Mama Silkie Hen Murdered!

[CoopedUpChicken]

A fox took our mama silkie hen last night. She had 1 (10 day old) chick with her and the chick is fine. Now, the chick is following around the silkie rooster. He seems to be trying to teach her to eat grass just a moment ago. Do you think he will be able to foster her?

Thanks

 

[dawnpel]

Sorry you lost your silkie momma, hopefully your roo will take over! Fingers crossed!

 

[realsis]

That is soo sad and im so very very sorry. Silkies male and female are pretty sweet. Ive had a roo that let chicks sleep under him. Maybe yours will do the same! Silkies are like a entirely different type of chicken! Sadly i only have one 5 year old silkie left in my flock of 11 birds. Thank God shes doing great and even though shes tiny, she bosses the big girls around! She even bosses my big roo!!

 

[CoopedUpChicken]

So, my silkie rooster has completely taken over the role of mother to the baby chick. He chases the other hens away from her and shows her where the food is. The only thing I have to do is make sure the baby chick gets up to the roo's perch at night since she can't fly up there yet. He is an awesome daddy!!!

 

[gmatson]

So, my silkie rooster has completely taken over the role of mother to the baby chick.  He chases the other hens away from her and shows her where the food is.  The only thing I have to do is make sure the baby chick gets up to the roo's perch at night since she can't fly up there yet.  He is an awesome daddy!!!

Aww, what a good daddy! I would love to see pictures of Mr. Mom.

 

[CoopedUpChicken]

 

[allychick]

That is one of the cutest things I've ever heard of!!!

Almost the same thing happened to me but the daddy just ignored them... hope it works out!

 

[kajira]

He could give lessons on how to be a good daddy, he's awesome! sorry about mama, but he sounds like he's doing a good job.

 

[CoopedUpChicken]

He is doing a great job! The baby chick's momma was the silkie hen that died but the silkie rooster is not the chick's daddy. I can tell by looking at the chick.

The chick was so used to looking at her mama's white fuzzy legs that the silkie rooster's fuzzy legs were the next best thing to "home" after her mama was killed.

I'm really sad that the mama died. I think a fox did it. I've seen foxes around and this isn't the first time a fox has gotten one of our chickens.


It's a trade off. I can keep them in the pen 100% of the time - but then they would be miserable.
If I give them the freedom they LOVE... then once in a while I will get 1-2 picked off by the foxes.

We just got an Aussie puppy and once she's trained up we are getting a pyranese. Between the 2 dogs they should be able to keep our free range chickens safe.

 

[gmatson]

Thanks for sharing pictures! That's so sweet!