Silkie thread!

[Sylvester017]

My daighter wants to get a white silkie. Problem is how would they do in a coup with 5 Buff Orpingtons if I got them all as chicks? My buffs are coming June 10 and I thought I could get a silkie at the same time and let them get to know each other. The other thing is she would have to stay in the coop while the ladies free range. Our coop is 45 square feet not including the run which is 18'x6'. Do they need company? Should I get a second one?

I should've paid attention when I was advised not to mix Silkies with large fowl. I learned the hard way. A 2-lb Silkie doesn't have much of a chance with 6 or 7-lb large fowl Buff Orps when pecking order squabbles happen as adults. My 2 Silkie day-olds were raised with 4 large fowl day-old chicks and the large fowl chicks grew larger and faster than the Silkie chicks and pecked at them. With the soft skulls on Silkie crests it's not a good idea to mix them with large fowl chicks. People say they have no problem but I personally wouldn't want to take the chance with soft Silkie skull crests. A Silkie really shouldn't be the only bantam in a large fowl flock.

 

[Raisingmsdaisy]

Thanks for your help! I will get a couple then. I read up on them and learned all about their "special needs" and knew free ranging would be out of the question - especially in the mountains of Colorado. I will likely have to set up a coop inside our barn just for them in the winter where they can be out of the elements and have a heat lamp available or maybe I will just keep them separate all together in the barn. But we just love them

 

[QueenMisha]

So this is the definite cockerel. Large head spot, well defined barring on the wings.

I think this one is a cockerel. It has a definite head spot but no visible barring yet. Perhaps a slow developing male? Or maybe a weirdly colored female.

Either pullet offspring of my sex linked cross or just a black chick from my Cochin/Silkie hen.

Same as the last. Black chick. Yes it's a flat feather - haven't mentioned it until now but the Cuckoo female I'm working with is a flat feather Sizzle, carrier of the Silkie gene. But so is my Cochin/Silkie so 25% chance of a flat feather from either carrier hen.

Pullet sex link chick from yesterday. That weird whiteish spot on the back of her neck is actually the feathers which got a bit wet when she hatched - in indirect light the plumage is all black.

Cockerel sex link chick from yesterday. Obvious white dot on the head. Feet are melanized.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Does anyone know how to get some weight on my silkies I don't know how much the kid I got them off fed them but they are a little skinny he took good care of them they just don't seem like they are interested in the food they are really heathy very active and alert they just seem more interested in eating grass that they can barely break off to eat instead of eating the food

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Here are a few pics of them there is 4 splash and one red I thought it was buff but that's what they told me

 

[chicken hawk 33]

Anyone know what mines color is called

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks for your help! I will get a couple then. I read up on them and learned all about their "special needs" and knew free ranging would be out of the question - especially in the mountains of Colorado. I will likely have to set up a coop inside our barn just for them in the winter where they can be out of the elements and have a heat lamp available or maybe I will just keep them separate all together in the barn. But we just love them

Silkies are like potato chips - can't have just one! Keeping them in a barn all the time might not be too natural. Silkies - like any chicken - love to dust bathe in the dirt and take sun baths on warm days, love to scratch and dig for seeds and bugs, and forage, and flap their wings, and run around chasing butterflies. If you can't open range them then a semi-roomy portable tractor for them would be good to move around to different grass everyday with access to soft soil for dust baths. They might be little but want to do everything the large fowl do! GL w/your plans

.

SILLY SILKIES WILL GET INTO COBWEBS AND PICK UP FANCY HAIRDO'S


RAINY WEATHER MAKES STRANGE BEDFELLOWS IN A DOGHOUSE - THERE'S 2 SILKIES, AN AMERAUCANA AND A BREDA (WAY BACK IN THE DOGHOUSE).


OUR TWO SILKIES ARE NOT THE BEST BUDDIES YET TOODLE AROUND TOGETHER.


WHEN THE LARGE FOWL ARE MISCHIEVOUSLY DIGGING IN OLD GARDEN CONTAINERS THE SILKIE IN THE BACKGROUND IS RUNNING TO JOIN THEM. SHE WON'T JUMP INTO THE POTS BUT STILL WANTS TO FEEL LIKE SHE'S JOINING IN THE ACTIVITY.


ONE SILKIE IS ON THE OPEN GRASS AND THE 2ND BLACK SILKIE IS UNDER THE LEAN-TO NEAR THE WHEELBARROW. SILKIES ARE NOT ONES TO BE LEFT OUT OF WHATEVER THE LARGE FOWL ARE DOING.


A BLACK AND A PARTRIDGE SILKIE DIGGING IN THE DIRT WITH THE BLUE BREDA FOWL.


THE TWO SILKIES STAYING CLOSE TO THE PERSON HANDING OUT TREATS. SILKIES DON'T REALIZE THEY ARE LITTLE WHEN IT COMES TO GETTING THE TREATS THAT ALL THE LARGE FOWL ARE GETTING.


2 SILKIES AND 1 BREDA HANGING OUT AT THE BACK DOOR.


SILKIES AND LEGHORN RUNNING TO GET TO THE BACK DOOR FIRST!


DURING BACKYARD REMODELING THE CHICKENS LARGE AND SMALL HAD A BLAST DIGGING IN THE OLD RAISED GARDEN BED.


THEY WERE TOO BUSY DIGGING FOR GRUBS AND SEEDS TO POSE FOR THE CAMERA!


TWO SILKIES (OR MORE) IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN JUST ONE SILKIE IF YOU PLAN TO INTEGRATE SILKIES WITH A COUPLE LARGE BREEDS. I DON'T HAVE LARGE FOWL OVER 5-LB AROUND OUR 2 SILKIES.



THIS IS WHAT ONE LARGE HEAVY MARANS DID TO OUR PARTRIDGE SILKIE ON THE ROOST EVERY NIGHT BEFORE WE REALIZED THE SILKIE WAS NOT MOLTING BUT BEING CANNIBALIZED! SO NOW I DON'T KEEP LARGE, HEAVY, OR DUAL-PURPOSE HERITAGE LARGE FOWL ANYMORE -- NO BREED OVER 5-LB AROUND THE SILKIES. THE 2 GENTLEST LARGE FOWL SO FAR HAVE BEEN A 4-LB BLUE BREDA AND A 5-LB BLUE WHEATEN AMERAUCANA WITH THE SILKIES. THE LEGHORNS AND MARANS WERE TOO NASTY TO THE LITTLES.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Does anyone know how to get some weight on my silkies I don't know how much the kid I got them off fed them but they are a little skinny he took good care of them they just don't seem like they are interested in the food they are really heathy very active and alert they just seem more interested in eating grass that they can barely break off to eat instead of eating the food

I feed mine a game bird finisher, 22% protein but only 1-9% calcium. Cooked rice with some raw egg and mackerel or sardines is also a good fattener. Also don't be tempted to pick the grass for them, they only take the tips , but handfuls of grass are the perfect length to cause impacted crop.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Anyone know what mines color is called

I didn't know u had silkies do u have any pics of it

 

[Sylvester017]

Does anyone know how to get some weight on my silkies I don't know how much the kid I got them off fed them but they are a little skinny he took good care of them they just don't seem like they are interested in the food they are really heathy very active and alert they just seem more interested in eating grass that they can barely break off to eat instead of eating the food

Chickens love greens, seeds, bugs, grubs, and their nutritious feed. Try a can of kitten food or small meat chunks cat food or a few mealworms. They just might be craving some sort of meat source in addition to feed and greens. They love crickets if you catch some overnight in a milk carton or dig up earthworms under a brick. Try a little wild bird seed mix - a good one - not one full of dry coarse ground up corn bits! We give our birds a slice of cantaloupe, cooked brown organic rice (not white rice), add Rooster Booster vitamin supplement to the rice with Brewer's Yeast powder and a little sprinkle of bee pollen seedlets. We give cucumber slices, shelled raw sunflower seeds, watermelon (hot days), corn off the cob, banana pieces, blueberries, cooked shrimp or fish (no bones), cooked turkey bits (no onion salt or onion powder or onions in the cooking), cut up lettuces and chard, etc. Something should grab your Silkies' attention and fuel their appetites. One day they crave one food and the next day something totally different. When we try a new produce to give our Silkies, we break off tiny pieces and hand feed it to them to see if they like it. Usually they love anything you hand-feed them. Ours wouldn't eat banana for 5 years until I offered a tiny piece to a Silkie and she went nuts for it and the other chickens came running to get some too. These are suggestions to add variety to their diet in small amounts but their feed should continue being their main source of nutrition.