Keeping a single Silkie warm?

nuthatched

CEO, Orneriness and Co.
Premium Feather Member
5 Years
Nov 9, 2019
28,478
53,788
1,026
Rim Country, Az
Hi there,
A elderly friend of mine has chickens from a Tractor Supply bantam grab bag (2 D'Uccles, 1 Dutch Bantam, 1 white Belgian Bearded D'uccle, 1 Golden Bantam Silkie and a..... Sultan)
She has one of those rickety prefab coops that they sell and I'm stumped trying to figure out how to keep the silkie warm (i.e alive) through winter.
The others fly up on the the coop divider and huddle together, but since the silkie can't fly, she sleeps down on the edge of ( or in) the nesting box alone.
I don't want to add supplemental heat due to frequent winter power outages, I've already wrapped the coop in plastic sheeting and the nesting boxes have plenty of bedding; is there anything else I can do for her?

Thanks!

edit: in hindsight, maybe I can move her to the sultan's coop since she's alone too...(the bearded d'uccle has a complex, we had to move her)

update: adding her to the sultan's coop was shot down, I might try again later after the Thanksgiving rush.
I didn't mention adding another silkie but I imagine the results would be pretty similar, if not worse.
Maybe I can make her a shawl. lol (but seriously)
 
Last edited:
How high is the Roost bar? I also have only one silkie and my roost bar is only 24 inches off the floor. She gets up no problems at all. Originally I placed a stump in there to hop on but the full size birds use it more than she does. I also built a lower bar but she never once used it so I took it out.
 
How high is the Roost bar? I also have only one silkie and my roost bar is only 24 inches off the floor. She gets up no problems at all. Originally I placed a stump in there to hop on but the full size birds use it more than she does. I also built a lower bar but she never once used it so I took it out.

That's a good idea! The roost bar is probably around 24 inches, but she has a hard time navigating the 5 inch step in their coop.
She's a bantam silkie, I forgot to specify that.
I could work up a system of ramps to get her up there, but I'm afraid of her falling of forward, about 4 feet into the main run.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom