Silkies should come with a warning label. 1 silkie is never enough, they will steal your heart and have you wanting more. From my own experience with them, I think mine are very smart. Now, I have pet quality silkies. They do not have the huge head floof that well bred ones do. I think the "silkies are dumb" stigma occurs because their floof is not trimmed and they cannot see very well. My silkie hen is a very consistent layer, 6 eggs a week when she is not broody. I got her last January and she was turning 3 years old that spring. I was warned she was a chronic broody. She settled in right away and began laying 2 days after she arrived. I immediately began looking forward to this chronic broody silkie. Evil girl made me wait until the first of July before she went broody. I called her my broken silkie. When she went broody finally she got eggs and became a wonderful mother. Very protective, and held onto them longer then some of my girls. After she was done she was back to normal for a few months and then decided in December she wanted chicks again. I tried to break her, I really did. 5 weeks of sitting on nothing and she was not giving up. My mom found out, 2 days later she is at Rural King and gets 6 white leghorn chicks for her to raise. She comes home with the marshmallows as they are called and after a good drink I took them out to Chiquita. I was worried to tell you the truth. I knew she was a good mother, but, I had never tried to foster chicks onto her. I was prepared to have to raise them myself. I tucked them under her, she never pecked them although for the first 2 hours she was a little confused. It took 2 hours, 2 hours and something clicked and those chicks were hers. We lost 1 at around 2 weeks of age from failure to thrive but she did a fantastic job with the other 5. She has been done with them for about 3 weeks now. It was comical watching them all try to stuff themselves under her when 1 did not fit anymore but she did not care. I also have a silkie Rooster, Branch. That boy is my heart chicken. He is really the best rooster. He is the first to spot a hawk in the sky, wonderful with chicks. Takes over parental duties on them all for a few extra weeks after the mothers are done. He also is spoiled and likes to come inside to watch tv. I scoop him up, put him on his towel on the bed and we have up to 2 hours with no accidents with him laying down beside me watching tv. I highly recommend silkie roosters or my other love Black Copper Marans roosters.
Branch last week still on daddy duty.
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Chiquita just before she weaned them. She did not care they no longer fit under her.
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Taking a break from Rooster and daddy duties to be a spoiled house chicken. "Evil lives Here" is one of his favorites to watch. Anything on Investigation Discovery though is good with him.
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Chiquita is just gorgeous.
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