New to owning Silkies have some questions....

[crazyfeathers]

Hi,
I read a bunch of threads about Silkies and didn't find the info I was looking for.
My Silkies (4 1/2 weeks) are very skittish, I do hold and talk to them, but they still seem to dislike me lol. Are Silkies sweet? I read they will lay around 100 eggs per year, I didn't get them for eggs as I have other chickens for that, but my question is do they lay primarily during warm weather and not during winter? If anyone has some pictures of their Silkie chicks I would love to see them just so I can see their progression in growth. I have a black, white, and buff silkie and I got them for their broodiness.
Anything I need to know about this breed such as do I have to cut it's feathers to keep them out of their eyes? I am not showing them. Thanks in advance for sharing your stories and advice.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

My Silkies are sweet, but all of the breeds I have seem to go through a phase where they despise me. Mine are pretty good layers, when they're laying. When they're not laying, they're brooding or raising chicks. And thats pretty much their MO, lay, brood, raise chicks, repeat. Their crests could require trimming, it just depends on how big they get. Some of my big crested Silkies don't require trimming, but one I have with bonnet shaped crest needs it big time (a bonnet crest has two lobes on the front, over the eye are, as opposed to a more round, globular crest).
Here are a few pics, well, a LOT of pics

These are porcelain.

Brand new, these are all Silkies, but the one we're looking at is asleep in the back.

I think they were around 5 weeks old here.

Older still, starting to look like a big girl.

All grown up (notice the bumps on the front of their crests, thats the bonnet I was talking about earlier, neither of these hens required trimming).
Here's another, for reference, this ones blue.

Again with this picture, but we're looking at the dark chick up front this time. She has a normal crest.



And one of my splash, though I don't have many pics of her growing up (notice no bonnet).




Another splash, she's the above hens daughter.





Shes got a bonnet shaped crest, and I have to trim her or she wilts away to nothing and walks into walls. I think my porcelains crests were bigger, just goes to show it all depends on the bird.

My rooster as a little guy.

My handsome Early in a more recent picture. He's bonnet crested as well, but doesn't require trimming. I actually prefer the smaller crests, but all of my customers like bonnets, so I keep a bunch of each in my breeding flock.

You'll love your new Silkies, enjoy them!

 

[crazyfeathers]

Wow Funky your chickens are beautiful!!!!! Judging from the appearance of your chick pictures to my chicks I think mine are only 3 1/2 weeks. They are not as fully feathered as your 5 week old. I will take some pictures tomorrow so maybe you could help me with the names of the coloring. Thanks for sharing pictures of your chickens, I appreciate your time.

 

[crazyfeathers]

Also how old do my silkies have to be before I can tell what sex they are? I will be so disappointed if they all turn out to be roosters. Thanks again

 

[cailynne]

I have a four silkie chicks that are 5 weeks old.....I think I already have a little boy on my hands..He has a noticable comb and wattles and is a bit bigger than the other three...they have no comb or wattle development...I'll try to get some more pics soon. But this is the most recent pic i have of him.

HowFunky..you breed silkies, are there any condsiderations when housing these birds when they are fully feathered..beyond crest trims.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Wow Funky your chickens are beautiful!!!!! Judging from the appearance of your chick pictures to my chicks I think mine are only 3 1/2 weeks. They are not as fully feathered as your 5 week old. I will take some pictures tomorrow so maybe you could help me with the names of the coloring. Thanks for sharing pictures of your chickens, I appreciate your time.

Thank you, I'm quite proud of them! They could be younger or older, depending on how warm you keep your brooder. They seem to feather out a little faster if kept on the cool side. Looking forward to pics, I'll try my best to help with colors.

I have a four silkie chicks that are 5 weeks old.....I think I already have a little boy on my hands..He has a noticable comb and wattles and is a bit bigger than the other three...they have no comb or wattle development...I'll try to get some more pics soon. But this is the most recent pic i have of him.

HowFunky..you breed silkies, are there any condsiderations when housing these birds when they are fully feathered..beyond crest trims.

He sure looks like a little cockerel to me! As for their housing requirements, they are a little different than other breeds. Mine like to roost, some don't but mine do, but not too high off the ground. I think their roost is maybe 8" high, they could probably go a little higher, but it was just the easiest place for me to put it. They also don't do well in elevated coops, for obvious reasons. Before we moved to where we are now, my Sillkies lived in this coop:

(Never mind the dog

). It was super cute, but not practical for them at all. They could get down the ramp, and back in to lay their eggs, but they never could manage to put themselves to bed at night so I'd have to put them in myself. The door on my new coop is only about a foot off the ground, and they manage it just fine without a ramp or step. I don't free range mine either (some folks do, my flock is small, so I can't afford to loose anyone), we have lots of hawks here so I just don't even bother. Other than that, they go about their business just like all my other chickens, except they do it in a much cuter fashion

 

[crazyfeathers]

Here are my 3 chicks correct me on the colors if I am wrong white, black, and buff?

The buff one seems to be the nicest the other two don't think too much of me lol

 

[crazyfeathers]

Funky thanks for telling me about the heat and feathering, that I didn't know.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I'd guess they're buff or really light partridge, white or splash (it takes my splash a while to get their splashes) and black or really dark blue (some blues are so dark they look black, then there are surprises when you breed them).

Not much help, huh? If the white one ends up splash, and genders work out, you can breed the splash to the blue/black to find out which color it is. If its black, you'll only get blue chicks. If its blue, you'll get blue and splash.

 

[crazyfeathers]

Interesting, I will keep their heat lamp off in hopes that helps them feather out more quickly. What is the rarest color of Silkies?
I am in Wisconsin, it is supposed to warm up now (praying) so it would be nice if I could get the Silkies out with my other 12 young ones. Nice is 40 degrees lol it's called a heat wave here!! But until they feather out a bit more I guess they are stuck in the house with me and papa, at least I will have more time to make them like me haha! I accidentally purchased a bag of medicated chick feed, is it ok to give this to my chicks I was using nonmedicated previously. Thanks for your help Funky, I really appreciate it. Peace