I want silkies! But don't know where to start.

[joe17]

The hard part is having a place for the chicks to grow. I could have three trios but I need to think about what I am going to do with all the chicks and what if I would decide to breed one of the chicks? I need to get a bigger coop! lol I was considering the wire cages but I hear that they hurt there feet and rip feathers off.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I also use wire stilt pens. They are up on stilts, and the whole thing is wire, except the frame. I use 1/4" hardware cloth for the bottom. They do just fine on it. I also brood all my chicks on wire.

 

[joe17]

Do you have any pictures? So you put all of you trios on wire? How big are they? Thats sound like a good idea. That would give me a lot of space!

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Quote:
The trios im hatching eggs from get their own coop. Its an old dog house that was converted into a 2-section coop with a run. Any extra birds I want to pair or trio up, some times I will put them in the wire cages. I also put any birds im showing up on the wire, so they stay clean, etc. They are about 6-8' long, 3' high and around 2' across, I think. I don't have any pictures uploaded.

 

[joe17]

I thinks thats what Im going to do. I will split my coop into three sections for three trios and put all the chicks on wire. That sounds like a good plan. Thanks for all of you help Sundown! If you have pictures and just dont want to upload them, you can email them to me because its a lot faster and easier. Do you put each trio in a 4X4 coop?

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Well, I think this thread had been totally hijacked from the OP.

20 sq. feet is only going to reasonably hold 4-5 bantams at most. So that would be a trio...2 hens and one rooster or maybe 3 hens and 1 rooster.