NY chicken lover!!!!

[why do birds]

well - if you keep treating your Fredo like a human baby - you are going to be picking up your little black silkie one day - she will decide she wants down and call out with a complaint and your little loveable Fredo will attack your legs to try to save his silkie.

You have refused to listen to people here who have been working with chickens for years. You want a sweet pet you can hold and squeeze - maybe a parrot ?

The babies are turning into adults and if you are as educated in medicine and science as you claim - you would realize that is creating a permanent change within them - you either roll with the change and adjust your living and petting behavior or deal with the consequences.

My roos were all fine with each other all winter - but as soon as the warn days hit - I had to separate them all into their breeding cages within a few days or have dead roos ... toward the end of spring I can integrate the flock again - but they will always be getting into small dominating fights ... just with lots of room they won't murder each other. My best 2 roos have eyed me this spring - they will ease out of it later - but for now - I am ready to punish/cuddle any ankle rush I see ....

He's not that big - so you can survive an ankle attack if you want to. You've already got plenty of advice on here - and we all modify the advice A LITTLE bit for our situations ... but you are treating these birds like a totally different creature than what they are. I don't think you will be successful in the long term. Keep us posted - one way or the other.

Thanks for the information! It sounds like you're saying that Fredo will "Protect" the black silkie? My big worry was that Fredo was trying to hurt the black silkie. I'm very well educated in medicine in HUMANS. I know absolutely nothing about veterinarian medicine. This is all new. It's fun learning though! Just trying to understand how this all works. I do see how very well adjusted the other city chickens are and it does appear at this stage that my birds are very comfortable and happy with people. I agree with you about not being successful. We are business people, successful in the art of making money and running companies. We are not farmers. We probably will fail in these animal endeavors. But we'll have fun trying!

 

[rancher hicks]

Thanks for the information! It sounds like you're saying that Fredo will "Protect" the black silkie? My big worry was that Fredo was trying to hurt the black silkie. I'm very well educated in medicine in HUMANS. I know absolutely nothing about veterinarian medicine. This is all new. It's fun learning though! Just trying to understand how this all works. I do see how very well adjusted the other city chickens are and it does appear at this stage that my birds are very comfortable and happy with people. I agree with you about not being successful. We are business people, successful in the art of making money and running companies. We are not farmers. We probably will fail in these animal endeavors. But we'll have fun trying!

Allow me please. Is Fredo a Silkie? There is nothing wrong with treating chickens as pets as long as you understand the facts of life. You misinformation may be that of peoples pets attacking them.

My mean rooster is not a pet. Nor are any of my other chickens. Frenchy is loved more than others but not cuddled like a doll very often. Only if I need to pick her up. For many others their chickens are not pets.

Farming and pet owning are two different things. Farmers know there will be heart break in becoming attached to an animal. Be it cat, dog or chicken. So we avoid it by emotionally distancing ourselves from them. Though we still may cry if we lose special ones. Much like Doctors I suppose.

However just like dogs and cats there are some mean ones out there. They have to be dealt with. Chickens have their pecking order. If Fredo is a rooster then he may well be defending his territory. YOU.

Love him and treat him how you wish just understand that he is first a rooster and your pet second. I have no doubt he is not attached to you as much as a dog or cat would be.

Be encouraged. You can only fail in your endeavors if you've outlined them and know what the outcome you want is. If it's chickens as pets, I'd say your off to a good start. Watch the History of Chickens on PBS

I wish you well,

Rancher

Metella I don't mean to disagree but Silkies make very good pets. Hens better than roosters of course. Which is why I don't keep them. That and that they're aliens from another planet.

 

[Metella]

Rancher - I don't actually think you are disagreeing with me!

You are adding a component ...

Why do Birds - yes and no --- perhaps he is protecting her, perhaps he is protecting you, perhaps he is reacting on pure instinct and attacking anything around when he hears any hen distress sound. My roos will rush over no matter which hen is crying out ... even one they don't like.

I've had a silkie before - loved her ... I even recommended the little D'Uccles would be great house pets - but I personally don't treat any of my house pets like a human child ... I still treat dogs like dogs, and my parrot like a parrot - they got to be petted and cared for - but not swaddled and I did expect parrot and dog behavior out of them .... Which means I learned about that behavior.

So that is the angle - I think Why do - you have listened but think due to the amount of LOVE you give them, it will override some of the basic instincts and even NEEDS of your animals.

You might be successful - and that is why I want you to keep sharing - but I am doubtful ....

 

[Sweetpea3829]

All I can add is, I made the mistake of "coddling" a cockerel as a chick...he was the friendliest, sweetest little thing. Until he hit puberty. And then he came to think of me as one of his hens and he tried dominating me, time and time again. It was like a switch was flipped...overnight he went from sweet to mean.

I won't make that mistake again. These are animals.

 

[dragonlord483]

Lost one of the babies this morning went out to check and was floating in pool was the cute one to

Sorry to hear the baby died . Was this a duck ? or a chicken ? Was it outside at night ?

Chicken no not at night I checked

 

[marquisella]

Rancher - I don't actually think you are disagreeing with me!

You are adding a component ...

Why do Birds - yes and no --- perhaps he is protecting her, perhaps he is protecting you, perhaps he is reacting on pure instinct and attacking anything around when he hears any hen distress sound. My roos will rush over no matter which hen is crying out ... even one they don't like.

I've had a silkie before - loved her ... I even recommended the little D'Uccles would be great house pets - but I personally don't treat any of my house pets like a human child ... I still treat dogs like dogs, and my parrot like a parrot - they got to be petted and cared for - but not swaddled and I did expect parrot and dog behavior out of them .... Which means I learned about that behavior.

So that is the angle - I think Why do - you have listened but think due to the amount of LOVE you give them, it will override some of the basic instincts and even NEEDS of your animals.

You might be successful - and that is why I want you to keep sharing - but I am doubtful ....

I never, and I mean never, pet a rooster or baby it. I have only had 2 roosters be mean and attack me, and both of them were Silkies that I didn't raise, bought as adults. Chickens don't understand "lovin" on them. That is a human emotion. They understand the "call of the wild" and that means protecting their area from predators, and to some of them, and humans, even though we feed & care for them, are predators. My roos respect me because I don't act like their equal, I am the queen of the barn...haha, at least to them. Silkie roos have Napoleon complex. So they will strike out. I'm sure there are people on here that will disagree with me, but the proof is in the pudding. Your cockerel has attacked you already. Not a good sign.

 

[Lynzi777]

Missed a few days, so many posts.  My Fredo is a rooster!  He jumped on the back of the black silkie yesterday and the black silkie screeched.  Does this mean that the black silkie is a hen?  Or a rooster?  I picked up Fredo and told him he's my baby and has to be my good boy, gave him a kiss, and let him run around the kitchen, separate from the other 2.  We are completely unfamiliar with chicken behavior so don't know what to make of this unusual behavior toward a fellow hatchling.  Thoughts?  Fredo sits in my lap and I pet him.  He seems to be a very happy bird.  I'm surprised about the stories on here where peoples pets are attacking them.  How common is this?  We hold Fredo in our arms and pet him every day.  Should we be worried?  Our Fredo is 1/2 silkie 1/2 cochin and he is by far our most favorite pet!  The black silkie sits off in a corner.  It doesn't fly, it barely moves.  The other 2 fly and hang out together, they are 1/2 silkie 1/2 cochin. 

How old are these birds now? Sounds to me like he was trying to mate with her...also, if your black Silkie is in the corner keeping to itself it sounds like she may be getting picked on by other two and becoming depressed.

 

[why do birds]

How old are these birds now? Sounds to me like he was trying to mate with her...also, if your black Silkie is in the corner keeping to itself it sounds like she may be getting picked on by other two and becoming depressed.

Aww Lynzi, that's what I thought too. They are about 17 weeks old now. At first I thought maybe the Black Silkie is a rooster too? And Fredo the rooster is "protecting" the frizzle sizzle hen. It doesn't seem to be so because the silkie is not near the frizzle hen when Fredo pecks at the black silkie. Fredo and Chicken Nugget are silkie cochin crosses and they fly, they roost. When they fly up to the "roost", it's a cardboard insert from Christmas wrap, the little black silkie cries to them. It tries to climb up the stick to get up to them but it tips over. It's like the black silkie is the "third wheel" in the mix. When they go into the kitchen, they tend to stay in their large long box. As soon as I put the little black silkie down, they all crowd together in one tiny box in the corner of the large box. They are free to go anywhere but they just stay like that. Fredo in front, watching out, then Nugget, and deepest in the box the black silkie. The black silkie is the only purebred one, and it's much smaller than the other two. I thought if they all hatch together they will be best friends? If the other two are out alone, they will fly out of the large box and walk around the kitchen. Could they be instinctively trying to protect the black silkie because it's a smaller bird?

One of our city neighbors has a lovely rooster. He lives with dogs, no hens. He adores being picked up and petted. When they dogs start to bark, he crows. Very adorable rooster, a bantam, not a silkie. This bird is handled daily, very gentle. I held this bird, he didn't know me at all, and I pet him, and he just looked at me. Not mean at all.

Should we separate the little black silkie from the other two? When she is separated from them, she calls out to them so I put her back in with them.

 

[why do birds]

First put into large box. Black silkie just put into the small box at the end.
Within minutes the other two walk over to the black silkie.
Nugget will roost next to the black silkie but will not leave the box. Fredo will stay like that. The black silkie doesn't really move too much. It's surrounded.

Is this normal?

 

[WillowWispFarm]

Is it alright that I take my chicks out for a little "cuddle" time? I have all pullets and I like to grab one and take her out and sit down for a bit with em, Normally they just look around and sometimes fall asleep. Like I said they are all girls, well except for my bantams, I have no idea about them.