Odd silkie behaviors: starting a list

[SJensen]

Mine is very picky about eating. The only chicken I've ever had that leaves my garden alone. It gets to hang out in the greenhouse because it won't scratch and hardly eats any greens. This is my silkie about a month ago in the greenhouse.

 

[Christie Loves Silkies]

My silkies wont eat vegies, I gave them some once to try and they didnt eat them

 

[ramirezframing]

My silkie hens fight more with each other than any two roos of any breed that I have ever had. And egg theifs!! They can steal alot of eggs before you even know ones missing.

 

[chickens? not yet]

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[LilBizzy]

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OMG.. mine used to do that also. I thought I was imagining things!

One of mine would get into the chest bumping match with the rooster. For the longest time I thought she must have been a boy, but she was just a girl who wasn't impressed with Barney.

The head bobbing thing- where the head bobs back and forth and in a little circle like they are dizzy or drunk. All 3 of my silkies did that. Then they would shake their head and go off running.

 

[psimons2004]

I had just posted this to a "new rooster" question, but it made me laugh when I read this post. So I am gonna cheat a re-post it. LOL. This picture is before we had figured out it was actually a rooster - but he is the sweetest roo ever and my very favorite of all my chickens!!! Especially now because he is so beautiful, but of course that photo won't download, LOL.
His rediculous crow is about the funniest thing in the whole world and makes me smile and sometimes even laugh ever single time!!!! Love my silkies!!!

**My Roosters are my pride and joy! How many hens do you have? They say approx. 8 to 1 is the rule. However, we have only 11 hens and two roosters and have no problem at all!!! I think it definetly depends on the individual personalities. We started with 12 chicks (lost two :0(...) and of the 10 left had what I thought was two roosters. All my young cockerls have been banty's and we did that on purpose because last years Rhode Island Red Rooster tried to kill me on multiple occasions, and I am not even exaggerating. He made egg collecting miserable and I figured bantum roosters would at least be smaller and not so scary and leathal. LOL. So far so good.

Now story time: They just had all their feathers and my young birds got moved out of the broody coop in the garage and into the big backyard pen and coop. That very night a fox came snooping around and my two (soon to be three ) roos went on the defensive. I was frantically looking for my shoes and before I could even get down the hill to the coop, the fox was being full on attacked by my d'uuncle (sp?) cockerl who was so upset he was able to raise the flip lid on the coop and got out and attacked the crap out of the dumb fox! The fox high tailed it out of the yard. Let me tell how easy it is to catch a scared rooster after his first fight all hopped up on adrenalin!!! That was the hardest part. Not unscathed, I had the cutest frizzle roo that got a big bite taken out of his bum! Thanks to BYC's awesome advice after a month he was all healed up and we tried to re-intergrate him and at that point finally the two roosters started to get aggressive with one another. So we found our frizzle a new home much to my dissapointment, but I just couldn't part with the other because he was so brave and such a good protector even at about 3 lbs.

So I thought all was well with our little flock. I even had, what I thought, was a broody silkey hen - she would sit on anything, even apples we threw in the coop. (see the photo below) Well.... That little fluffy grey hen started crowing one day - a horrible honking crow. It's SO funny - sounds like a dying goose to this day! And I had heard that even females sometimes do that, but he has fully developed over the last few months into a strapping and protective Rooster with a beautiful golden mane and long curly tail feathers, LOL. Since the two Roos had been brought up together and kept together for so long because I was sure he was a hen, LOL, they get along quite well and sit on the perch in the morning and crow together, so funny! Apparently even chickens have egos... Every once in a while we find a stray wild chicken asking to be let into the coop, and he immeadiatly claims the 'extra' birds and protects them and we haven't even had any trouble adding new individuals because of this. So it is possible to have Roosters that are friends. And that's my drawn out story. And of course since I got to brag on them I also have to post my rooster pictures, LOL. Good luck with your decision!!!!

 

[SJensen]

The oddest thing ours does is tip to the side and lift its wing if it is about to be picked up. It has done this behavior since it was a few weeks old ( it is nothing like an egg squat). At first I was worried that it had an injured wing, but sometimes it tilts to the other side and lifts the other wing. Has anyone else had a chick do this kind of thing.

 

[violet1017]

The oddest thing ours does is tip to the side and lift its wing if it is about to be picked up. It has done this behavior since it was a few weeks old ( it is nothing like an egg squat). At first I was worried that it had an injured wing, but sometimes it tilts to the other side and lifts the other wing. Has anyone else had a chick do this kind of thing.

My silkie also does that but my silkie also likes to sit on my shoulder and rub her head on my face and neck! 0,0 Anybody know why she does this?

 

[Lakassa]

I have silkies as well.and one of them kind of tilts her head forward and puff up her wings.im woundering if shes brooding.shes laying in her nest alot.no eggs though.the other ones seem to shan her.

 

[Lovechicks122]

Maybe because he hatched earlier :/:/