a chance because of the harsh words .

Let’s practuce the mantra of my years in the school system
“Give according to their needs ”

 

[Johnny98]

Now come on, that’s just not nice!!

Just because you don’t take the extra time to trim around their eyes and adjust the coop for their needs doesn’t make them dumb as rocks ! Really how brilliant are your other birds anyways ??

Let’s be honest , when you can raise 25 birds without giving a haircut , or altering the roost heights that’s seen as easy.....

But if you choose a breed that has unique needs don’t blame them ..putting them with full size birds with limited vision is your bad choice.
mine are crazy friendly but you know what? I carried them around as chicks , I hold them everyday , I let the rooster guide them and don’t interfere in his job .

You guys have to be careful someone reading this won’t give a silkie a chance because of the harsh words .

Let’s practuce the mantra of my years in the school system
“Give according to their needs ”

Better to ask questions than make assumptions, you're off target by a good margin.

 

[RodNTN]

I'm on the fence about Silkies, I think they are absolutely adorable, and they are such lapdogs! But they are just...dumb. They are sweet and all, but compared to my other hens they were the ones without the brains. Don't get me wrong, I would gladly raise a dozen Silkies! It would take some patience, but I love them

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

I’ve raised Silkies in the past and all of mine figured out how to roost on their own. I had a Birchen Silkie cockerel who would fight with my large fowl hens and pullets.

 

[Chickassan]

Totally agree, they're probably a fine breed if you've got the dedication to work with them. But if anyone just thinks they can toss them out and they'll chicken just fine without a little extra TLC they'll be in for a surprise. I did my research on the faverolles before I started. I knew they were flaky but I find them beautiful. Won't lie those birds need and get more attention than most children, but i'm fine with it.

Now come on, that’s just not nice!!

Just because you don’t take the extra time to trim around their eyes and adjust the coop for their needs doesn’t make them dumb as rocks ! Really how brilliant are your other birds anyways ??

Let’s be honest , when you can raise 25 birds without giving a haircut , or altering the roost heights that’s seen as easy.....

But if you choose a breed that has unique needs don’t blame them ..putting them with full size birds with limited vision is your bad choice.
mine are crazy friendly but you know what? I carried them around as chicks , I hold them everyday , I let the rooster guide them and don’t interfere in his job .

You guys have to be careful someone reading this won’t give a silkie a chance because of the harsh words .

Let’s practuce the mantra of my years in the school system
“Give according to their needs ”

 

[L1sa]

Lol! This is my first time of owning Silkies, and although they are a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic they are quite sweet! And had I not had a different breed before, I may have thought that all chickens were like that and just gotten on with it. It's just after having a few different breeds, I have something to compare them too!! And actually having another chick with the 3 Silkies means the comparrison is right there infront of me.

It's a good job we love all chicks here hey

 

[New2Chicks97]

Now come on, that’s just not nice!!

Just because you don’t take the extra time to trim around their eyes and adjust the coop for their needs doesn’t make them dumb as rocks ! Really how brilliant are your other birds anyways ??

Let’s be honest , when you can raise 25 birds without giving a haircut , or altering the roost heights that’s seen as easy.....

But if you choose a breed that has unique needs don’t blame them ..putting them with full size birds with limited vision is your bad choice.
mine are crazy friendly but you know what? I carried them around as chicks , I hold them everyday , I let the rooster guide them and don’t interfere in his job .

You guys have to be careful someone reading this won’t give a silkie a chance because of the harsh words .

Let’s practuce the mantra of my years in the school system
“Give according to their needs ”

Not all silkies have huge poofs that interfere with their sight. My daughter's silkies can see as well as any other chicken around here....the girl even roosts. Yet they still have taken a long time to catch on to things that her Brahma had down in less than a week. Either they are stubborn or they aren't quite a bright.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Either they are stubborn or they aren't quite a bright.

A little of both maybe.

Yet ONE more thing to select for in the breeds we choose to work with in hopes of maintaining their breed for future generations... intelligence.

To be fair... the Silkies are still smarter than some people I have met.

While I have lost a few chicks with a Silkie mom to hawks, mine are free range virtually every day since they first went out almost 3 years ago.. and I haven't lost a single one to predation YET. MAYBE because they are in with other breeds that can sound the alarm when they see something.

But there are many MYTHS surrounding Silkies that SHOULD be put rest... They AREN'T the BEST broody's just excessively broody, big difference. They aren't incapable of free ranging... and they LOVE being out and foraging like a chicken. While they may not see something directly above them, they can still see the aerial space off in the distance and they still have an awareness that they are prey. And they don't (in my experience) "prefer" sleeping on the ground... they do what they can and what they are used to. If they know the way and have the ability... they will roost. Their eggs aren't "tiny" once they reach full maturity... they are at least medium sized. When they aren't broody... they are actually decent layers of about 4 eggs per week. They aren't ALWAYS prone to be pecked on if kept with large fowl. Oh wait, I have another good one! Silkies aren't gonna melt if they get hit by a drop of rain. I live in the PNW where we only got like 43 inches of rain last year and maybe 100 the year before.. A place to stay dry like the rest of us is all they need! Nobodies feet rotted off or caught pneumonia. SOOOO many things depend on the individual bird and situation....

As people who keep Silkies, as a labor of Love... let's do the breed a favor and select for more important qualities that really matter... like slightly LESS broodiness and more "Sandwiches in their picnics."

 

[BrindleFinch]

I have two silkies, but they weren't raised any differently from my other chooks. They don't really seem any different.

Maybe it's just because I never really treated them differently? I kinda just expected them to be chickens. They're not any more or less smart, they know how to do things, they just choose not to expend the energy. Perhaps that makes them smarter, even?

My Australorp, however, reminds me every day that intelligence is an individual trait. The rest of the flock is at my heels, clucking quietly and excited to start free ranging... and 5 minutes later here comes the squawking t-rex flying not so gracefully through the air because she just figured out (for the thousandth time) that the door is how you get out of the coop