Chicken Breed Focus - Silkie

[MrsMVP]

We have 4 sillkies right now. We are really enjoying them so far. We will definitely have to get some better egg layers though because 3 eggs a week won't make much of a dent for a family of 7. Our TSC has been sold out of chicks every week within hours of getting them in ~ we had the choice of silkies or nothing when we bought these. It's been fun watching thier feathers come in though I certainly wouldn't trade them in. Thank you for this concise breed info post. M

 

[Christianson97]

We have a little silkie roo named Snowball. Decided to hatch one of his offsprings. It might be a new thing for us. Love this little guy. He’s such a character.

 

[Jadakraft1]

I got my first silkies this spring!! They’re so much joy!! They’re so beautiful!!

 

[Simimaus]

I know exactly what you r talking about . Our white silkie roo “Prince Charming “ is just that. He used to have seizures I think I helped him with vitamins and probiotics. He still shakes his head a little more then everyone else, but he is the most lovable thing. He’s also a great dad. All babies run to him for protection and he shows them food

We just LOVE our Silkie! We have a very small flock of 10 chickens. There are 6 different breeds. We only have one silkie. At about 4 months or so, ours had a seisure... We weren't sure what had happened and found out that it was very common for the breed... after spending a night in the house everything seemed just fine and our Silkie re-joined the flock the next day. We weren't sure if this would affect egg-production and were curious as to what the eggs would look like... I guess we will never find out because our Silkie turned out to be a boy! We were expecting an all-hen flock, but if someone had to be a rooster, we are so happy it was the Silkie! His name is Sam LOL! He brings us so much joy! We love to watch him run and jump around! Not sure if he can't see very well or if he was somehow affected by the seizure, but he is the sweetest one of them all! He has the most amazing personality!! He follows us around and eats out of your hand and seems to know his name! he doesn't mind when you pet him and is very good about keeping the girls close to the coop! He has recently been working on his crowing and it's the most adoreable thing we have ever heard! Some of the more expierenced chicken keepers that have never had silkies are telling us that he will get better at his crowing, but I think it's as good as it gets! Which is fine by us! It's not piercingly loud and it's not perfect, but it's perfect for us! Sam is the best! <3

 

[Simimaus]

Hi Everyone,
I will be starting to raise chickens beginning ion March 2020. I was looking at the Silkies and find them to be very unique and adorable. I wanted your thoughts if they would do well with other breeds such as Jersey Giants, Wyandotte's or Plymouth Rock. I want to raise chickens for eggs; however it wouldn't hurt to have some usual smaller egg layers as well.

Mine get along with the others just fine. At first they were picked on. But then my brownie silkie girl got broody and hatched her eggs and defended her babies. She gets nothing but respect from the big girls now

 

[the_peep_squad]

I have 8 silkie chicks right now that are 6 weeks old. I cant keep the roos do to local regulations. I am getting them DNA sexed and hopefully find out soon. They are starting to show their independence and personality. They don't have official names until i know which ones I am keeping. They love mealworms, and that is really helping me to earn their trust. They are a little nippy due to teaching them to eat out of my hand. We are working on that. One partridge keeps trying to eat my freckle on my arm, which is a little hilarious. I have two white, two partridge, 1 buff and 3 blacks.

 

[DaphneTheDuck]

How many eggs do silkies lay a year? Online there have been many different bits of information

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

Woohoo, I’ve been waiting for Silkies to be the featured breed for a while!

Most people here already know but I breed Bearded Bantam Silkies to the British standard (which aren’t as fluffy as the USA counterparts). I do keep some non-bearded but I don’t focus on breeding or showing them, at least not yet anyways.

I focus on breeding Pure White, Partridge and Gold!

I had success with showing last year from the birds I had then and I had plans to do so this year but unfortunately everything has been cancelled. So I’ve pretty much just used this year to sort out my birds, hatch some chicks and get some new blood in my line.

I’ve got more chicks on the way as well as a new cockerel to replace the last one I had.

 

[Kimmiec8kes]

Does anyone know if this is a male for female silkie? And what breed and color is this? It has green down feathers, more like Turquoise.... is that normal? The reason I’m asking is because it’s about 6 months old but I’ve never heard it crow, instead it growls LOL.... and make cluck cluck cluck sounds.

 

[BYC Project Manager]

Do you own Silkies? Are you a Silkie breeder? If so, please reply to this thread with the your thoughts and experiences, including:

· What made you decide to get this breed?
· Do you own them for fun? Breeding? Some other purpose?
· What are your favorite characteristics about this breed?
· Post some pics of your birds; male/female, chicks, eggs, etc!

Also feel free to enter your Silkies on our BYC 2021 Calendar contest here