2nd year newbie with some silkie questions

okiemommy wrote:

They stand a better chance of getting along if they are in the brooder together as chicks. I agree too many silkie roo's can be a problem(or any silkie roo depending on the temperament of the bird.) We had a silkie roo and had to get rid of him. He almost killed two of our other chickens one night.

that's terrifying!

yeah, it was bad. They recovered though. I though for sure that my cochin roo was going to die. He just hung his head and laid there, but I did what I could for him and put him in a separate pen for a while and he perked right up. I think if I had gotten there any later, he would have died. I went into the coop one morning and two of them were bloodied and hiding in the corner. It was a bummer too b/c he was a pretty cuckoo silkie. Not purebred, I don't think they've achieved perfection on that breed yet(at least here in the states), but I think he was someones breeding program gone wrong, or an oops at the hatchery. He was pretty though. I still haven't changed my sig line yet btw...I guess I will go do that now.​
 
I raised my Silkies with the rest of my birds in the brooder and they did fine. They held their own with the bigger birds just fine. I did eventually seperate them into their own pen so I could have pure eggs. I put a low roost in the pen for them, about 6" off the ground, although most just do the Silkie pile thing.

Mine lay pretty well until they go broody. I have 10 hens and 1 roo, someone is always broody, but until they go broody they laid pretty well, maybe an egg every other day each? Not bad, I thought. When they're broody, they stop laying while they're incubating their eggs and for about 4 weeks after the babies are hatched. I always let them raise their babies, they're such great mommies.

I didn't handle my Silkies a lot as chicks, so they're not as friendly as they could be. They get excited to see me, but would rather I didn't hold them. But, when they are broody, they're not mean, they let me poke around under them to candle eggs and things.

I love my little Silkies and you won't regret getting yours!
 
this is all great information. thank you all so, so much. this is exactly what i was looking for!
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now i just have to worry about roosters. my only roo experience is bob, our vaguely neurotic, sort of prissy RIR hatchery oops. knowing that RIR roos have a reputation, i spent a lot of time socializing him and i still spend a lot of time maintaining my top rooster status with him. i suppose the trick with impossible-to-sex early silkies is to socialize them all equally, just in case. i actually ordered my chicks from MPC and ordered them sexed (five pullets and a cockerel), but i know that nothing is 100%.
 

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