Any silkie owners on?

[Sweetlilbaby]

I love it. They aren't much for trying to escape are they? I want to have free range chickens But am in the city. I have a big back yard that is fully fenced with 5 ft fencing (at the lowest point)

 

[Nsampsel]

Just make sure there aren't any gaps at the bottom. They have a hard time getting more than a foot or 2 off the ground without help tho. Mine wander the yard when I'm out there feeding. Can't let em roam the rest of the time tho. Yard isn't fenced

I'm in town too.

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

My yard is fenced. They'd just be loose when I'm with them because of how many cats there are. I'm actually thinking of going to my brothers tomorrow to borrow his cat trap. start taking any cat that wonders into my yard to animal control and let their owner pay a fine for allowing it to roam. it's illegal to allow cats to roam free in the city.
But when I'm out there they can debug the property. I already went around the edges fixing anything in the boards that needed to be so chicks couldn't escape. It's a board fence with cement at the bottom all the way around.

 

[Nsampsel]

That should work. I just lost 5 more birds (no Silkies) to coons last night. They got 2 yesterday & ripped the wing off another. I had to do "surgery" to remove the exposed bone & patch her up. She's a bit wobbly but doing well so far. Antibiotics in her water, another water container with diluted Gatorade with sugar in it & yogurt added to her crumbles to make them more appealing. I brought her brood mate/best friend in to keep her company this morning. They are currently in a medium sized pet taxi in my son's room where I can monitor her. So in the last 36 hours, I've lost 7 birds & a wing off an 8th. I need some coon traps!!!!!

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

I meant they wouldn't run loose unless i'm with them. grr just caught my mistake there. I have cages and a big dog crate (great dane sized) to keep them in if i'm not out with them. I figure 6 silkies would be comfy in a big dog crate for night time. I plan to open up a dog house front to be able to put the crate inside of the dog house so it has a roof, floor and sides.

 

[Nsampsel]

Are you talking a dog kennel? That's exactly what the coons grabbed mine out of & munched them the last 2 nights.

Something completely enclosed with wooden walls for night time would be much better & the areas not covered in wood for the night-time enclosure should have 1/2 X 1/2 or 1/2 X 1 hardware cloth to cover vented areas. I learned the HARD way about dog kennels for chickens. My actual pen for my Silkies & the ones for my LF & ducks are enclosed on all sides with hardware cloth with all vents & openings facing into the secure run. That way, nothing can even come close to touching my birds while they sleep. I regret ever putting my poor babies in the dog kennels. 8 have become coon snacks & they ripped the wing off of my 4 month old Silver Sebright pullet cuz she wouldn't fit thru the bars. She's just lucky they had her by the wing & not the head.

Just speaking from personal experience, I would go get a roll or 2 of hardware cloth about 2x2 or 2x3 50 ft long or more (around $40-50) and completely enclose a run top, bottom & all sides and then place your kennel inside if that's what you plan to use. Tarp the top & 3 sides to insulate it a bit & that should work fine...just don't set it against the exterior fence. I also got a small roll of regular chicken wire (25 ft for under $20) and did the bottom 2 ft of the run with it just to make sure any chicks I may later have in there couldn't get thru the wire.

I just put WAY too much money into getting SQ stock on my Silkies to chance anything happening to them. My poor banty babies & some of my younger pullets weren't so lucky cuz I thot they would be secure in a kennel. That security lasted all of 24 hrs. By the 2nd night of them being there the coons had found them & they began disappearing.

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

Are you talking a dog kennel? That's exactly what the coons grabbed mine out of & munched them the last 2 nights.

Something completely enclosed with wooden walls for night time would be much better & the areas not covered in wood for the night-time enclosure should have 1/2 X 1/2 or 1/2 X 1 hardware cloth to cover vented areas. I learned the HARD way about dog kennels for chickens. My actual pen for my Silkies & the ones for my LF & ducks are enclosed on all sides with hardware cloth with all vents & openings facing into the secure run. That way, nothing can even come close to touching my birds while they sleep. I regret ever putting my poor babies in the dog kennels. 8 have become coon snacks & they ripped the wing off of my 4 month old Silver Sebright pullet cuz she wouldn't fit thru the bars. She's just lucky they had her by the wing & not the head.

Just speaking from personal experience, I would go get a roll or 2 of hardware cloth about 2x2 or 2x3 50 ft long or more (around $40-50) and completely enclose a run top, bottom & all sides and then place your kennel inside if that's what you plan to use. Tarp the top & 3 sides to insulate it a bit & that should work fine...just don't set it against the exterior fence. I also got a small roll of regular chicken wire (25 ft for under $20) and did the bottom 2 ft of the run with it just to make sure any chicks I may later have in there couldn't get thru the wire.

I just put WAY too much money into getting SQ stock on my Silkies to chance anything happening to them. My poor banty babies & some of my younger pullets weren't so lucky cuz I thot they would be secure in a kennel. That security lasted all of 24 hrs. By the 2nd night of them being there the coons had found them & they began disappearing.

It's a dog kennel. I have a wooden dog house that would cover the top, and 3 sides. I can cover the doorway to it with chicken wire. I have a roll of it. Didn't think they'd be close enough to the edge of it for that to really matter though.
Eventually I want to get a dog kennel (like the ones costco has) that has the top and everything. then within that have their dog house to use as a coop. It's just right now I'm on a rental property so I can't do a lot of building things. BTW I have a 3 cage set up in the garage that has funnel things on it to collect poop and buckets under those. I can also keep chickens in those for the night. Then nothing can get to them (weather or animals)

 

[Nsampsel]

That would probably work then. I had a pet taxi inside my kennel for them to hide in & they still snagged 3 plus the 1's wing from that pen & there was tarp over the top & 2 sides. They slid the droppings pan out on my stacked cages & grabbed my poor babies from underneath while they slept. Lost 5 that way. Just bear in mind that if there are openings in the sleeping area bigger than 1 X 1/2 then animals can reach in & grab them & either kill them or do serious damage. Even skunks & cats are a concern. It's not so big of a problem during the day when the birds are alert & can see danger coming. But at night, anything can grab them if they are too close to the fence while sleeping.

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

I'm more worried about cats here. The zoo (that is only a mile away) trapped and ummm down sized the coon population. There was an outbreak of distemper in the coons so they killed and tested all they could catch (not upset about that at all, wish they'd catch more)

My husband is starting to get on board with me keeping the hens inside the garage at night in my plastic dog crate if they all fit. Right now I have 3 older chicks in it. I just want to be able to allow the chickens to freerange during the day while I'm with them. I'm worried if I wasn't out there a bird might attack them.

 

[shardean]

I just set 24 silkie eggs...my first try for silkies....very excited!