New to the Chicken World..and LOVING it :)

[Bella84]

Hey everyone...
I hope I'm posting this in the right section. : /
I received 6 Golden Sexlinks (?) for my birthday back in March. I didn't know a thing about chickens, but have since been trying to study a lot. The ladies are not about 6 months old, and seem to be great egg layers.
I've enjoyed having them so much, that I recently got 5 baby silkies

. They are adorable!

I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew though...
I'm keeping the babies separated now, but will they ever be able to share a coop with the Goldens when they're full grown? Or do they need their own coop?
Do Silkies require more/different treatment? I've heard they are somewhat high maintenance.

Any advice would be great!! Thank you!!!

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.
Good luck with your birds! Glad you are enjoying them! They sure are a joy!

Silkies don't really require extra care but they are a very hard breed to introduce to other chickens who aren't used to their different look. So be very careful and cautious with this. Since Sex links can be a bit aggressive to other breeds your silkies may have to live in another pen. But, if you are wanting to have them all together then introduce them slowly using the "see but don't touch method." This involves placing a barrier in between the two groups so they can't reach each other but are still able to be around each other.

Here's some links on that.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/06/integrating-new-flock-members-playpen.html

Good luck with them and glad you joined us!

 

[Bella84]

Thank you so much! I will definitely have to give that a try. Thank you for the fast response!!

 

[Papas Chickens]

Hey everyone...
I hope I'm posting this in the right section. : /
I received 6 Golden Sexlinks (?) for my birthday back in March. I didn't know a thing about chickens, but have since been trying to study a lot. The ladies are not about 6 months old, and seem to be great egg layers.
I've enjoyed having them so much, that I recently got 5 baby silkies

. They are adorable!

I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew though...
I'm keeping the babies separated now, but will they ever be able to share a coop with the Goldens when they're full grown? Or do they need their own coop?
Do Silkies require more/different treatment? I've heard they are somewhat high maintenance.

Any advice would be great!! Thank you!!!

Hi and

Your Silkies will be fine with the Goldens once there about a month or so old, there will be some squabbles for pecking order but besides that they will be fine. The only thing i know is that Silkies dont handle heat well, also make sure you have enough room for all your girls a good rule of thumb is to have 3 square feet per bird so you have 11 so that would be 33 square feet of space they will need. Have fun with your girls and enjoy.

 

[Bella84]

We will need to add to our coop for sure then. Make sure all of our ladies are happy!

Thank you!!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! X2, Silkies can be a problem with other breeds, they are very prone to being picked on and having their crest feathers plucked, and sex links tend to be pretty bossy birds. If you have a very large coop and the birds have plenty of extra space, you might be OK, but I would be prepared to keep them separate all the time. If you try to integrate them into the flock of sex links, wait until the Silkies are as big as they are going to get, four-five months old, and then do it slowly like Mountain Peeps mentions, in the links she gives, through wire.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

So glad you could join our community! X3 You have to watch Silkies as they can be bullied. And make sure they can see ok. Sometimes you have to trim feathers out of their eyes. This will help with them being able to escape other flock members, find the food and water ok. Make sure to keep several feed and watering stations available so they don't have to compete. Hopefully you can mix them in eventually, but do it slowly, keeping them in a caged area within the flock for several weeks. And wait until they are 3 or 4 months old before mixing them.

Good luck and welcome to our flock!

 

[Nofowlplay]

:cd

 

[Bella84]

Thank you everyone for your responses! I will be keeping my babies separated for another couple of months, and building another coop in the mean time.
And yes, the Goldens are quite bossy. They even push our dogs and cats around. Which is actually kind of funny to watch

. They definitely act like the Queens around here. Which is all the more reason why we will keep our Silkies separated. Thank ya'll again! The information and advice was great

 

[drumstick diva]

Glad to have you here

Rule of thumb is 4 sq.feet per bird inside coop and 10 sq.feet per bird in outdoor run.

There are several dedicated silkie threads, and even a thread on bathing and brooming for show. They are very popular. They don't fly so tend to pile up in a corner of the coop at night.

Silkies are especially vulnerable to predator attacks - with their large crests and beards their vision is impaired. Couple that with no flying and you can see they do need full security in a run and are probably the first ones "picked off" free ranging.

If you don't show them you can clip back their beards & crests- so they can see.

Silkies generally are great broodies, many people have a silkie or two for just that reason. You can put fertile eggs from any breed under them, and they will hatch and raise them as their own.