A silkie attack??? What would you do?

[Lisa202]

I have 4 silkies about 19 weeks old (among others) They are the only ones that I can easily pick up. They always run to me and if I stick my finger at them they sometimes gently peck at my finger nails. But today, one was biting hard. So I flicked her and that caused her to try to bite harder and jump at me. I pushed her back and flicked her more, but that only made her more aggressive to me (I know, I'm talking about silkies here). So I grabbed her and held her shoulders down to the floor, but then one of the others came to her defense and started trying to bite me. So I grabbed the second one and held her down too. But then the 3rd one started in on me. I only have 2 hands so I could only try to shoe her away with my foot, but that made her come at me more. (the 4th one left me alone).

Do you think this was them being aggressive? I mean, they're silkies for pete sake?

 

[dianaross77]

I think that one might be a rooster.

 

[gritsar]

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Agreed.

 

[TwoCrows]

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I have the same issue going on in my chicken yard. I have 2 girls that have become aggressive with me to point of biting me hard. Even drawing blood. I have found over the years of raising indoor parrots and outdoor quail, that if you spend enough time with your birds, you are going to become part of the pecking order.

I have tried it all with "Pearl and Miss Molly" after being bitten. Holding them down, locking them in the coop, etc...But the only thing that SOMETIMES works is doing as they do to each other. Take your index finger hold it above their heads. Poke with your finger at the top of their head. This tells them you are above them in the pecking order. Now it seems to work on one of my girls, but not the other.

I have become so tired of being bitten by "Pearl" that I have ordered these...

http://www.eggcartons.com/Pinless-Peepers/productinfo/PINLESS-P/

The have not arrived yet, but when they do, she is going to have to wear these until she pipes down. Not only is she aggressive to me, but to the lower ranking bird and before there is blood shed, Pearl will have to be controlled. As I understand it, they wear these for a month or so. They don't like it at first, but they get used to it and it can stop the aggression. My Pearl is bad enough that it is either wear these or get rehomed.

Good luck with your birds and I COMPLETELY understand.

 

[Lisa202]

They aren't roosters for sure. But I agree with TwoCrows...these 4 silkies I have become way more familiar with. The others are all more skittish, some more than the others. When I raised them, I had them in a very large deep brooder, so catching them was very hard and they would freak out so much, that I didn't want to terrorize them so I didn't try to catch them very often. This resulted in them being more skittish with me. The 4 silkies I put in a much smaller brooder so I was able to pick them up more. Maybe I have become "one of them", but even if that's the case, having 3 gang up on me was weird. I had a bully brahma that I had to rehome, but she wasn't mean to me, just the other chickens. I guess I shouldn't allow them to peck at my fingernails anymore and be a little more strict.

 

[keesmom]

The most aggressive roo I ever had was a silkie. He started biting me at 5 weeks old for just filling the feeders.

Are you positive they're all hens? I had a buff I didn't know was a roo until the age of 7 months. Even then he didn't crow.

 

[clairabean]

Is it wrong that I giggles a bit about the mental picture of you being attacked by tiny little silkies....?

AHHH!! The silkies! Sorry, just joking around.

 

[Lisa202]

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It was pretty funny. But did you ever really look at their faces? Those eyes with all the fluff on top with those blue beaks sticking out of those long freakish necks...they can be a little serious looking...being a silkie and all. And they are full grown, so they're not that little (I'm used to bantams by the way).