How big should a silkie be at 7 weeks?

[Relynn]

So, I am hoping posting a new thread will get me faster help. I purchased 4 bearded silkies from a reputable breeder, they are beautiful, and are just losing their baby feathers. When I bought them the breeder said that they were between 3-4 weeks old, except the white one because she was so small she said she may have been 2-3 weeks old. I took them home and put them in with my then 3 week old blue laced red wyandotte chicks and buff orpington chicks. They are 2 days from being 7 weeks old now, and my silkies are the same sized as my EE who will be 3 weeks in two days. I bought my EE at my local feed store the day she came in, and the BLRW and Buff Orpington's, I bought when they just arrived at 2 days old. So, I know their ages. The silkies are worrying me because they are so small. I know that they are older than the EE because I had them before I purchased and brought home the EE. Is it normal for them to be so small? I just need to be sure how old they are for feed purposes... One of my flock was a bit stunted because she was smaller than all the others I bought at the same time as her because she was fed layers feed a week too early. Please help!

Sprite, my EE is looking up, Angel is the white silkie, the partridge in the back is Honey, and that is either Grace or Hope that is a blue/splash baby.

This is Angel up close.

This is Grace. She just lost all her poof...So, I assume she will be growing it back in soon.

Sprite is perched on one of the food bowls, the BLRW do not have names, because I can't tell them apart. Honey, Angel, Hope and Grace are all there.

Zuri is the Buff Orpington here. She is supposed to be the same age as my munchkins.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Silkies are a bantam breed so they should be much smaller than standard breeds. It's one reason I recommend not keeping them together as adults.

 

[Relynn]

Silkies are a bantam breed so they should be much smaller than standard breeds. It's one reason I recommend not keeping them together as adults.

Well, I had 3 silkies before, and at 6 weeks they were much larger, and close to the sizes of my 10 week olds... they all turned out to be roosters, so I had to re-home them. So, that is all my experience entails. The hens that these chicks came from also seemed like they were close to normal sized hens in size... with their fluff of course.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

There has been more big silkies being sold by places like the tractor supply. As an adult a silkie should weigh about 20 ounces, an adult buff Orpington will be about 6-10 pounds, so a big difference. I have seen some pictures of silkies lately that are pretty big birds. An actual breeder should be selling correctly sized birds, a backyard breeder may be selling whatever they have, so there can be a big difference.