Silky Chick

[DaisyRozelle]

My Silky chicks are about 10 weeks old, it was a nice sunny day so I opened the door to the little coop. It is about 3 feet off the ground and the stair way down is 4 ft so it is slightly steep. The 1st chick to venture out, rolled all the way down the steps, so I got her and put her back and put chicken wire across the doorway so they could still look out.

Do the silkys need a less steep stairway or are they just too young still to tackle it??? I can take a picture.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

That is pretty steep for tiny babies. You might put a few more ribs in that ramp so there is more place to grip. Or raise it up from the bottom with some bricks so it is less steep. You can stack a few more bricks at the bottom to step on and off from. It takes chicks a while to grow up and learn how to manage these things. With Silkies, make sure to trim the hair out of their eyes so they can see to eat and drink. They can become nutrient starved not seeing well to find food. I even know someone that had a Silkie wander into a pond and drown because they couldn't see well.

Have you found our Silkies thread yet? You might get lots more help here as well....https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/297632/silkie-thread

Enjoy your new babies and welcome to our flock!

 

[sunflour]

Glad you have joined us.

IMO the ramp will be too steep even when they are grown. I wanted to shorten mine and use a couple of paver stones to raise the bottom. You can use anything you have around to raise it some and add bricks, wood, box for them to access the ground.

There's a product sold at most hardware stores used on steps to prevent slipping - peel off backing and stick right on the ramp between the cross bars and works quite well.


Good luck with all.

 

[N F C]

Welcome to BYC!

@TwoCrows and @sunflour have given you some good advice about the ramp...sure don't want any injured birds because that's not fun for them or you!

Good luck to you! Hope you're enjoying have chickens.

 

[DaisyRozelle]

Thank you all for the good advice. I will be using your ideas!

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[drumstick diva]

Silkies are not really flyers, they kinda hop to get where they want to go. Their type of feathers don't make good wing covering for flying. Often they don't roost either but, like to pile up on top of each other in a corner of the floor. To learn more about silkies - visit "Silkie thread." The folks there should be able to answer most of your questions.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC!

 

[DaisyRozelle]

I may just hire someone to lift the whole coop off the metal frame and lower it down to sit on 4 x 4 pieces. I am learning about silkies! Thank you all for the advice and links!

 

[rainbowhatchery]

nice set up