people with house chickens

[LadyVictorian]

Thank you, I am utterly nutty about my silklings as I call them, I am getting 4 more soon I hope. I want a blue, a black, a partridge and either a blue partridge or another splash or paint. I would also like a lavender but the breeder I prefer doesn't breed lavender.

 

[Calichicken2015]

Thank you, I am utterly nutty about my silklings as I call them, I am getting 4 more soon I hope. I want a blue, a black, a partridge and either a blue partridge or another splash or paint. I would also like a lavender but the breeder I prefer doesn't breed lavender.

LOL...silkies are so sweet! We had a silkie girl along with our bantam cochin/silkie cross and both were lovable little fluff balls!

 

[Sylvester017]

LOL...silkies are so sweet! We had a silkie girl along with our bantam cochin/silkie cross and both were lovable little fluff balls!

I love my Silkies and those who have Cochin bantams say they are adorable too. Some chicken owners use Silkies or Cochins as therapy chickens and it's amazing how quiet the chickens sit while patients pet and stroke them. Animals are great healing aids for shut-in patients who get nothing but daily routine hospital treatment and sometimes occasional visitor. But a room lights up when an animal comes in to sit with a shut-in or bed-bound patient -- especially the elderly,

 

[Calichicken2015]

I love my Silkies and those who have Cochin bantams say they are adorable too. Some chicken owners use Silkies or Cochins as therapy chickens and it's amazing how quiet the chickens sit while patients pet and stroke them. Animals are great healing aids for shut-in patients who get nothing but daily routine hospital treatment and sometimes occasional visitor. But a room lights up when an animal comes in to sit with a shut-in or bed-bound patient -- especially the elderly,

So True! I just saw a little clip where they had Bantam Cochins for elderly people in a long-term care facility and it was AMAZING to see how happy those chickens made them

They are sweet little hens for sure!!! # weeks until I put eggs in the bator..hatching Bantam Cochins

 

[Wolfstead]

I want a silkie (or 2...Or 3..Or.. lol) as a house chicken so bad I can hardly stand it! Unfortunately our city doesn't allow chickens.

Yet they sell them at our local Tractor Supply. I've been SO tempted to get one anyway and just not tell anyone. Lol But I know that's not the smartest idea. So I guess until we move out to our land, I'm just gonna have to wait.

 

[Sylvester017]

I want a silkie (or 2...Or 3..Or.. lol) as a house chicken so bad I can hardly stand it! Unfortunately our city doesn't allow chickens.

Yet they sell them at our local Tractor Supply. I've been SO tempted to get one anyway and just not tell anyone. Lol But I know that's not the smartest idea. So I guess until we move out to our land, I'm just gonna have to wait.

Where yard chickens are not zoned, house pet chickens are allowed. In our area you can have up to FIVE house chickens! But Silkies are great house OR yard chickens. Chickens are a flock mentality so you need to have at least 2 Silkies together in-house and give them some time outside to scratch and peck daily. Cockerels are noisy but pullets/hens are a quiet Silkie. The time they might cackle is whenever they lay their egg or they see you preparing their food.

Here's the plastic Homz Storage crate we happen to use as a nestbox for a Silkie in her indoor pen -- she also sleeps in it at night. I like it because the side is already open, the lip is smooth for Silkie to stand on, eggs don't roll out, and the lid comes off for easy cleaning or adding straw. If you have two Silkies you need two nestboxes.

 

[Sylvester017]

I saw a video someone made a diaper out of a sock and out of a face mask.. i think little underwear is a great idea to. I need to try something she really hates those bulky velcro ones. You use a safety pin to secure the "diaper"?

There is so much "FUR" on Silkies that these pictures are the best I could do to show my homemade diapers -- the white elastic strap is leftover from the shoulder strap -- I left some extra elastic in case the Silkie grew some more and needed more strap length -- a safety pin holds these elastic straps together on the Silkie's back between her wing shoulders. Some people make panty-style diapers without shoulder straps but my Silkie doesn't have enough firm tail feathers to hold up panty-style so I have to have the kind of diaper that has the back pouch and goes down between the legs with a chest bib and straps going from the bib over the shoulders and connecting to the back pouch. I use a safety pin to hold the two shoulder straps together.


An Ameraucana diaper and the pinned shoulder straps are hidden by her over-abundant fluffy feathers!


My little Silkie pullet running in her diaper after escaping the house! She seldom has both feet on the ground -- she's always in a hurry!

 

[Wolfstead]

Where yard chickens are not zoned, house pet chickens are allowed.  In our area you can have up to FIVE house chickens!  But Silkies are great house OR yard chickens.  Chickens are a flock mentality so you need to have at least 2 Silkies together in-house and give them some time outside to scratch and peck daily.  Cockerels are noisy but pullets/hens are a quiet Silkie.  The time they might cackle is whenever they lay their egg or they see you preparing their food.

Here's the plastic Homz Storage crate we happen to use as a nestbox for a Silkie in her indoor pen -- she also sleeps in it at night.  I like it because the side is already open, the lip is smooth for Silkie to stand on, eggs don't roll out, and the lid comes off for easy cleaning or adding straw.  If you have two Silkies you need two nestboxes.

Hhhhmmm, I'll have to look into it. It doesn't specify yard or house on the city's website, it just says no poultry. But I may ask. If I could, I would love too! Yeah, I would want at least 2. My hubby keeps saying 1 but I would hate for her to be lonely so I'd want 2 or 3. And we have a perfect space for them and could let them out in the garden to forage for a bit every day which would help us keep bugs out of the garden. I love that as a nest box! It's perfect. Also, we have a group that I'm a part of that's trying to get the law changed because the next town over allows I think 4 or 5 chickens per household and they don't have any issues with it. We're getting a petition signed and already have 467 signatures the last time I checked, so here's hoping!

 

[LadyVictorian]

Mom said we were too dusty so we got a bath and did the wet sit of shame in our towels while she plugged in our blowdryer.

And I agree with Sylvester, silkies are just great chickens if you want one as a pet. Even my roosters are friendly and quiet. My dominant roo is a little louder than the others but no worse than a barking dog and he only crows for the first 30 minutes when he waked up in the morning. Otherwise he's more interested in getting his treats and trilling at me.

 

[Wolfstead]

Aaaawwwww they are precious! Just out of curiosity, if I can have some, what would I need to get started? I know chicks would need a brooder/heat light, a pen with bedding (what kind do you recommend? Wood chips? Papper bedding?) And a feeder and waterer, anything else? I know nesting boxes when they get a little bigger. I've looked into coops outside but have only recently thought about having house chickens so I'm still not sure what exactly they'd need or how to set up an indoor area for them.