My first Silkies... I'm beginning to think they are thick!!

[L1sa]

To be fair, I guess chickens in general are not exactly the smartest creatures out there!

Why do faverolles get your vote of being somewhat brainless Chickassan?

 

[pitbullmomma]

To be fair, I guess chickens in general are not exactly the smartest creatures out there!

Why do faverolles get your vote of being somewhat brainless Chickassan?

Hahaha, you're gonna be sorry you asked!

Silkies and faverolles are--as we say in the states--"special."

I think the extra toe zaps something from their brain.

But they are freaking adorable. I am in the "totally love them" camp myself. Kinda like the dumb blondes of chickens... (someone is definitely gonna hit me for that, sorry! All said tongue in cheek, ya know. )

 

[Shorty22366]

I have silkies and favorellas. My silkies are sweet, loving and seem intelligent
They meet me at gate and sit with me and are great moms
My favorellas are skittish and will sit with me but only if they want to.
I like both birds and don't see where they are anymore bird brained than my Jersey Giants, Cochin or sebrights. I have polish that are skittish until I put a cloth band on them to pull back their crest feathers so they can see.

 

[pitbullmomma]

I have silkies and favorellas. My silkies are sweet, loving and seem intelligent
They meet me at gate and sit with me and are great moms
My favorellas are skittish and will sit with me but only if they want to.
I like both birds and don't see where they are anymore bird brained than my Jersey Giants, Cochin or sebrights. I have polish that are skittish until I put a cloth band on them to pull back their crest feathers so they can see.

You mean, like this?

Long live the scrunchie!

 

[Shorty22366]

Yes. It helps them alot. They don't hurt them or break their feathers.

 

[Chickassan]

Well...last week I spent over an hour getting Beavis my pullet out of a groundhog hole. She wasn't stuck just would not back up and when I tried to pull her out myself she'd spread out like a cat going into a box.
Over the summer I got the birds a baby pool the faverolle hens would get stuck in the maybe 3inches of water and then just scream bloody murder. Luckily the rooster also a faverolle would come to the edge and help scream them to shore.
Lulu my beautiful hen wen't broody at the end of June so I ordered her some chicks. The second the chicks buried into her ample bum she bolted straight into the coop corner as if i'd stuck grizzly bears in her nest. Her escape attempt chipped her beak and split her comb.
They hate Christmas, between the two hens I had at the time "now iv'e got four because I can't get enough apparently" and the rooster they killed and partially ate an inflateable snowglobe at least five times. Devoured a wreath, complete with jingle bells and glitter "only half the bells turned back up" and flogged an led reindeer until it just flippin quit.
These are just examples going back as far as last December. Don't get me wrong I love my favvies but smart they are not.

To be fair, I guess chickens in general are not exactly the smartest creatures out there!

Why do faverolles get your vote of being somewhat brainless Chickassan?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

With at least 25 Silkies... in one pen... and 10 more cockerels in my stag pen. I can attest they are NOT the smartest breed... even when they can see...

Yes, if I let hens raise chicks... the Silkie's are usually the last to learn their way up the ramp. If I move them to a new coop, they are the last to get the hint and go to the new coop at night.

My large fowl hens brood circles around my Silkies!

I haven't fully decided which camp I am in... despite having spent hundreds of dollars (or more) and an excessive amount of time getting together good breeding stock. I have been very heavily considering whether or not to keep here recently. Personality is a factor I select and cull for heavily in my males and I'm recently realizing females are NOT above law.

I agree 100%... they aren't as friendly or docile as people make them out to be. Sure, individuals can be (also smarter). But they are giant jerks... both the males and the females! Early on even some of the young females will peck me as I approach... giving me the illusion they may be cockerels. Introduce someone new... they are full on chicken Beeyotches to the new comer... My Silkies hold their own with any large fowl in the flock and were NOT at the bottom of the pecking order when kept together. I keep them separate now to prevent accidental injury from mating with a large fowl rooster. AND... some are skittish RIGHT from the first couple days after hatch. They are just easier to catch than most breeds and get handled enough they learn to accept it and thus people think oh, sweet Silkie.

Now don't get me wrong... some individuals are sweeter than others. And the crest size VERY heavily impacts them... as well as your interaction... One broody gal, I invited on my lap while she was locked out of the coop... she isn't a hag to me even when broody, she now sees me as a safe, and calm place to perch and nap.

My daughter also thought their friendliness is directly related to size of crest... thinking the bigger the crest the friendlier... cause they can't see to get away. One gal who couldn't see well would flip out when we grabbed her... I thought duh she don't know what's going on. Now I speak to her first and she approaches me... but also as they get older... their crest isn't as fluffy as it is during part of the juvenile phase... flock antics, mating, and mini molts seem to help thin it.

If they don't learn to use the perch/roost before their blinding crest comes into play... they never will and I have to remove them from lay boxes and put on roost... not because they don't WANT to roost... essentially because they are too "sthpethcial". This is where having a GOOD broody can help a LOT! She must teach them to roost... in fact... roosting might be how I base my "selection", though that doesn't seem QUITE fair to those that weren't raised around the roost I am expecting them to magically see and use.

Silkies... in fact are chickens... and act just like every other chicken I've raised... they do like foraging, free ranging, AND roosting. Some just happen to ride the short bus.

 

[New2Chicks97]

Ours are a bit dumb as well. It took over a month of me putting them in the coop part for them to figure out how to use the ramp. The Buff Brahma in with them figured it out in less than a week.

 

[NNYchick]

Disclaimer I have only ever been around Silkies so have nothing to compare to. I keep seeing people call them dumb, but why? I see not going up ramps into a raised coop or not roosting, but they are a flightless ground breed that doesn’t see well. I would think it’s against there instinct to sleep off the ground. When I see them run into things, walking around with head down like they are afraid they are going to hit it on something or not move around much I trim their crest around their eyes and that behavior is gone once they see. I have also started to feed them their evening snack where I want them to roost(sleep), I noticed they would all want to sleep near where the feeders were hung in the run area, then thought duh a flightless birds instinct would be to sleep near the food source.

 

[silkiemother]

my silkies also seem to be the exception:my rooster doesn't attack girls or boys,only my dad and that was only once because my dad booted him which really hurt bears' feeling because he was just doing it to protect baby,and whenever they are allowed out theiy will come over and curl up in my lap and fall asleep as I pet them.they have learned that I am their mom,protecter,and fod lady.and my hen baby,whenever it is time for me to come home,she will find a way out of her pen and will be waiting at the gate for me then follow me up the steps up to the house and wait while I get a snack to share with her and drop my stuff off.