hi guys recently ive posted a post regarding my new silkie. It was given to us from a breeder who breeds for show purposes The silkie has been outcasted from its family due to it's Ears aren't being BLUE enough, Feathers/fur on its feet are too sparse & as well as the neck fur/feathers are too thin. It is apparently 20 weeks old (but im starting to think that its temperment had also played a part) The whole reason i agreed to take it, was due to the fact they are supposedly friendly and handle well with human contact. infact, this silkie (im unsure if its a Cockrel or a Pullet) Would this have an impact? The PROBLEM: She does not like being picked up. infact, she hates it. she squirms like crazy, Kicks and screeches. At first i was thinking that this could be due to anxiety from seperation & adapting to its new environment. But its not showing any improvment after 2 weeks at all. I know most people would say "well its a chicken, they arent dogs or cats...they are live stock" But thats beside the point, Silkies are renowned to be friendly and love affection above all other breeds. And im not interested in keeping any more chickens for egg laying purposes. can anyone shed some light or experience?
Im not an expert on chickens or anything but I really think you should give it more time than 2 weeks and instead of holding him/her, feed it some treats see if it comes to you get it more used to you and let it know you won't hurt it then maybe later it will start to let you pick it up, some of my silkies just don't like being off the ground.
Quote:well ive only got 3 chickens including this silkie. one Issa brown and New hampshire. The new hampshire flew into my backyard, we decided to keep it...and it introduced us to the world of chickens. she was terrified of human contact at start but she has picked up so rapidly...so much character ...very friendly... i pat her and carry her like a pet puppy, she doesnt mind 1 bit. however, the Issa brown is THICK as 2 bricks... been 6 months since we got her and she hasnt changed one bit...very very hard to train this breed. well today i have noticed it (and only today so far) it has started to follow me...slowly it pretends not to but i could see it always moving towards my direction. maybe thats a start? so your saying, some of your silkies have adapted to the petting...and some dont?
when I first got my red stars (they were 2 week chicks) they hated being touched and would scream when i picked them up. i soon learned (after lots of frustration) that they will refuse to love you if you touch them! (isn't that strange?) anyway, I left them be for a few weeks, fed them and said hi to them and all that. They soon started following me round like their mum and coming up to me. When I bent down they would let me touch them and pick them up no problem. I think you have to build their trust up first. Good luck
I hope more silkie owners respond to your question since I don't own any but with my regular chickens, they seemed to go through this phase where they are like you are describing, freaking out when being held. What it seemed in my experience was that most of them came around and actually wanted attention after they began to lay! The biggest holdouts are my supposedly 'friendly' Buff Orpingtons, the Black Australorps and the Blue Andalusian just hates being touched but if caught, she will remain semi calm, no screaming but doesn't like it either. So there is another one for the books, the B.O.s are supposed to be real friendly, I don't see that either. Maybe chickens are just exactly like little feathery people. Like we like to group certain nationalities together and say things like "Anything German made is best quality" or "Italians are all very passioante" Maybe there are some Germans who just can't build anything and some Italians who don't want to be touched?
I have silkies but I dont do alot of picking up and patting. But when I have to they dont like it. They dont mind me close to them. Let her warm up to you and gradually build up her trust.
I have 11 Silkies right now. Some of them don't mind being picked up and petted, others hate it. But I can get all of them to eat from my hand. I hatched out all of these Silkies at home. I think it's just individual personalities. I got mine to be a lot more trusting by just sitting on the ground in their pen and hand feeding them treats. Sooner or later, they got curious and started jumping up into my lap, then roosting on my legs. You do have to move slowly with them. Fast movements and loud noises startle them.
