NY chicken lover!!!!

[why do birds]

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.

We cuddle ours every day. We place a towel in the drier and when it's nice and warm, we take one of our chickens, wrap it in the nice warm towel, set it on our lap, watch tv and pet it. They seem to enjoy this and sometimes fall asleep. I still don't know if or why this would be "bad". The chickens seem to like it.

 

[Lynzi777]

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?

What is that second box for? Can you remove it from the larger box? With silkies - even young silkies, they're prone to going broody. So if you are using that as a nest box(?!?) I would remove it for now. She's either hiding in there because she feel more secure or will eventually go broody before she even lays any eggs. (IF it's even a hen, I haven't seen any up close pics of it to determine). I've said this before and I'll mention it again, I really recommend getting them outside and enjoying the fresh air and green grass where they belong. This will give them each their own space rather than being cooped up in a house, and I think they will learn to stick together/look out for each other more rather than fight if that's what it is they are doing. If you have two roosters then yes there will definitely be fighting if one is a hen.

 

[Lynzi777]

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.

Of course! The more you handle them as they grow up the more they will be used to you when they are older.

 

[marquisella]

Quote: I think the "clue" in your post is that roo isn't around hens. It looks to me like your frizzle is also a hen, so Fredo is the male guardian. Your black sillkie is the under dog, or chicken. Chickens have a pecking order, and she is at the bottom of yours. Pure silkies don't normally roost, they don't have feathers that support flying up to a roost. The others are crosses, so they can manuver up.

Chickens "flock" together, its normal for them to stay grouped. Its instinct. They aren't really friends, they just belong to the same flock.

Bantam is a name given to small breeds, its not a breed unto itself. Silkies are in the Bantam category..

Chickens don't have human emotions. We need to think about them in "chicken" mode, not in human terms.

I hope things work out for you.

 

[Lynzi777]

I think the "clue" in your post is that roo isn't around hens. It looks to me like your frizzle is also a hen, so Fredo is the male guardian. Your black sillkie is the under dog, or chicken. Chickens have a pecking order, and she is at the bottom of yours. Pure silkies don't normally roost, they don't have feathers that support flying up to a roost. The others are crosses, so they can manuver up.

Chickens "flock" together, its normal for them to stay grouped. Its instinct. They aren't really friends, they just belong to the same flock.

Bantam is a name given to small breeds, its not a breed unto itself. Silkies are in the Bantam category..

Chickens don't have human emotions. We need to think about them in "chicken" mode, not in human terms.

I hope things work out for you.

Oh yes and I forgot to mention that about the roost too! If you want your birds together at night you need to remove the roost or make it much lower to the ground so even though the two sizzles can roost on it, the silkie can lay next to them at night and still feel like part of the flock.

 

[why do birds]

What is that second box for? Can you remove it from the larger box? With silkies - even young silkies, they're prone to going broody. So if you are using that as a nest box(?!?) I would remove it for now. She's either hiding in there because she feel more secure or will eventually go broody before she even lays any eggs. (IF it's even a hen, I haven't seen any up close pics of it to determine). I've said this before and I'll mention it again, I really recommend getting them outside and enjoying the fresh air and green grass where they belong. This will give them each their own space rather than being cooped up in a house, and I think they will learn to stick together/look out for each other more rather than fight if that's what it is they are doing. If you have two roosters then yes there will definitely be fighting if one is a hen.

Oh my goodness! Lynzii, it never even occurred to me that the extra box might be like a nesting box. It was an extra box, and I just moved it into the big box to make more room when I was making bread. Oh wow, so that may mean that the silkie could be a hen? I think the frizzle is a hen because it doesn't have those waddles or crest. It goes behind the rooster. If I take a pic of the silkie next to the roo can you tell what it is? Maybe it wants an egg to sit on? Oh this would be wonderful! They get a lot of lettuce, they aren't crazy about greens though so not sure how they would feel about grass. I am absolutely terrified of something getting into an outdoor coop and hurting them. Once we heard commotion and I said, "oh no, the cat". Both my fiancée and I went flying down stairs faster than two people can move. Thankfully it wasn't the cat, they were only playing. The cat was dropped off by a relative and it resides outside most of the year so we don't have to worry about it. The cat is never in the main house, it has a litter box in the basement. I will get photo of the silkie next to the roo if I can.

 

[Pyxis]

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. 

You really do want to be careful with Fredo. Just because someone has a nice bantam rooster that they can cuddle and isn't aggressive doesn't mean you will. I can cuddle my roosters if I want to, and they will even sometimes step onto my lap if I'm sitting down and settle there and let me pet their combs and wattles. This is because I treat them like birds, not dogs. I did play with them as babies, but I made sure they always saw me as the thing that brings food, not as mother hen. Because if a rooster thinks you are a hen because you've played mother, he will try to dominate you as a hen. Or he could start regarding you as another rooster and then he will really be after you. Just because he is little don't think he won't hurt you. Bantam roosters can and will fly up at your face to attack you.

I'm not saying this will happen, but I'm saying that now that he's crowing and possibly showing interest in his hens, he is getting hormonal and becoming a real rooster. You cannot treat him like a chick anymore, or treat him like a dog. He's neither, and if he decides to think of you as a rival or a threat to his hens, one day he is going to come flying at your face spurs first. It is their job in life to protect their girls and they take it seriously. It is usually roosters that were babied and coddled as chicks who turn into the mean ones, because they have no respect for humans.

Also, since they're grown now and it's plenty warm outside for birds their age, it's time to move them out. They aren't really house pets, they are animals bred to enjoy the grass and sunshine and live outdoors, and by not providing that for them you are depriving them. I don't mean to sound harsh, but they'll be happier outside. It's where they were meant to be. Until you've seen a hen happily dust bathing or sunbathing, or a rooster finding a delicious treat for his hens and calling them over, you might not think they will be happier out there, but trust me, they will.

 

[why do birds]

Sorry about the dirty floor. I haven't vacuumed/mopped in a couple days. Fredo crows and we believe that he's definitely a rooster. The black silkie though? It doesn't have a crest of waddles but it's only 17 weeks old!

 

[Lynzi777]

Do you mean a comb? All of your birds have crest feathers, those are the feathers on top of their heads since you have a smooth sizzle, a frizzled sizzle and a Silkie. That is one of the qualities those birds have. We would need to see an up close pic of your silkies comb above its beak. If it's a small or doesn't have one at all, it's a hen. If it has a mulberry colored walnut shaped bump, that would be it's comb and could very well be a rooster. However I don't see any "streamers" coming off the back of its crest feathers so it may be a hen.

 

[Lynzi777]

Well Stella decided she wasn't interested in the eggs I left for her yesterday. So I figured I'd try the Silkie coop. Well that wasn't very difficult!

My lavender girl is sitting on two Orp eggs and two Silkie eggs. I don't know if she'll continue to lay more but if I get any from the others I'll place a few more under her. I have a feeling these 4 won't develop much since they were out in the cold last night with no one sitting on them.