Carolina Coop - Painting, Staining, Upgrades, etc.

[2ndTink]

Thank you so much for going on this detour with me, I couldn't ignore your profile silkie pic

These will be my first silkies, and they are hatchery quality. All my birds are vaccinated for Mareks as I'm a bit paranoid. I actually got this coop to better accommodate the more delicate silkies; I live in NC, so I wanted to make sure they had a truly secure, ventilated henhouse + a dry, covered run.

My goal is just to have some fun pets, and silkies are adorable!

I started with 2 hatchery pullets, then kinda dove in to getting the silkies from breeders and looking at the SOP.

My hatchery silkies are very capable, a bit bigger bodied, smaller crests, they don't need any eye trims. They aren't as crazy fluffy, but that also has advantages as well. They lay smaller than my LF eggs of course but they are bigger eggs than my more SOP silkies.

You can heat your coop with a safe heating option if you want, but mine do really well if they are able to cuddle puddle at night to sleep. My hatchery ones get in the nesting boxes on cold nights, they're pretty smart.

Keeping them dry is a really good idea. Mine don't know to go inside when it rains and will literally stand hunched in the downpours, just soaking wet and I have to go save them and get them dried off (these are the ditzy ones... )

My profile photo is a pullet from when I hatched my first silkies, lots of surprises and lots to learn about their genetics, but it has been fun!

 

[lifeatserenityoaks]

I started with 2 hatchery pullets, then kinda dove in to getting the silkies from breeders and looking at the SOP.

My hatchery silkies are very capable, a bit bigger bodied, smaller crests, they don't need any eye trims. They aren't as crazy fluffy, but that also has advantages as well. They lay smaller than my LF eggs of course but they are bigger eggs than my more SOP silkies.

You can heat your coop with a safe heating option if you want, but mine do really well if they are able to cuddle puddle at night to sleep. My hatchery ones get in the nesting boxes on cold nights, they're pretty smart.

Keeping them dry is a really good idea. Mine don't know to go inside when it rains and will literally stand hunched in the downpours, just soaking wet and I have to go save them and get them dried off (these are the ditzy ones... )

My profile photo is a pullet from when I hatched my first silkies, lots of surprises and lots to learn about their genetics, but it has been fun!

If I fall in love with them, I can see myself expanding, we have 10 acres....

Your pullet is beautiful, what color is that? I was "only" able to get black, blue, splash, cuckoo, and white. I might sneak some buffs in from a local breeder if my husband doesn't notice, haha. I got 10 so they'll hopefully be able to cuddle together and keep warm. My bigger girls still cuddle puddle when it's cold, though it doesn't usually get or stay REALLY cold here.

Have you ever mixed any non-silkies in with yours? I've read other chickens may bully the silkies, but I have two bielefelders that while huge are rock bottom of the pecking order and are getting bullied by their much smaller sisters. They don't fly well, so free ranging isn't great for them. They're very docile and submissive, so I had a thought they may be a better fit for the silkie coop, when the silkie are adults of course.