Itching to Get a Silkie...Bad Idea?

[hokankai]

Any comments on going over capacity in our coop? It's made for 12, we have 8, but we want to add 4 more LF for eggs. Would adding 1 or 2 silkies onto that be bad?

 

[lauren6]

probably not, I would get at least 2 so they can snuggle together my silkies like to sleep in a pile

remember bantams dont need as much room 2 square feet each so 2 is about the same as one standard. If your worried about the space maybe just get 3 LG and 2 silkies, my silkies layed great this winter!! I got just as many eggs from my 3 silkies as I did from my 2 EEs and 2BRs. I dont know if thats normal or not but I was surprised

 

[hokankai]

Yeah that's the decision I have to make...dang it! Do I go for the two silkies or the Salmon Favorelle? Or sacrifice one of the other breeds I want to get (Maran, Wellsummer, and EE)? Decisions decisions!

 

[sillyovrsilkies]

Quote:
I have silkies and they've always used the ramp with no problems. They tend to jump out of the coop in the mornings, but they walk up at night & put themselves to bed!

I have 3 hens and a roo out in my coop now and they all roost. I have 2 in my garage that I'm keeping watch on for signs of illness before integrating w/ the flock, but they sleep together on the floor (the pen their in has an open top & they could roost, but they've not tried).

I LOVE silkies...so my vote is a definite "yes" to adding a few to your flock! I raised mine since they were a day old and they're all real friendly and great w/ my kids. We've got 13 more in the brooder now!

 

[JulieNKC]

I think you should get more than one. My silkies seem to keep to their own seperate clique, while the big girls have theirs. My roo bounces between the 2 mini flocks, and one of my BO girls hangs out with the silkies quite a bit. I think she is a the bottom of the big girls pecking order and it boosts her ego to hang out and boss around the little girls. They are all in the same coop, and although they only interact rarely,like at feeding time, they all get along fine when they do.

 

[justbugged]

I love my Silkies. I have three of them, and they live with my flock. I have never had any problems with the full size hens and the banty hens. I have a raised coop, and the Silkies have never had any problems using the ramp. I also will let my flock out to roam the back yard, and so far everyone has managed to stay in the yard. I think that the Silkies are the most personable of all of my chickens, and defiantly nicer broodies than the others. They do get really messy in all the the mud and rain we have here in the Pacific Northwest, but I can't imagine not having them in my flock. I can tell you for sure that you should have at least one.

 

[ALLcoopedUP]

I have had a lot of trouble getting my silkies to go up the ramp to the coop which is about 2 - 3 feet above ground.
When I got my first 3 silkies - 2 got the message straight away but the third took a week of persuaion at bedtime.
Being a novice - I never realised that silkies prefered to be at ground level.

Then when their first 2 chicks were old enough to go down to the run each day they had to be brought down by hand in the morning and put back up again at night. After 3 months they were pretty big and I decided enough was enough and left them to their own devices. They sleep under the coop, huddled in a corner on the edge of the dust bath - their choice!

Then the second batch of chicks arrived and this time there were 10!
I swore that there was no way that I was going to be on morning and night bed duty (remember you have to CATCH them first!)

So we built a small extension to the coop 6 inches off the ground on little legs with a little pop hole from the dust bath and small ramp so they could go in and out at their leisure. They still do that to this day. Easy.

We introduced my 3 year old Polish Crested rooster to the flock, slowly. Eventually he took his place under the coop just outside the pop hole to the extension and perches on the roost pole - he's the only one to perch like a real chicken.

The silkies all like to be on flat surfaces either with sand or shavings.
Now I have 3 new chicks - silkie/polish crested cross - where they will go - who knows!

If they have any sense they will go up to the coop which is only ever used by my 2 original silkie hens - what a waste of a lovely warm coop.