So...silkies are the dumbest birds ever...*UPDATE!!!*

[Camelot Farms]

My silkies do roost. Of course, the neighbors dog may to be to thank for that. He 'wanders' over most nights to raid the barn. I think the silkies got smart and flew out of his reach. So, they roost on the top beam of my 4 ft stalls.

Smart and they roost...

 

[Chew593]

Hoorraayyy!!! I just thought my silkie was a newb! Now I know it's part of the breed.
Mine sleeps on top of the feed bag. If I go in the coop after they've gone to bed I'll put it up with it's flock. All the rest of my chicks are up on the roosts like chicks should be!

 

[silkiechicken]

Mine roost... and as long as they can see, they act just like every other chicken. Most are "dumb" because they just plain can't see anything!

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Yep...that isn't the issue with mine...Definitely clipped them WELL beyond what I needed to.

I wonder why the whites are the ones that still won't get up into the roost? I almost died when I saw the Buff cockerel in there!

 

[CallyB57]

My Silkies are highly intelligent...I read that they didn't fly, so I put a roosting board about 12" off the hen house floor and by mistake left my hammer & a box of nails behind the hen house door (lucky I always close my boxes of nails - I got tired of spilling them). Anyway, the next day I went to do some more 'construction' and realized I had left my nails and hammer in the hen house. OMG - Lo and behold, when I neared the hen house I heard hammering and loud chirping- I thought - my X is in there doing something he thinks needs doing! Much to my surprise, when I opened the door, the Silkies were just about to finish up a modification to the roosting board - they had lowered the board 6" and were just driving the last nail!

 

[suebee]

Tsk, tsk.....Sorry to out do you, but I caught my silkies hens chattering away about boob jobs, and the silkie roosters were talking about the use of Viagra in the workplace...how it would stimulate production.

 

[redroosta]

Quote:
silkies cannot fly, their wings are practically like fluffy toothpicks. they are thin and do not catch air well. they can't roost

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

Just to prove the power of chicken fever, I've read every single post in this thread, and am still thinking "How can I find myself a Silkie?????"

Dream about them all the time...

 

[SPRING CREEK FARM]

Well, I LOVE my silkies!!
That is the whole reason we are adding another coop complete with a nursery run and another separate large outside pen/run so that I can add to my little silkie flock. As a matter of fact, I am picking up 4 more silkies early in the morning from one of the guys that work where I work. I took off 2 vacation days just to get all this ready for them.
Here where I live, it seems that everyone loves the little things but they are so hard to come by. I have 2 incubators full (they hold 41 eggs) and approximately 50% or better are from my silkie hens. I am praying for more little silkie chicks!

Please don't think that they are dumb little birds. They are gentle and loving and are such good little mothers. Even the roos have their own personality, as roos do, but not quite as docile as the hens! NO they cannot fly. Sometimes they like to think that just maybe they can, but NO they cannot. I even put a little wood bench in their run so they can hop up on it and act big and stare down the bantams in the adjoining pen! They are so funny!!!

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Quote:
silkies cannot fly, their wings are practically like fluffy toothpicks. they are thin and do not catch air well. they can't roost

Tell that to the one that got over the 5' fence....and the ones that are able to climb into the coop.