Silkie thread!

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Here's my buff silkie... Guessing pullet.
400
 
Does anyone know where I can acquire silkie juvenile girls in the San Francisco bay area? My oldest girl is almost 8 and I have lost several to old age. Time to refresh the stock! I already have 2 Roos and live in the city limits of Berkeley. I never could find a good home for them so they came back to me twice. They sleep in the garage at nite so they don't disturb the *** behind me. Im looking for several girls to integrate in to their family.
 
tjo804 said:
is this normal silkie behavior or should I separate this one for a while too? any advise is greatly appreciated! she is 3 wk 6 days old.
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I have a silky that was born 4 1/2 years ago that does that with her head and she still does. Shes still alive and kicking while her sibling unfortunately passed 2 days ago that was perfectly fine. Don't know what causes her to do that maybe do ekind of motor skills defect, but shes had a perfectly happy and healthy existence!
 
RubyNala97 said:
This is great information! I was wondering about trimming the fluff around their eyes. It doesn't seem to bother my pullet at all but I can tell a big difference in my cockerel since his crest came in. He used to love worms that I would feed him. But now I think he's having a hard time seeing them when I hold them between my fingers. I have to lay them on my hand flat and put them right up to his beak. He seems more reserved and skittish. I'm going to trim him up today!! Thank you for all the info!
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I've had my Silkies for 4 years only and at first was concerned about vision capability since there was so much discussion about vision impairment with crested breeds. I have never trimmed my crested Silkies. They free range our little cottage backyard and have no problems getting around or avoiding predators because we provide several scattered shelters for them. As for eating I have some birds that prefer eating out of the hand and some that prefer it left on the ground and has nothing to do with their vision. It is simply a matter of preference. i.e. cucumbers are preferred eaten while we hold them tightly in our fingers, fresh corn kernels or raisins are preferred one piece offered at a time, mealworms are preferred scattered on the ground, etc. Sometimes dangling a wiggling worm is studied before being taken out of our fingers, I have a Breda that sometimes submissively hesitates taking something out of my hand yet has no qualms snapping up a live cricket out of a small plastic cup - it's a chicken thing and has something to do with pecking order status and/or submission to their human's hand. We have an Ameraucana that prefers a game of our tossing cuke slices for her to chase while the Silkies prefer us to hold the slices for them to peck at. I have one dainty Partridge Silkie that will study a piece of food for a long time, take it daintily into her beak, put it on the ground, and savor little tiny bite sizes while another Silkie will gulp things down whole before realizing what they just grabbed from our hand.

Because our Silkies free range the backyard their crests/beards get worn, matted, sparser because of their foraging and it takes a damp cloth sometimes to get debris out of their feathers, but somehow they always manage to nibble each other's face feathers around just the eye area to enable vision. I don't have to cut any feathers on any of our birds including wing feathers and never lost a chicken over the fence or had one that couldn't see what they were doing. But again I'm one of those people that don't like to see puppy tails docked or ears docked on dogs. JMHO.
 
Sylvester017 said:
I've had my Silkies for 4 years only and at first was concerned about vision capability since there was so much discussion about vision impairment with crested breeds.  I have never trimmed my crested Silkies.  They free range our little cottage backyard and have no problems getting around or avoiding predators because we provide several scattered shelters for them.  As for eating I have some birds that prefer eating out of the hand and some that prefer it left on the ground and has nothing to do with their vision.  It is simply a matter of preference.  i.e. cucumbers are preferred eaten while we hold them tightly in our fingers, fresh corn kernels or raisins are preferred one piece offered at a time, mealworms are preferred scattered on the ground, etc.  Sometimes dangling a wiggling worm is studied before being taken out of our fingers, I have a Breda that sometimes submissively hesitates taking something out of my hand yet has no qualms snapping up a live cricket out of a small plastic cup - it's a chicken thing and has something to do with pecking order status and/or submission to their human's hand.  We have an Ameraucana that prefers a game of our tossing cuke slices for her to chase while the Silkies prefer us to hold the slices for them to peck at.  I have one dainty Partridge Silkie that will study a piece of food for a long time, take it daintily into her beak, put it on the ground, and savor little tiny bite sizes while another Silkie will gulp things down whole before realizing what they just grabbed from our hand.

Because our Silkies free range the backyard their crests/beards get worn, matted, sparser because of their foraging and it takes a damp cloth sometimes to get debris out of their feathers, but somehow they always manage to nibble each other's face feathers around just the eye area to enable vision.  I don't have to cut any feathers on any of our birds including wing feathers and never lost a chicken over the fence or had one that couldn't see what they were doing.  But again I'm one of those people that don't like to see puppy tails docked or ears docked on dogs. JMHO.
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Whilst I understand where you are coming from, Chinese silkies did not have the huge bonnets that we are seeing now. This is a result of genetic engineering, due to ' supply and demand. I have silkies in my garden and also in the main coops and have observed them over long periods of time, those that cannot see through their bonnets are clumsy, shy and far more reserved than those without.
If you have floppy crested birds and their vision is impaired by the physical obstruction , I can't see that trimming feathers around the eyes and beard is any different to you or I cutting our hair once it becomes a nuisance. Just my opinion , from what I have observed in many generations of my own birds. :)
 

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